TeamIDFC

Just wanted to thank everyone once again for their input. We did our trip, but our route was pretty constrained by the History and Fizzy combinations we need to grab on the way. That being said, a few caches of note: Green Mountain Cache (GC27B): One of the oldest caches in the state (part of the History Challenge) and a great hike/view. We All Live in a ? (GC1PFMM): I wouldn’t have believed it if we hadn’t seen it… Ewok Forest (GC6BC): A nice, easy walk for another History cache. Cool park… Cache Landing at Tullis Canyon (GCGMYK): A nice 4 hour hike to a way cool wreckage. Almost got aced out by the snow, but we found it… Hole In The Wall (GC15VJ5): Yes, it is in the middle of nowhere. Yes, it is a vertical scramble with all four hands and feet. But pretty cool… Sitka Surprise (GC7C31): That is a huge tree! Trollville (GCGTAA): Wow. What would inspire that? … not to mention some really cool lookout sites we made it to as well…

That's nuts. Sort of reminds me of Combine Art.

Oooh, that's perfect - thanks!

Neither? Just commenting on the temporary insanity of it all...

Do you like to take road-trips? Do you like to explore the state of Washington? Have you done the DeLorme and the Counties challenges? Do you plan 3-day weekends around road trips to collect more caches for more challenges? In other words, are you semi-lame like TeamIDFC? If so, we need your help! We see that the Memorial Day weekend is coming up and we need to road-trip. We are currently plugging (slowly) on the History, Lookout, Fizzy, and Webcam Challenges. That means there are caches all over the state we need to pick up. But, plenty of parts of the state are under snow at the end of May, so much of the eastern side of the state is out. Which brings us to this topic: The Olympic peninsula over Memorial Day. We need to get the 2 History caches over there: Ewok and Green Mountain. Ewok should be fine, and I’ve already called DNR and the road to the top will be open that weekend (even though it is the weekend before the “normal” June 1st opening.) We also need to get the webcam in Port Townsend. And Cache Landing at Tullis Canyon. After that, we are in the market for some Lookout caches that are available (aka, not under 5 feet of snow at the end of May), and any other caches we should seek and find… So, fellow cachers of the state – any thoughts on what we can get that weekend? Any we shouldn’t miss? Any other sites we might have blasted by on prior trips? We are particularly interested in any of the Lookout caches that will be accessible… Thanks in advance, Mr & Mrs IDFC (yes, MrIDFC finally ponied up and made an honest woman of MsIDFC)

For those that want to try before you buy, REI's annual Paddle Demo Day is coming up on 5/15 in Seattle. More info at REI's website.

Oops, minor typo...

Thanks! After getting back from the road trip we got all caught up in Hawaii preparations so we didn't notice the shout out... Speaking of milestones, we at TeamIDFC made a couple interesting new ones - our highest caches to date. Our highest ever is now GC3D6D - Pahupa'iki'i Maka at 13712 ft. It is a webcam at the top of Mauna Kea. We also got the benchmark at the tip-top - which is either 13803, or 13796 if you want to go by what's stamped on the benchmark. Our highest physical cache is now GC1H9M0 - Frederick A Coyaso [Mauna Kea] at only 8969 ft. Those were driving milestones, they are still pretty cool. 30% less oxygen really makes you trippy...

As folks that have now done Washington DeLorme, Washington Counties, Oregon DeLorme, Oregon Counties, and Idaho DeLorme - I can tell you that starting down the big-ticket challenge road can wind up costing you lots of miles on the road, lots of gas, and lots of time. It can be a touch addictive... But it sure is worth it for the amazing places you wind up visiting...

For those still looking for and entry paddle-craft, Costco has their annual entry into the paddle-world, and it looks like a pretty darn good deal. $320 gets you the kayak, paddle, foam pads and straps for rooftop carrying. Darn near everything you need, and they've even got PFDs on the next isle if you need one. The boats get pretty good reviews online, and for the price folks look pretty pleased. Heck, the seat-backs look better than our considerably more expensive Old Towns... -- Michael

Any reason you don't have Boot Camp, Parallels, Virtual PC, or one of the other Windows-on-a-Mac solutions so you can handle these one-off Windows-only apps? I appreciate the Mac perference, but all my Mac friends wind up with an app or two they need Windows for and seem to make it work. Advanced caching like DeLorme is much easier with GSAK...

We so DNF'd that back on 2006. The parking lot was OK, but by the time we got within a hundred feet or so of the cache the water was to the top of the goulashes. I remember it to this day...

I'm staring out the window at the kayaks in the rack and wondering why I'm not out paddling. Has anyone been out lately getting some paddle caches?

Can't disagree there. Particularly since some of mine aren't even in the park (Slough to Lake Multi), but I'm confident after my call that they will be folks we can work with.

