Sol seaker

Wow, nice job. Fun containers. I wouldn't have a problem if you were making money. I don't know what the big thing against making money is. I can see they must take a lot of time so it would not be a great money maker, but a labor of love. They are nice. Good idea for some series. It's good to see creative containers.

Yah, could have been the Japanese earthquake.

I was at the Snow Lake trailhead last Sunday (Alpental) and saw the forest pass sign. There is at least one there in the parking lot on a small trail out of the parking lot. The problem is that you can get on the road that leads to the trail without passing that sign. There have been times I've been unsure so just left all my passes on my dash.

Great story. Thanks for sharing. The cache owner of that archived cache has recently logged into this website even though he hasn't logged any found caches for the last two years. He still has two active caches that he seems to be keeping up. You might email him and tell him about your find. What a fun story!

A little more info, but it's still not really clear what is happening and when. I don't know if we need to worry about this or they're going to work around hikers. The original source I found out about this from said the current road out there will be closed in order to build the new one that will be able to carry trucks. I don't know where they got that information or whether it is accurate or not. Here's a few other things from online. The bolding and underlining are mine. MONTE CRISTO MINING AREA SITE INFORMATION Facility Site ID: # 2251399 Cleanup Site ID: 4550 Location: Silverton, Snohomish County Status: Cleanup Started SITE DESCRIPTION The Monte Cristo Mining Area (MCMA) is located in the extremely rugged terrain of the Cascade Mountains within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Snohomish County, Washington, near the west-center margin of the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area, approximately 40 miles east of Everett. The MCMA includes three large mine complexes, the Mystery Mine, Justice Mine, and Comet Mine and many smaller mines. Prospecting in the MCMA began in the spring of 1889 by Joseph Pearsall. A railroad to the Townsite was completed in 1893, and the 300-tons-per-day United Companies Concentrator was constructed on site. Mining was strong until flooding destroyed the rail access in 1897. All mining companies and properties came under control of John D. Rockefeller and the railroad was rebuilt in 1900. In 1903 Rockefeller sold all holdings to the Guggenheim Smelter Trust (later known as American Smelting and Refining Co., and better known as ASARCO). Two years later the mines were sold to the Wilmans brothers, then to the Monte Cristo Mining, and Metals Co. The last serious attempt at mining in the district took place in 1915. Today the MCMA is a popular recreational destination for many people each year. Risks to human and ecological receptors (plants, fish, birds, mammals, and benthic macroinvertebrates) in the MCMA are due to high concentrations of metals, and other metal like substances, in waste rock, unprocessed ore, mill tailings, and adit drainage. PLANNED ACTIVITIES The Washington State Department of Ecology began conducting a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) in the Monte Cristo Mining Area in 2011. The purpose of the Remedial Investigation is to gather data to determine the extent of contamination from historical mining practices. The contaminants of concern are arsenic, antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, zinc, and potentially other metals and metal like substances in soils, surface water, and sediments. The Feasibility Study will identify and evaluate cleanup options. The RI/FS process is anticipated to be complete in 2014.

Stop the presses. I just realized the date on that article was September of last year. The source I heard it from made it sound imminent. I haven't heard whether this is still happening or not. Does anyone have any news?? Has this been stopped?

It looks like they're going to do a massive clean up of toxic metals in Monte Cristo. In order to do this they're going to build a whole new road out there for the trucks that are going to do the work. I'm really not sure exactly what is going to happen. Here is an article. One line in the article: Lider said. "So, if you like Monte Cristo and the area around it, you better visit before the Forest Service hauls it away." I'm not sure what the extent of the work will be. If anyone else has additional information, please let us know. Article: Project to clean up Monte Cristo..."

There was a similar story that ended well after a local cacher took them caching, made friends and had a friendly talk. The person could bring some coins to leave and plant some to bring it up. I prefer starting out nice before getting out the acid pit.

I had to check the cache page to know if that was an insult or not. My main complaint is being required to wear pants while searching. Edited to fix smiley face. Nothing worse than a broken smiley face.

I get replies on about 1/2 the emails I send to cachers, so usually if I really want a reply I'll send at least 2 emails. I would next email a couple people who have recently found it.

I've found a lot of boat caches. They're my favorite. I've found 40 caches that are rated a 5 terrain, and most are boat caches, although not all. I've found more than that by boat, but the rest did not have a 5 terrain on them. I've found caches by row boat, and sailboats. Boat and island caches are my favorites.

This is off topic, is it not? Don't we talk about everything under the sun in here? Well, so what's the problem? Sure, go ahead and ask in here all you want.

There's someone looking for a ride to the Ape event. She staying in Capitol Hill. I don't know her, she just posted in the wrong forum and I thought I'd pass it along to be helpful. Hopefully. Woman looking for ride to ape event

Usually when someone makes that many accusations about one person, there is a lot of evidence that is not passed around. He may be guilty or innocent, but we can't tell from this thread, so I'm not going to place judgements. I'm just sayin that just because 4 wheelin doesn't write up the evidence, doesn't mean it's not there. Well nothin like a little drama excitement in the geocaching community. Do you think he's reading this thread and getting a charge out of it?

