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The Pdx Riverborne Cache Machine


Sparrowhawk

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A cool idea got born last Sunday at the monthly GeoMunch event in Portland. Get cachers and boaters coordinated like a carpool (boatpool?) and get all the caches on the islands in the Columbia River! There are maybe a dozen at the most but the point is letting the landlocked be able to get otherwise-impossible caches.

 

It will be a day event in a location soon to be revealed. Date is the second saturday of September. There is a specific park I am looking at which features a dock. We figure we can party in the park and take turns going out on the boats. Hopefully we will have enough boats to make it happen. ik'll reccomend that each cacher give the boat owner a buck or two for gas.

 

Stay tuned... I am going to create the cache event within a week... I just needed to create this thread first so that I have a place to link discussion of the cache event from the upcoming cache page. If you want to toss in ideas or thoughts here, that's cool. :)

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A cool idea got born last Sunday at the monthly GeoMunch event in Portland. Get cachers and boaters coordinated like a carpool (boatpool?) and get all the caches on the islands in the Columbia River! There are maybe a dozen at the most but the point is letting the landlocked be able to get otherwise-impossible caches.

 

It will be a day event in a location soon to be revealed. Date is the second saturday of September. There is a specific park I am looking at which features a dock. We figure we can party in the park and take turns going out on the boats. Hopefully we will have enough boats to make it happen. ik'll reccomend that each cacher give the boat owner a buck or two for gas.

 

Stay tuned... I am going to create the cache event within a week... I just needed to create this thread first so that I have a place to link discussion of the cache event from the upcoming cache page. If you want to toss in ideas or thoughts here, that's cool. :)

Cool!

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The name of the event cache is now changed to "Columbia River Islands Cache Machine (& Picnic!)". Look for it soon!

 

The nearest cache to the event location is "Chinook Winds" in Gresham. We now commence using this thread to discuss the logistics of this cache event! Wait for the upcoming approval, and then LET'S START PLANNING! :yikes:

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We already have one guy with 2 Waverunners (think "motorcycle for water") with a total of 3 seats to spare. This is a good start already!

 

Since I've never organized something like this before, I am going to organize a few "beer and brainstorming" cache events beforehand. That'll help us think this one through... hopefully it should come off with very few glitches dong it that way.

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Including some way to make sure that no cachers that wandered off get left on an island!

Good idea. Maybe a population count when everyone arrives, then count noses when it's time to leave. Some informal way to keep track of the folks going on individual excursions... but in a way that does not look errr... (word?) kinda 'mother-hen-ish'.

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I need to scout locations at Government Island and find a good beach for the gathering itself. I am willing to pay the parking lot fee PLUS a dinner and a beer at McMenamin's Edgefield for any boater that can take me and my friend out there on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Post here if you have the boat and the time... and you will be deemed a hero of the event for helping out. :lol:

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Oh great... I just realized... what do we do for "facilities"? Dig a latrine? I gotta contact authorities and find out the official word.

Dozens of people can be seen camping out or spending the day out on the islands in the summer. I'm sure the proper etiquette is just like hiking or backpacking... bury it. It looks like they actually have a porta potty on the busier west end of Government Island. Firewood may be scarce late in the season due to all the campers. You might want to consider several alternate areas in case a spot/stretch is occupied that day, although the water levels usually will be much lower in September, which will create miles of extra beach space.

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I am worried about trying to figure out how to properly run this event. I am hoping that having folks just show up that morning, together figure out the passengers-to-boat ratio and winging it from there will be good enough.

 

I have no experience in organizing something like this, and it makes me slightly nervous.

 

Should I worry? Worst-case scenario: would it be that even if there were 35 non-boaters and only 2 boats (each with maybe a 4-person capacity at most) that it would all work out anyway, that folks won't mind?

 

Should I just sit back and have a "Field of Dreams" kind of hopeful attitude about all this? Kinda flow and see how it goes? Any advice, thoughts, stiff drinks are appreciated. :P

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