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Columbia Gorge Cache Machine


travisl

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Note: circumstances may change after this initial posting. Look for my posts (with the icon13.gif icon) in this thread for all the important details and changes.

 

(Link to dinner event cache.)

 

Cliffs and ticks; highways and abandoned roads; rivers, lakes, and creeks: this cache machine will have it all.

 

Fill up the tank, toss down some breakfast at way-too-early o'clock, and start on the route. Sunrise on Saturday, March 23, is at 6:30 a.m., so let's meet then, at Bolderdash. From there, move at your own pace and get as many as you can.

 

Many of the caches have poison oak and tick warnings. Take heed.

 

Dinner's at 7:30 p.m. at Spooky's Pizza and Sandwiches, 3320 West 6th Street, The Dalles. See its event page for details.

 

Note that several caches on the route map may be marked with a "do not enter" icon (icon_disabled.gif). Those cache owners have justifiably asked for their cache to not be on the route, and for the cache to not be sought after this weekend. The cache is, in the owner's opinion, in an area that's ecologically sensitive, socially sensitive, or physically fragile. Just don't get it. It's not like there's a shortage of caches in the area.

 

The toll across the Hood River bridge is $1. Some other spots may require a Washington Discover Pass or other entry fee. Plan accordingly.

 

Rules:

1) Follow all traffic laws, and drive safely. This is not a race; there are no winners. The only loser will be someone who gets hurt.

 

2) Respect private property, even if the cache owner didn't. Post your DNFs proudly.

 

3) One logbook entry for "CGCM" is fine for most small and micros. Don't go filling up the logbook just because you want to mark your territory. 100 people's names and dates will fill up most one-sheets. Be kind and bring extra paper to add to caches with full logbooks.

 

4) As with all cache machines, if you find the cache, you'll be the one who has to re-hide it. Hide it as well as you found it. Handing it off to someone else and pointing down saying "it goes there" isn't good enough. Don't be a jerk. The extra 45 seconds isn't going to ruin your day.

 

If you've already found a couple of these caches, that’s fine - give us a chance to find the cache, and then we may turn to you for a hint. Suggestions and ''Count me ins'' are welcome on the event page.

 

----

 

The Columbia Gorge Cache Machine FAQ:

 

When is it? When is the start time?

Saturday, March 23, 2013. Start time is 6:30 a.m. at Bolderdash.

 

Where do I find the route?

Read the comments in the thread below. I'll post a draft route or two, but the final route should be posted on or around Monday, March 18.

 

Will it be one large group, will we be split into teams, or what?

We'll start as one large group, but after a dozen caches or so, the large groups will likely fragment, and on a long day like this, you'll probably be on your own by the time most people in town are waking up.

 

Is anything going on before, during, or after?

  • Friday, March 22, at 6:30 p.m., will be a pre-event dinner. Location will be announced later in this thread, once I figure it out.
  • Saturday, March 23, dinner will be at 7:30 p.m. at Spooky's Pizza and Sandwiches, 3320 West 6th Street, The Dalles, N 45° 37.350 W 121° 12.822. See the event page.
  • Sunday, March 24, would be a good day to hit those power trails southwest of the route.

 

A cache on your map shows the wrong place to park.

Let me know, and I'll incorporate it into the route.

 

If dinner's at 7:30 p.m., why does the route run way past then? Is this a two-day event?

The extra time is a buffer, in case you're so good that you'd run out of caches before you run out of daylight. I don't expect anyone would be able to hit all of them between sunrise and sunset. Of course, if you wanted to hit them after dinner, or on Sunday, I'm sure you'll be able to find folks to join you.

 

It sounds fun, but I've already found some of them.

Then come laugh at us, or guess when we'll be at the caches you haven't hit yet.

 

You don't have X cache on the route. Why aren't we getting that one?

I try to avoid most multicaches, most puzzle caches, caches that appear to be overly time consuming, and caches that the owner has asked us to avoid.

 

You have X cache on the route, but it's disabled/archived/a long hike.

Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route (if archived) or will check with the owner (if disabled).

 

X cache is in an environmentally sensitive area.

By all means, let me know. I don't want to send 100 people there to stomp all over it.

 

I disagree with the whole idea of cache machines. I don't want you finding my cache.

Sorry to hear that. It's too bad you've got a neat place to show us that we won't be able to see. Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route.

 

What's this gonna cost me?

