The Navigatorz

Update on the road to Slate Peak and Hart's Pass. According to the Methow Valley News things were looking good with removing of the boulders. One mile past the slide area they found a large crack in the road. Now they need to start repair of the crack which may delay the opening for a few more weeks.

That's pretty awesome. Good thing there are geocachers in the woods.

I have been wanting to visit the lookout museum for some time and it looks like I will be able to this weekend. I hope Ray is there. I'd like to meet him. We'll probably talk about lookouts.

I come up with 8 finds (Sugarloaf, Harriet Bench, Naneum Point, A Beautiful View, Tip Top, Lion Rock, Mt. Sawyer, and Maloney Ridge) and 3 hides (Alpine Lookout, Heybrook Lookout, and Boundary Butte). Let me know if I missed any and give me the word and I'll sign you up. Thanks for the info on the Slate Peak road. Awesome views at the lookout.

I called the Methow Ranger Station on Monday and asked about the Road 5400 to Slate Peak and the guy I talked to said the road may be open in 2 weeks. Barnabirdy(s) said they also read the same thing in the Winthrop newspaper. Road 5400 takes you to Slate Peak: 7416 feet, where DEW Line cache is located (the 7th highest cache in the state and a lookout tower location).

Thanks Moun10Bike for the rule change, and for your efforts in creating and managing this challenge. In my opinion, its still the most challenging challenge.

I certainly wasn't looking for an easy way to finish the challenge. That's not the point of my suggestion at all. I only mentioned it to Moun10Bike earlier because he said he welcomed any and all suggestions. I just didn't understand the logic of removing counts for caches that were later archived. It didn't make sense to me. Example: Let's say some participants are unfortunate to have 10 of their finds get archived before they complete the challenge, and others are fortunate enough that none of their finds were archived. That could mean one person could finish with 50 finds, but another it took 60 finds to finish (all caches being equal, say 7000 feet each). Does that make sense? It's only a suggestion. Not a big issue for me.

I guess you know my thoughts via email, but I'll share them here with others. I vote that finds on archived caches should continue to count toward the totals, because at the time they were found, they were valid top 100 elevation caches, and one shouldn't be penalized because a cache owner chooses to archive his/her cache (or because a cache gets archived by Admin because its no longer maintained and the owner quit the game). There's a lot of planning, effort, and cost to do some of these high elevation caches, and it would be disappointing if elevation counts were removed from the totals every time a cache gets archived. The same thoughts applies to caches that get bumped off the list due to the addition of new higher elevation caches. Once a cache is counted, it should stay counted. Just my thoughts, but I'm happy to play the challenge the way it was when I signed up.

I calculate you will need 11 hours to travel from Wenatchee to Renton, via Yakima heading west over Highway 410, and stopping at Wolf Pack, Raven's Roost, and Sun Top caches, and allowing 20 minutes to find each cache. So if you need to be in Renton at 5 pm, I would leave Wenatchee at 6 am. Here is the distance to each cache from Highway 410 (actual road miles from where you leave the highway): Wolf Pack (Timberwolf Mountain): 18 miles one way Raven's Roost: 15 miles one way Sun Top: 7 miles one way If you only have time for two of them, I would recommend Sun Top (although at 5300 feet it won't count for the Highest challenge. Its the closest to the highway, has excellent 360 degree view, which includes Mt. Rainier only 15 miles (line of sight) away.

How about a three-fer? Since you're going to be on Hiway 410, drive on over Chinook Pass and near Greenwater drive up to Sun Top Lookout. One of my favorite lookouts due to its close proximity to Mt. Rainier.

Oh drat, I wish I didn't have other plans this weekend. That area is where I grew up. I lived just 13 miles east of Timberwolf lookout on Hiway 410, under the shadow of Mt. Clemans lookout. I used to do a lot of hiking, fishing, and hunting in that area when I was a kid. Looks like my brother, mountainhome, was FTF on Wolf Pack cache. If you have time, you may be able to squeeze in a trip to Raven's Roost, also a former lookut and highest elevation cache at 6160 feet. It is located further west and good roads to the top. I've been in contact with the Raven's Roost cache owner and he is checking on the cache tomorrow, as the previous visitor DNF'd and was pretty sure it was gone. If you're interested I'll let you know what I find out.

I pretty much do whatever I want. Unless my wife gives me the look. Then I decide not to.

