+hydnsek Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 one could easily get to 3500' on the Ruckle Creek Trail if they continued up to the Benson Plateau grabbing "The Hanging Meadows" cache along the way!!True. Although The Hanging Meadows will have to be removed if the pending wilderness bill becomes law. As will two of my caches in the Columbia River Gorge. Wow, that hike sounds fantastic! HOTM potential... As for the pending legislation, existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones. Quote Link to comment
+klossner Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones.That's the Groundspeak rule. The federal rules have more bite. If the new land manager imposes a strict 48-hour rule like the one in the Jefferson wilderness area, I'll have to pull my caches or face a possible hefty fine. Quote Link to comment
+hydnsek Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones.That's the Groundspeak rule. The federal rules have more bite. If the new land manager imposes a strict 48-hour rule like the one in the Jefferson wilderness area, I'll have to pull my caches or face a possible hefty fine. I've seen similar rules posted at the trailhead for some wilderness areas, including the Pasayten Wilderness, where they specifically called out geocaching in the first point. However, last I checked, there are still caches in some of those areas, despite the signage. I guess it depends on the land manager's awareness of the caches and how aggressive they want to be about purging them. Quote Link to comment
+evergreenhiker! Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 one could easily get to 3500' on the Ruckle Creek Trail if they continued up to the Benson Plateau grabbing "The Hanging Meadows" cache along the way!!True. Although The Hanging Meadows will have to be removed if the pending wilderness bill becomes law. As will two of my caches in the Columbia River Gorge. Wow, that hike sounds fantastic! HOTM potential... As for the pending legislation, existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones. Yes indeed! I did this hike back in 1996 when I was living in the Vancouver area for my fisheries job. It's a good workout alright. The plateau is a cool place! Amazing how flat it is after all that elevation gain. Good to hear that the cache will remain as I definitely want to get it next time I'm in the area. Quote Link to comment
+PastorDIC Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 one could easily get to 3500' on the Ruckle Creek Trail if they continued up to the Benson Plateau grabbing "The Hanging Meadows" cache along the way!!True. Although The Hanging Meadows will have to be removed if the pending wilderness bill becomes law. As will two of my caches in the Columbia River Gorge. Wow, that hike sounds fantastic! HOTM potential... As for the pending legislation, existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones. In making Ruckle Creek Trail up to the Benson Plateau a Wilderness Area I hope they don't limit people hiking in there. This hike (even though I have only done it once) is in top two hikes in terms of great memories of hiking with my father. There are so many different plant features in this area. Quote Link to comment
+PastorDIC Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Off the top of my head, here are a few for the list: Little Si - North Bend Sugarloaf Mountain - Kangley McDonald Mountain - Kangley Mt Margaret - Snoqualmie Pass (oldest existing cache in WA - GCD) Mt Si - North Bend Camp Muir - Mt Rainier I'm sure others will chime in with more. Mt Pilchuck - Mountain Loop Hwy (Purgatory cache) Mt Higgins - Mountain Loop Hwy (Mount Higgins cache) Do you have elevation changes for these hikes? I'd be willing to add them to my list and put them in the bookmark in my forum signature. Here is what I have so far: 1000 feet elevation climb -- FP1 The top of Forest Park, starting from the bottom. For example, start at the trailhead on Bridge Avenue and hike up to "FP1". 1500 feet elevation climb -- Angel's Rest Cache at Angel's Rest 2000 feet elevation climb -- King's Ransom Kings Mountain 2500 feet elevation climb -- Cowboy and Indian Indian Point 3000 feet elevation climb -- Dog Mountain Trail Cache Dog Mountain 3300 feet elevation climb -- Table Mountain Table Mountain 3700 feet elevation climb -- SiHi. Mount Si. Unfortunately it is located near North Bend, Washington, SE of Snoqualmie and north of I-90. You can (almost) see this one from most of Seattle! 4000 feet elevation climb -- Larch Mountain Picnic starting from Multnomah Falls and ending on OREGON's Larch Mountain 4000 feet elevation climb -- Nesmith Point Cache Nesmith Point trail starts at John B. Yeon State Park 5000 feet elevation climb -- 4895 Mt Defiance. Start from Starvation Creek (Exit 54, eastbound on Interstate 84). Mount Saint Helens -- Above the Clouds -- 4500 feet elevation gain. On the side of Mount Saint Helens. Elevation gain from Climber's Bivouac is 4500 feet. Mt Margaret - Snoqualmie Pass (oldest existing cache in WA ) Quote Link to comment
+klossner Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Two more caches requiring 1000 feet of elevation gain are GCWE40 (from the Mitchell Point rest area) and GC1MCDG. Quote Link to comment
+PastorDIC Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 one could easily get to 3500' on the Ruckle Creek Trail if they continued up to the Benson Plateau grabbing "The Hanging Meadows" cache along the way!!True. Although The Hanging Meadows will have to be removed if the pending wilderness bill becomes law. As will two of my caches in the Columbia River Gorge. Wow, that hike sounds fantastic! HOTM potential... As for the pending legislation, existing caches appear to be grandfathered in Wilderness Areas. You just can't place new ones. Yes indeed! I did this hike back in 1996 when I was living in the Vancouver area for my fisheries job. It's a good workout alright. The plateau is a cool place! Amazing how flat it is after all that elevation gain. Good to hear that the cache will remain as I definitely want to get it next time I'm in the area. Since Ruckle Creek Trail up to the Benson Plateau is part of my personal plan to get in shape for climbing Mount Saint Helens I need too ask: Has anyone heard lately whether the wilderness bill passed or failed? Quote Link to comment
+klossner Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 The wilderness bill passed and was signed into law. Here are the maps. The reviewers that I check with tell me that they have not yet been directed to change their handling of caches in the new wilderness areas. I'm leaving mine in place for the time being, but am not placing any new ones. Sigh ... I had two new caches in mind for high-elevation gorge hikes. Quote Link to comment
+Blue Power Ranger Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Just an FYI, the permits for climbing are now available. My dad and I are booked for mid-July. I'm pretty excited! Hopefully the weather is nice for the hike. Woo hoo! Just registered for June 20th. Hoping to stay on snow most of the way up. We did our climb this past Saturday. What a great time we had. Our log is on the Above the Clouds cache page. We had a fantastic time though and will likely make this an annual adventure. Having now done this, I can say that this was kind of a unique experience. I was a bit surprised by how much of a boulder scramble this actually was. Hiking on trails in training didn't really prepare me for this. The decent in particular was really a knee-jarring event. Thanks for this thread putting this on my radar for this year! Quote Link to comment
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