One dollar to the tollbooth to cross the Hood River Bridge. Park parking fees, if you don't already have the appropriate pass. Nothing for the caching. Or, at least, nothing more than it would cost than if you did the trip solo (e.g., paying for your own gas, hotel, and dinner). I'm not collecting any money for this.

 

Lunch? Breaks? Bathrooms?

Lunch: You should probably bring a sack lunch to eat on the road, or plan on eating gas station food. Nothing motivates you to find the next park with a honey bucket like a week-old heat-lamped pizza stick. And restrooms can be few and far between.

 

Rain? Snow? Landslides? Flooding?

Probably, yes. Do what you safely can, and skip ahead when reality or your capabilities don't match the plan. Be prepared and flexible.

 

What do the map symbols mean?

Turquoise lines show my suggested route, but if there's a brown trail or grey road that I've drawn in, ignore the turquoise. Purple "P" icons show places to leave a car for a short time. And there's these symbols:

ce16d180-40c2-423d-a3ab-b976b7b4a2b2.jpg

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Bookmark list is now up.

 

Problems noted:

 

GC1M276 - Listed coordinates are bad. There is a proximity issue and the real coordinates are listed as a stage.

GC1CQ2F - I'm guessing it is gone. Last five were a DNF and no finds for a year.

GC1KG04 - Another that seems MIA.

GCMCK2 - I don't know. Solid find history then it gets real spotty with the last three DNF.

GC35AFQ - Bad feeling about this one. A bunch of DNF's, a find, more DNF's with another find.

GC3YETJ - Disabled with a it's going bye-bye note from the reviewer.

 

Pretty short list for PM caches:

C9210

GC358RG

 

As always, your on your own for coordinates, but you can log the cache via geocachingadmin.com.

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I notice GC1AY3T is on the bookmark list.

 

Is Travis buying everyone tickets to Denmark?? :blink:

He was, but since it is archived he has declined. Thought I got it out of the bookmark, it is gone now.

Well, phooey!! I was hoping for the trip. :laughing:

Ditto. I have a friend near Arhus I'd like to visit. :lol:

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I notice GC1AY3T is on the bookmark list.

 

Is Travis buying everyone tickets to Denmark?? :blink:

He was, but since it is archived he has declined. Thought I got it out of the bookmark, it is gone now.

Well, phooey!! I was hoping for the trip. :laughing:

Clearly you have to much time on your hands. I'll give the Mrs. a call and see if we can solve that problem.

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I can't take you to Denmark, but you might get lucky at Villa Columbia Bed & Breakfast, in Hood River. Someone from Denmark was there, according to the August 25, 2010 review. :laughing:

 

However, you might have better luck finding a Danish in The Dalles.

 

Regarding the route, I'm using a new version of Streets & Trips (yay, 2013!), but it looks like I didn't tweak the new settings to match my old methods. Ignore the last three summary pages of the first draft. Also, there's no reason that all of the pharmacies on the route should be highlighted like they are. I'll fix that.

 

I'm particularly interested in finding out about caches on the Washington side of the river. I've found "Windsurfer Meets Logger", and that distance and terrain is fine for a CM, but anything much further than that (say, more than 0.25 miles each way) is probably too time consuming.

 

That eliminates most of the Catherine Creek area caches, as well as the cluster about two miles east of Bingen, right?

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GC3VK00 - Tunnel of Spider

In October when we found it the irrigation ditch water was around 6-8 inches deep and cache was about 50-75 feet from entry point. It would be best to bring waterproof-boots for this one. It hasn't been found since I was last there. Maybe check with cache owner.

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FYI....Got a room in Motel 6 for $45.00 a night. That's good enough for me. Good news.....we will have DST by then....an extra hour to cache! Yippee!

How did you get $45/night? I was unable to get it that low when I tried. Do you have a gov't discount or something?

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FYI....Got a room in Motel 6 for $45.00 a night. That's good enough for me. Good news.....we will have DST by then....an extra hour to cache! Yippee!

How did you get $45/night? I was unable to get it that low when I tried. Do you have a gov't discount or something?

I just looked it up Abby and it's showing $44.99 - best available rate for single. We booked 2 beds for $53.99 for us there.

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FYI....Got a room in Motel 6 for $45.00 a night. That's good enough for me. Good news.....we will have DST by then....an extra hour to cache! Yippee!

How did you get $45/night? I was unable to get it that low when I tried. Do you have a gov't discount or something?

I just looked it up Abby and it's showing $44.99 - best available rate for single. We booked 2 beds for $53.99 for us there.