If you go to Mt. Spokane, you won't find a lookout tower. The most recent tower was removed in 2001 and relocated on nearby Quartz Mountain. But, the historical lookout that still remains is not a tower, but the stone Vista House Lookout. The Vista House Lookout, was built in 1934 and the second story dormer on the north side was the original lookout. A couple of towers were built there over the years, and the last one was removed and relocated on nearby Quartz Mountain in 2001 for use as a recreational rental. Here is an interesting article about the Mount Spokane tower that was moved. I thought I'd provide this info because the cache page here does not describe the lookout history. So if you make it up to Mt. Spokane to look for the cache, and are interested in lookouts, stop and visit the Vista House Lookout.

I think she needs to slow down a little. Lotsa hazards out there ya know, like grunting bears and sharp rocks in the roads. Maybe oughta do more Wal-Mart parking lot lamp skirt caches.

If you mean "Fire Lookouts of the Northwest" by Ray Kresek, that's the one. It's a great book about lookouts, with stories, photos, and information on over 3,000 lookouts in the Northwest. By the way, Ray also established the Fire Lookout Museum. just north of Spokane, open free to the public between March and November. I plan on visiting it next time I'm in the Spokane area. I agree, Three Fingers is scary. On one side of the lookout is a 2400 foot cliff. You have to climb LADDERS to get to the TOP

I hear that road crews are working on clearing the rock slide on FS 5400. Blasting and rock removal began on July 10. Still no word on if the road will be open this year or next. Depends on the damage to the road once the boulders are cleared off. I'll add updates as soon as I hear any news. This is the route to two caches that qualify for the Highest Elevation Challenge, and one is at a Lookout. DEW Line (GCGK6Y), a lookout located on Slate Peak, elevation 7440 feet. Hart's Pass (GCKDQF), elevation 6620 feet.

Thanks for the challenge, Moun10bike! With the lookout challenge, its been a job for me to update the participants stats and maps as I receive notification of new finds. One big difference I see in managing the lookout challenge vs. the highest elevation challenge is that caches don't drop off the list when new lookout caches are added. With the highest elevation challenge, it seems it will be more work for you to update participants stats and maps as new caches are added, and at the same time update maps/stats as lower elevation caches are bumped off the list. I appreciate your efforts for making this challenge possible. It's going to be fun....and challenging. 350,000 feet? Wow!!

I couldn't find a map, but here is an aerial photo from Wenatchee looking north. You can see where the Wenatchee and Columbia rivers meet.

My Balloon Toss cache may be fried. If so, I'm debating if I should archive it, or go for another balloon ride and toss another one. Bombs away!!

I'm glad the fire didn't make it to the top of Burch Mountain. That would have been sad to see the forest on top get scorched.

Congratulations to Mr. Gadget #2 for reaching two milestones within 10 days of each other while on a road trip to Minnesota and back. Find #1600 on June 27 and Find #1700 on July 7.

Congratulations to Patudles on milestone Find #2500. And she found it at a Fire Lookout site. Roaring Ridge Lookout. Very Cool!

Unfortunately, a rock slide has closed the road to Slate Peak (DEW Line cache), possibly for the summer: Road Report - Methow Valley Ranger District North

I think both challenges (Highest Elevation and Lookouts) could co-exist and not diminish the challenge of either. There are actually 31 caches common to both challenges. Here is a breakdown showing the location of the common caches, using the areas defined in the lookout challenge. Area 1: 0 caches Area 2: 3 caches Area 3: 7 caches Area 4: 0 caches Area 5: 8 caches Area 6: 0 caches Area 7: 3 caches Area 8: 7 caches Area 9: 3 caches As you can see, three of the areas (1, 4 and 6) have no caches in common to both challenges. So, if someone participated in both challenges, and could get to and find "all" 31 of the common caches, only 3 of the 9 areas of the lookout challenge would be complete, and one would still need to find 19 more lookout caches (to get the 50 required for the lookout challenge). Personally I know I won't be getting to all 31 common caches, as some require mountain climbing skills, such as those on Mt. Adams and Rainier. So my guess is that on average a geocacher might get to only 15-20 of the common caches, leaving 30-35 un-common caches to find in each challenge (if the goal of the Highest Challenge is also to find 50 caches). That's still a challenge!! So I would like to see a Highest Elevation Cache Challenge. Besides, I can log a find on the Highest challenge when I finish it (I won't be able to for the Lookout Challenge since its mine).