The Navigatorz

Thanks Teese. runhills also visited First Butte recently and advised the same thing. As a result, I have added a paragraph to the cache page in Red letters advising geocachers that this is a manned lookout. First Butte Lookout. It might be a good idea for others who have hidden caches at manned lookouts to add a similar note on their cache page.

Another new lookout cache called French Point Lookout, located 8 miles west of Darrington, Lookout Challenge Area 3, thanks to barkman.

Thanks AndrewRJ. Its been added to the WA Forest Fire Bookmark List. At 8245 feet elevation it also quailfies for the Highest Caches Challenge.

There's a good article in the Seattle PI (Getaway Section) on fire lookouts, specifically Three Fingers Lookout. Check it out HERE Thanks xy,xx,xy,xy,xy,xy for the heads up regarding the article.

Two new lookout caches were approved September 4 and have been added to the WA Forest Fire Lookout Challenge Bookmark List: Thorp Mt. Fire Lookout (GC15M2A) by lakaco is located in Area 4. It appears the lookout is currently undergoing renovation. Stampede Pass Lookout Site (GC15JKC) by The Navigatorz is located in Area 5. The lookout was removed in 1974 and airlifted to Camp Waskowitz in North Bend.

This information is well and good...for us that read the forums. But there are many that don't, so I think this will be a recurring problem unfortunately.

Nicely done WR7X. Have fun Oregon geocachers. To those who enjoy hiking, mountain driving, breathtaking scenery, and visiting these historical landmarks, this challenge is for you. So when is Montana going to start one? There are 639 lookout locations in Montana (mostly in the western part of the state).

I have a signed copy of that book -got it at Ray's Museum here in Spokane. I thought about hiding a cache there, but wasn't sure about the burden to Ray... perhaps I could find a way to do a small one just outside with his permission... The museum is open to public, free, and he loves to give personal tours -it is in his backyard! There's even a restored L-6 there that you can climb into and get a bit of the feel of actually living there. I highly recommend making a visit if you are in the Spokane area. Just be sure to call ahead to make a reservation. Cheers! I finally made it to Area 8 of the lookout challenge this weekend, but first stopped at the Lookout Museum in North Spokane. What a treat that was. I met Ray Kresek and his wife Rita, then Ray showed me his collection...everything related to lookouts and firefighting. He has an L-6 cab in his back yard and a 1936 Guard Station which houses all of the historical artifacts. He had a collection of old Osborne firefinders, including this small one dating back to 1913. I think we visited for a couple of hours talking about lookouts and I think he was surprised I knew the names of so many of them, although the number I have visited pales in comparison to over 1000 he's been to in his 35 years with the Forest Service. Also interesting was the 38 species of evergreen trees growing in his backyard, one of each species found growing in Washington state forests. His museum was once featured on television on a special Peter Jennings report. Visitations are by appointment only so be sure to call ahead (ph. 509-466-9171). He seemed very interested in geocaching and wrote down the website. Who knows, he may be a new geocacher.

We did good today. We went to Huckleberry Patch Geo cache first and got a few, but then we went to our favorite spot at View Cache (by lucyandrickie) and did even better. I wonder if its because the hillside at View Cache faces South, whereas Huckleberry Patch hillside faces North. Anyway, we picked enough for several huckleberry pies. Beautiful view of Mt. Rainier today too.

Here's a couple in West Central Idaho: E.M.S. #10 Kinney Point - Helena

Thanks for the great report. Looks like Friday is my day to go out huckleberry picking. Going to try Huckleberry Patch Geocache. I hope my collection rate is better than previous outings (keep one, eat one, keep one, eat one, keep one, eat two, etc).

I had a little time to do a little lookin' for Idaho lookout caches and came up with 6 more for the Panhandle region: Looking Glass, Eddy Peak, East Fork Peak, Harrison Peak Arete, Hall Mountain, and Dodge Peak And here's 8 more for Southern Idaho: Baldy Mountain near Sun Valley, Anniversary Cache - Bell Mtn, Million Dollar View, Look Out!, Notch Butte, Daniel's Mountaintop Cache, Rookie Point, and Pilot Peak Summit again.

It has been reported by a geocacher that lives in the area that FS Road 5400 to Slate Peak and Harts Pass is now open. The Okanagan National Forest Website reports the same. This road leads to three high elevation caches (one of them a lookout): DEW Line (a lookout at Slate Peak and elevation 7416 ft) Harts Pass (a short walk along the Crest Trail to a view of Slate Peak Lookout, elevation 6256 feet) Windy Pass (a 3.75 mile hike on the Crest Trail to Windy Pass, elevation 6274 feet) If anyone is interested in finding these geocaches this year, remember snow falls early in these high elevations. This picture of Slate Peak lookout in the snow was taken by Patudles three years ago on September 17.

I'm on a roll. Wow! Lookout!

Here's a fairly new lookout with no finders yet: Jackson Lookout

How about Twin Craggs Lookout?

Trinity Rocks cache page and some of the logs mention a nearby lookout. It appears it may be in Region 8.

Sorry

Here is a good article with photos of the various types of huckleberries. Looks like the ones we typically pick are the Cascade Huckleberry and the Mountain Huckleberry. I also didn't realize the the Mountain Huckleberry is Idaho's State fruit. Article - Small Fruit Research at Sandpoint

It's nice to see the Idaho Lookout Challenge up and running. Nice job Lisa! I think you'll enjoy managing this challenge as much as I have the WA Lookout Challenge. I really enjoy reading the participants logs and seeing their photos. Some of the best scenery is found at lookouts.

Congratulations to Mr. Gadget #2 for completing the Washington Forest Fire Lookout Challenge. And of the 50 required lookouts to geocache at, half of them, 25, were visited in just the last month (since July 14). Wow!

I was taught not to eat the berries and other fruit from the center piece bowl on the dining table. Turns out they were plastic. Not much flavor, but real chewy.

Team Jac'd has 9 Bookmark lists, one for each of the nine areas of the lookout challenge. So if he wants to look up caches in a particluar area, he can open the appropriate bookmark list. He made them public so others can view them on his profile page under the Bookmark tab. Would others prefer that I modify the official lookout challenge bookmark list in similar fashion? If so, I would still have only one bookmark list, but I would put the Area number in front of the title of each cache, i.e. Area 1 - A Salute to Col. Bob Area 1 - Capital Peek and so on... By doing that, the Bookmark list would prioritize the list alphabetically by Area first, then cache title second. In other words, Area 1s would be listed first, followed by Area 2s, etc. Let me know if that would be more useful and I will change it. Thanks Team Jac'd for the idea.

Wow, thanks for the response everyone. Sounds like a good crop of berries this year in those locations. Now to decide where to go.

For the last 3 years in mid to late August we've enjoyed picking huckleberries while out geocaching. Our favorite spots have been just north of I-90 near Lake Keechelus and in the Smith Brook area near Stevens Pass. Two to three years ago we found lots of berries at these locations, but last year was not so good. I was up at Roaring Ridge near Snoqualmie Pass a couple of weeks ago and found a few green berries, but not a lot. Has anyone seen a good crop while geocaching recently? I live in Central WA and would be willing to travel to the following areas to geocache and pick berries: Packwood-Randle area south toward St. Helens, Chinook Pass to Mt. Rainier area, North Cascades, or other hot spots with a good crop (even the Olympic Peninsula if needed). Location name, geocache name and waypoint, or coordinates will do. Thanks