Oh duh, never mind. I was thinking of the Super 8, where I'm staying. Motel 6, Super 8....all blend together in my head. That's a good rate, but the reviews I read were not-so-good, which is why I skipped it and then erased my memory. ;)

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Yes, I just looked it up and booked it on line....personally, I don't ever pay much attention to the ratings from others because often they are not accurate, and on the CM, I spend so little time in the room it doesn't matter! A bed and a shower is good for me :D

For us the shower is optional, a bed and pot are the only real requirements. :lol:

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:rolleyes: oh, there will be 2 coins but one will be a surprise for someone. The fun part will be where along the route will I drop them. Could be that one cache that captures my fancy.

Now, the Code word is... Groundhog. :blink: Does that help everyone?

 

:lol: This group of 5 will be complete once the Coins are dropped. Then starts the next 5, this is fun. I may just drop off the next group in Europe or where ever. :unsure:

Edited by MtnMutt-ProDuckShins
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Other than JHolly's always helpful bookmark review, and a pre-event dinner suggestion from BoringGirl (details soon), I've gotten no route feedback. As much as I'd like to think it's because I got it perfect the first time, I expect it's more likely that very few of the event attendees are familiar with the area.

 

I'll have the final route posted on Monday. Expect the unexpected. If a cache seems like it's going to take an hour to complete, well, it's up to you. On this machine, your auto-routing may do better than my route.

 

Remember: cliffs, ticks, and poison oak. If you fall, get bit, or get itchified, don't blame me. You know your capabilities far better than I do. A wise cacher is fond of pointing out your assumption of risk thusly: "May also encounter HOT coffee (which may be HOT) while driving to and from this cache." Yep.

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Other than JHolly's always helpful bookmark review, and a pre-event dinner suggestion from BoringGirl (details soon), I've gotten no route feedback. As much as I'd like to think it's because I got it perfect the first time, I expect it's more likely that very few of the event attendees are familiar with the area.

 

I'll have the final route posted on Monday. Expect the unexpected. If a cache seems like it's going to take an hour to complete, well, it's up to you. On this machine, your auto-routing may do better than my route.

 

Remember: cliffs, ticks, and poison oak. If you fall, get bit, or get itchified, don't blame me. You know your capabilities far better than I do. A wise cacher is fond of pointing out your assumption of risk thusly: "May also encounter HOT coffee (which may be HOT) while driving to and from this cache." Yep.

 

I grew up in this area, I went to college in The Dalles and learned to windsurf as a kid in Hood River. Although I have not yet reviewed the entire route cache for cache (done about half so far), I looked at the overall route course and it appears to be fine. Jholly pointed out the "bad" caches that you will probably want to remove. I highly recommend that everyone bring along medical supplies (baking soda/water mix & calamine/cotton balls store easily) to combat poison oak should they get into it (is recognizable by its bright red leaves, will be small this time of year). The snakes will probably still be hibernating but it's always best to be on watch for them. If you have any questions at all please feel free to hit me up, I'm more than happy to answer anything for you. Sorry for the delay in this too, I should have offered my services earlier.

Edited by Hippychick1620
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I highly recommend that everyone bring along medical supplies (baking soda/water mix & calamine/cotton balls store easily) to combat poison oak should they get into it (is recognizable by its bright red leaves, will be small this time of year).

Thanks for reminding me to pack my Tecnu.

Edited by hydnsek
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I highly recommend that everyone bring along medical supplies (baking soda/water mix & calamine/cotton balls store easily) to combat poison oak should they get into it (is recognizable by its bright red leaves, will be small this time of year).

Thanks for reminding me to pack my Tecnu.

Yes thanks, I'm bringing mine as well, would have forgotten it as it seems too early here to think of it!

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Just a note to let everyone know that I'm not planning to set up shop this weekend (Cache Advance), but I'm happy to bring along some supplies if anyone needs anything. Please connect with me if you have any special requests. I will be at the event dinner, and hopefully at the pre-event meet up, but that looks iffy as we have a LOT of caches to find Friday!!

 

Kidvegas19 and I are carpooling with Scareway and Night*Cacher, and we'll be in Night*Cacher's black Nitro. See y'all there!

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The final route is up! Thanks, HamSX2, for your earlier feedback which I'd overlooked. Thanks also to HippyChick1620 for your feedback as well.

 

Here's the final route. Any changes to this will be announced at dinner on Friday and in this forum, but the PDF isn't going to change.