For who Mr red tape? While I can empathize with a lot of what you say, the attitude that you display does not make me want to show you that empathy, to be brutally honest. You are angry at the wrong people. Groundspeak did not make those rules. They are simply enforcing rules that were put in place by governing agencies, often because geocachers did cause problems by not seeking permission first. It is also up to you, as hider, to read and understand the guidelines and local policies before placing a cache. You failed to do that, and now you are angry with Groundspeak because of your failure. Now please go back and pick up the caches that you say you are going to leave behind. If you had enough time and energy to place them, you have enough time and energy to remove them. Great response. I'd give it a 9.8 as far as the geocide on this thread, meh, about a 3.2 A lot of misplaced anger. Have fun with your walking club. It doesn't look like you would have maintained the caches anyway. If following the rules to place them was too much trouble, you can't convince me you would have taken the trouble to maintain them. Cache owning is not for everyone. It usually good to find more caches to see what you're up against in maintenance and many other things before you attempt to hide. You're welcome to still find them, but it really looks like hiding is not in your best interest.

Keep me up to date too. I'm always looking for hiking/caching buddies. Email me through this website for last minute plans.

The radio this morning reported they thought it would be another 5 days or more before it would be under control. Estimations of the size of the effected area is 22,000 acres. The good news is it doesn't look like it's going to effect the Ape mega-event. The bad news is it's effecting a whole lot of people, wildlife, pets... uh, and yeah, geocaches. Here's an up-to-date map of the fire: link to map page for a recent article, click here another good article

Does it amaze you it was invented and played for totally free on Usenet, and they came along after the fact, and "commercialized" it? All the alternatives out there tout themselves as being totally free and open, even that horrible one created by a famous GPS manufacturer. Yes, you could find all 20 of the caches on Usenet for free, and all 200 of those caches (worldwide) from over there. The game has grown just a bit. I can find more within two miles of my house. Go ahead and list some caches on your own site. You'll learn the value of what we get here.

I can't use Deet either. (my phone just auto corrected that to "feet". . ) That stuff stores up in your body and is highly toxic. I eat vitamin b and garlic and that does a great job. They may land on me now and then (although not often) but they won't bite. If they get really thick I also use "All Terrain Herbal Armor".

But they do do it for free. You don't have to be a member to play. Who else does that? It is true it's in their best interest to do that, but they don't have to.

This question comes up from time to time and it always amazes me. Why is it people care how much money Groundspeak makes? Because it is fun? Then should Disneyland be free? You'll have to take that up with them. How about movies? They're fun. How many new movies would get made if they were free? Skip 3 a year and you've got a geocaching membership. Or 6 lattes a year, but maybe that's just in Seattle. I think it's really great they let people play for free. You don't have to be a member to play. What other company does that?

Well we already told you exactly where they'd be, but you might have missed it now. I hear they'll be full of baked goods.

Yes, and if it weren't for Groundspeak people would hide caches and we'd never know it. I compare the price to cable TV. How much do you pay per month for that? Geocaching is much better for you and a much better value. Turn off your cable TV and geocache instead. It will save you a lot of money and be better for your health. I did.

I would. Lame. There I said it. I'd rather have no cache than a bus stop cache. We have tons around here. I hate 'em. There's a really great puzzle cache near here. It's really a great puzzle. I expected something great for an ending that would earn it a favorite point. it was at a bus stop. All I could say was, "Why?" There are so many great places to choose from, and they had so many options being within two miles of the posted coordinates. I just figure they were lazy. I've been at a bus stop looking for a cache and had the bus pull up and the door open and the driver wait for me to get in. Then he's annoyed because I don't want to ride the bus but I was at the bus stop. I've held up his route, and a whole lot of people who want to get somewhere. Other times I've had to sit and wait until the bus shows up to take the people away, and then I have to wait until the people who have unloaded have left, and then more people show up. and this is a good idea WHY? Knowschad had a good idea. Check out how much maintenance they take first. There's one near here that is constantly disabled because it's been taken. There are creative places to put caches, even key holders. Find some spot with a great view, or a historical marker, or a secret great park. I know you're a creative guy. You can do it. Just don't be lazy. Put a little more effort into it and you will be rewarded with favorite points, great logs, less maintenance and the feeling like you have added something good to the community rather than something for people to grumble about how geocaching has gone downhill.

It happened again yesterday. We spent at least 45 minutes looking for stage one of a multi that turned out to not be there. While we were looking a couple sat down at a picnic table in the park and proceeded to use us for their entertainment and watched us. They finally got up and came over and asked us what we'd lost that was creating such an incredibly thorough search. I did a short explanation of geocaching, and the man said, "OH!! You mean you're doing a scavenger hunt!" I just agreed to keep it simple. Now that they were "in on it" we were able to ask if we could search their picnic table and they were very happy to be a part of the game. Earlier this week I asked someone to join me in the search. I was alone up a mountain in the woods, and was worried about falling off of it while searching alone with darkness falling. He had heard of caching and enthusiastically agreed. Together we found it. He was really excited about it. Another muggle turned "convert."