A few of us received requests from the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center telling us that the caches in Mercer Slough were out of compliance and asking they be removed. At first glance that seemed arbitrary, but I suspected it was an opening bid to get responses and people involved. This morning I called the contact to find out what was going on and what inspired their action. It turns out they were out patrolling and found somebody scrambling on one of the banks, and they were concerned for the person and for the sensitive nature of the bank. Christina said the person identified herself as a "geocacher working on a multi-cache." The Bellevue Parks/Mercer Slough folks are well aware of caching and like that it brings more people out to use the natural resources, but they share the same concerns that most land-management agencies do: that caches are placed in areas that won't do damage to the park nor the cachers. They have no interest in having all the caches removed, but they do need/want to ensure they aren't going to be a problem. The incident above (perhaps someone working on Lake-to-Lake?) was on top of what she described as the "real problems we have are with Microsoft geocachers who place them in really bad locations, like next to homeless shelters." She thought maybe they were a different caching group, but I wonder if maybe that was a GeoTeaming event? In any case, they've only got 3 part-time rangers for all of Bellevue, so they don't have the time to be cache-cops, and she said she'd already gotten calls from several of the owners they contacted. They were very impressed with our responsiveness and concerns and wanted to work with us to look at all the Bellevue Parks and ensure there wasn't ecological damage being done by caching. Again, they are very agreeable and just want to find an appropriate compromise if a cache is in a bad location. So, that brings me to the point of this post: they have no intent to disallow caching, but they need help ensuring it is working in everyone's best interest. I think we need to get a liaison to reach out and set up a meeting/contact point where caches in Bellevue can be reviewed, some mutually acceptable ground rules can be established, etc. I know Hydnsek has done this for some land-management agencies, do we have anyone that might be appropriate to step to the plate here? (I'm currently not a candidate, unfortunately.)

This little guy was a few feet from "Elves Explore the Forest" (GCQTH0). Let's just say MsIDFC screamed, dropped her sunglasses, and ran...

Over the Labor Day weekend MsIDFC and I picked up a few straggler caches to finished off the Idaho DeLorme, Oregon DeLorme, and Oregon Counties challenges. As we wandered around the Northwest working on challenges we were reminded that nobody took us up on this offer, so we figured we give it another try...

I saw in the REI Labor Day Sale catalog that they have some boats on sale. It's time to get out there and do some paddling, folks...

I saw today in the Seattle Times that the Emerald City Search started today: Somewhere within Seattle city limits, a mysterious and unique Emerald City Search Medallion will be hidden in plain sight – and it’s up to the Seattle community to find it! Playmasons, LLC is proud to announce the 4th annual Emerald City Search. In celebration of Seattle’s rich and diverse music scene – past, present, and future – this year’s theme will be “Music.” From classical composer Alan Hovhaness to jazz on Jackson Street, Hendrix to Fleet Foxes, and Sir Mix-a-Lot to Quincy Jones, our great city has touched nearly every musical genre. In addition, Seattle has an incredibly vibrant live music scene with some of the best venues in the country supporting a dedicated fan base among all musical genres. This years theme will visit many of these genres and may have clues from many different parts of the music world (not just Seattle). Clue #1 — Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Careful: You’ll think you are one step closer this year, If you do what I’ve done just like before… In the end, even if you dismiss the President, Searching for perfection, it’s something you won’t find. http://www.emeraldcitysearch.com/Emerald_C...h/ECS_2009.html Anyone working/planning to work on it?

I really hate people that spout ridiculous statements with no data to back them up and try and project their ignorance on others. Garmin's main business is what, again? Perhaps if look at the 2008 annual report: 2008 revenue: 3.5 billion Aviation: 323 million Marine: 204 million Automotive and mobile: 2.5 billion So, aviation/marine combined is less than 15% of their market. That 71% that encompasses the Oregon isn't important. Why spend time and energy on the business that generates the most revenue? Rant about the quality if you want - that's legit. But don't make ridiculous assertions about the company's lines of business or focus that are clearly inaccurate.

With the two Seattle Blackout Challenges published tonight I started thinking about this cache again. Is there nobody in Pierce County that wants to own this? We've got almost all the infrastructure necessary to make it a snap to administrate...

Just to reiterate - if anyone in Pierce County wants to own this cache, all they have to do is capture the corner points for the pages and I'll do the leg work for the rest... We've got King, Kitsap, and Snohomish - how can we not have Pierce?

Hey, where are all the paddlers? We placed Rattle Paddle over a week and a half ago and it still doesn't have an FTF... I thought it was sunny here all weekend?

Yeah - that's what we were thinking too... When we first started doing geocaching road-trips we did northern Washington over Memorial Day (conveniently being gone when the house was being painted) and had no problems. Then we did central/southern Washington over Labor Day - again no problem. We did a lot of Oregon around Thanksgiving and had definite snow problems - but we were somewhat expecting that so we weren't surprised/annoyed. This one was a hopeful trek - we knew a couple were snow-problems (Lolo pass), but hoped the rest were surmountable. Lesson learned for working on the Washington Earthcache, Webcam, and Lookout Challenges...

Ah, but we are "child-free" so no grandkids... We'll have to settle for cocktail party stories...