 

Oh, and the pre-event dinner Friday will be Friday, 6:30 PM, at Grace Su’s China Gorge Restaurant, 2680 Old Columbia River Drive, Hood River. I hope to see you there!

 

(For your convenience, repeated from earlier in this thread, link to Saturday dinner event cache.)

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Dagnabbit. Ignore those last three pages of the PDF. That's the second time I've forgotten to turn those goofy summaries off.

 

And, for what it's worth, I just e-mailed the police and sheriffs' departments of White Salmon/Bingen, Klickitat County, Hood River, Hood River County, The Dalles, and Wasco County. I like to let them know what's going on, so that they know ahead of time that the suspicious-looking people hanging out in the park probably aren't there to cause trouble. I think this might be the most agencies I've contacted of any CM.

Edited by travisl
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Just a note to let everyone know that I'm not planning to set up shop this weekend (Cache Advance), but I'm happy to bring along some supplies if anyone needs anything. Please connect with me if you have any special requests. I will be at the event dinner, and hopefully at the pre-event meet up, but that looks iffy as we have a LOT of caches to find Friday!!

 

Kidvegas19 and I are carpooling with Scareway and Night*Cacher, and we'll be in Night*Cacher's black Nitro. See y'all there!

 

That's right - we are team Lookout! Vegas Night Scare!!!

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Number 83 on the route: GC3JX2X Memaloose View should be taken off the route. After looking at the cache, I discovered you are to Park at Memaloose Rest Area eastbound. Someone tried to get it from the old road, but had to cross fences. Cachers can still do it but not in the order that they are listed since the approach is from the freeway.

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Number 83 on the route: GC3JX2X Memaloose View should be taken off the route.

Agreed. Even if you try and get to it from Highway 30, the dirt road to the nearby quarry is fenced off, so you're looking at a half-mile round-trip cross-country hike. Not a good CM cache. Thanks for catching this.

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Number 83 on the route: GC3JX2X Memaloose View should be taken off the route.

Agreed. Even if you try and get to it from Highway 30, the dirt road to the nearby quarry is fenced off, so you're looking at a half-mile round-trip cross-country hike. Not a good CM cache. Thanks for catching this.

Yep, it's a healthy uphill hike, even if it is a cache on the History Challenge from the first year of geocaching.

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Number 83 on the route: GC3JX2X Memaloose View should be taken off the route. After looking at the cache, I discovered you are to Park at Memaloose Rest Area eastbound. Someone tried to get it from the old road, but had to cross fences. Cachers can still do it but not in the order that they are listed since the approach is from the freeway.

It is interesting looking at the road to the quarry on US 30 there is a car parked by the gate. Wonder what they are up to?

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The two multis in white Salmon John C. Legacy I and II are on a private road. We went there today and was informed that we were on private property. I know this is a late notice but if anyone reads it then I have done a good deed. It is now owned by a gun club.

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Just wanted to post something I found out while checking into our hotel. We where talking to the later at the desk and she asked us what was going on with all the people coming in. We explained about geocaching and that there was a event going on tomorrow. She say there was an event called tip a cop going on tomorrow and all the proceeds of the tips go to special olympics. And the place it was going to be held is spooky's pizza so make sure o give your servers and extra go tip at the event dinner.

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Last minute changes, as announced at the pre-event dinner tonight:

  • Stops 24 and 25 (GC20HZ2 and GC2ZGJA): fields of poison oak. Use caution.
  • Stops 32 and 33 (GCD45B and GC1HKEB): parking is at stop 34, GC228Q8.
  • Stops 41 to 46 (all of White Salmon and Bingen): you're on your own for routing. Stop 41 directions are needlessly complex. Just take Maple to Marina to Larch to the park. Stops 42 and 43 are behind a gun range, as noted in a post above; don't drive down the private road. Instead, park at stop 44 and walk in. The route from 45 to 46 takes you the wrong way down a one-way road. You'll figure it out,
  • Stops 67-91: You're on Historic Columbia River Highway, which is narrow, twisty, and has few turnouts. Watch for cars. Use caution.
  • Stop 83, GC3JX2X, is off the route. Too far of a hike and bad directions.
  • Stop 93, GCKDXB, was found strewn about the area. Read its recent logs to learn of the current state. It's still findable.
  • Stop 97, GC3RYHT, may have bad coordinates. Review the logs.

 

Also, its a happy coincidence, but generously tip the cops serving you at dinner tomorrow. It's a great way to support the community we're invading for the weekend.

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