hydnsek

Ha ha ha, grrrr.

Where in Denver? Botanical Gardens, Chatwood. Read all about it: GeoWoodstock 14er

Way to go, Dick and Arlene! Welcome to the five-figure club!

Happy Birthday, Dick! You are an inspiration to many cachers, including me. Loved your Hurricane Ridge virtual back in the day. Good luck and congratulations in advance on reaching 10,000!

Don't they only mean what you have to do to qualify not verify. Agreed. GSAK is not the basis of the challenge cache, which is why requiring it as the sole way to verify would seem to be an ALR, or at least, an unfair advantage for those who happen to use it (like me).

I think requiring use of GSAK to verify completion would be an ALR (additional logging requirement), which are no longer allowed on any caches (no grandfathering).

How timely - I'll stop for this one en route to the Spokane Valley Cache Machine. Thanks! Us too, but on the way home. Alas, not me. I dropped out of the SVCM. Y'all have fun!

If anyone needs a hotel room for two nights, I've canceled my plans to attend, but alas, my reservation at the Rodeway Inn in Spokane (near start/finish of CM) is nonrefundable. Two nights (fri/sat) for $128.18. Email me at abbywolfe at comcast.net if interested.

How timely - I'll stop for this one en route to the Spokane Valley Cache Machine. Thanks!

The event details will be posted soon, but you'll want to keep your calendar open for the September 26-27 weekend on the Long Beach Peninsula! After eleven years of hosting annual Halloween themed events in the northwest corner of Washington, I'm switching things up with a late September event in my new back yard in the southwest corner. Look for about 150-200 new caches with something for everyone, beach bonfires and pirate treasure. It's going to be EPIC! Thank you, TravisL, for adjusting the date of the Quincy CM to accommodate all the folks that have already booked hotel and timeshares for the end of September event in Long Beach. Kewl, sounds exciting, and love the Long Beach area. I hope yours will become an annual event, too! Since Travis has had his fall CM calendared on the third/fourth weekend of Sept for years (timed to the equinox), fingers crossed that y'all can coordinate in future, so we can enjoy both without moves or conflicts!

"Only"?! 2626 x 2 = 5252 2999 x 2 = 5998 And that's just Will Attends so far, per your comment. There are usually more Attended logs afterward. So both seem to easily earn Giga status.

Even Geowoodstock XII last year with 1,484 attended logs would have needed a multiplier of 3.5 to reach 5,000 "attendees". And I seriously doubt this secret multiplier is 3.5. You are correct, sir. My previous intel was more like 2, so that's what we use to estimate the Going APE mega's attendance (2 x Attended logs).

I became a Charter Member on 01/05/2003.

The forest service roads don't have specific closure dates like the tunnel. Instead, they are dependent on snow conditions - some are XC ski trails when there is enough snow. Right now, your chances are fairly good for GCD, altho I haven't been up there to check. Can't speak to the Oregon locations, altho their snow situation is similar to ours (dismal).

They are planning to downsize the local event, not super-size it. GS felt the massive time and resources spent on the Block Party were detracting from their primary business; and second, they want to transition International Geocaching Weekend to multiple events around the world, so that more folks can participate (something many cachers outside our sphere have wished for). There will still be something going on, it just won't be a huge, elaborate affair like the Block Party.

Would a new theoretical idea in the future involve the current Block Party icon, some other new icon, or one of the existing event icons? Only Groundspeak can answer that. I've been told that it won't be the Block Party icon, since the Block Party will no longer be the motif. My guess is it will be a new icon for the new series of events (whatever they are), but that's just speculation.

That matched what I've been told by a Groundspeak founder, with specifics still undecided (so there is no more to know, yet). Also sounds like the global parties may remain on 3rd weekend of August, dubbed International Geocaching Day/Weekend. The demise of the Block Party will also impact our (WSGA's) Going APE mega-event, since the two events made up the destination weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. So, this could be the last year of the APE event in its current incarnation, as well. (Although no decisions have been made yet.) How so? If there are going to be global block parties on the 3rd weekend of August, rather than just a single block party, that doesn't mean you can't still have a block part that weekend in the PNW. The previous poster that indicated that they wanted to go to the block party in 2016 would have a choice for which global party they attended and would probably choose the one in the PNW and join you at a going ape megaevent. Um, because GS says they won't be having the Block Party anymore. They gave us a heads-up months ago since they knew it would impact the APE event. Whatever they do in the future, it will be smaller and more global. And you were the first person I thought of when I was told, cos I've seen your numerous comments over the years about GS having just the one event at their headquarters. So hoping you'll be pleased and that there'll be an activity (whatever it is) near you in future!

That matched what I've been told by a Groundspeak founder, with specifics still undecided (so there is no more to know, yet). Also sounds like the global parties may remain on 3rd weekend of August, dubbed International Geocaching Day/Weekend. The demise of the Block Party will also impact our (WSGA's) Going APE mega-event, since the two events made up the destination weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. So, this could be the last year of the APE event in its current incarnation, as well. (Although no decisions have been made yet.) In short, it's 2015 or never if you want to attend the current Block Party (and get the icon) and the Going APE mega as they now exist.

Yes, August 2015 is Groundspeak's final Block Party (which will impact the future of the Going APE event, as well). I hear that there are two main reasons: first, GS felt the time and resources spent on it were detracting from their primary business; and second, they want to transition International Geocaching Weekend to multiple events around the world, so that more folks can participate (something many cachers outside our sphere have wished for).

I'm booked at the Rodeway Inn on East Broadway in Spokane, which is just a mile or two from the start/end of the route. Got an online rate of $56 via Choice Privileges. Reviews give it 4 stars, which is good for a Rodeway. Rodeway Inn & Suites 6309 East Broadway , Spokane, WA, US, 99212 Phone: (509) 535-7185

Nope.

The 2015 Washington State coin is here! This year's coin is larger (2.25") and features the Washington state bird and state insect in black nickel. The fine details are really lovely, esp. in the background - better than the artwork can show. >> Order yours today << WSGA members pay $12 ($14 with postage) and nonmembers pay $14 ($16 w/postage). The larger coin size and higher metal prices made it a little more expensive this year.

My sentiments exactly. I have seen bears a couple times while caching. Both times I was alone, and both times they took off as soon as they saw me. One was eating blackberries right on the trail, and ran into the woods. Since the cache was further along that trail, I just kept hiking, right over the spot where he'd been sitting, hoping he wasn't waiting to ambush me. Another time I was biking, and only saw the back end as he crashed into the woods to escape me. I've also had one memorable non-caching encounter, up in Jasper NP in Canada. Young bear wandered out of the woods in front of our car and sauntered down the road in front of us. After a bit, he crouched and pooped on the asphalt in front of the car. This appeared to answer the age-old question, "do bears sh*t in the woods?" Nope, they do it on the road.

Is the tunnel open? It is usually closed this time of the year, but, given the low snow totals, it might just be open. Great point. It's probably closed, which will make getting Iron Horse more difficult. They'd have to hike up from Annette Lake trailhead instead of going through the tunnel. And it wouldn't take much snow for Iron Horse cache to be unfindable, since it's on the ground.