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Tacoma 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. If you think you've seen this all before, focus on the unique-to-this-event information in red.

 

(Link to dinner event cache.)

 

Tacoma: City of Destiny. My hometown. You'll like Tacoma. You'll like the caches here, too.

 

So fill up the tank, grab your gear, toss down some breakfast at way-too-early o'clock, and start on the route at GC12RQB, Wonder of Wood, on Saturday, January 7 at 7:15 AM. From there, move at your own pace and get as many as you can.

 

Dinner's at 5:00 p.m. at La Palma, 5701 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd. SW (N 47° 09.920 W 122° 30.700). It’s listed as an event cache, GC6XYBE. See its event page for details. Please log your "will attends" on the event page so I can let the restaurant know how many to expect.

 

Note that some 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 during the cache machine. The cache is, in the owner's opinion, in a sensitive area, whether it's environmentally unwise, socially sensitive, or physically fragile. Just don't get it. It's not like there's a shortage of caches in the area.

 

New on this cache machine: a 2.5 mile hike down the Sequalitchew Creek trail, then up along the bluff in DuPont. It's another 1.8 miles from the end of the hike along suburban streets back to your car, so you should probably figure out a ride between the start and end of the trail (maybe park cars on each end and trade keys halfway). Or heck, make it a 4.3 mile loop.

 

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. When someone asks what you're doing, the right answer is honesty: "geocaching".

 

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

 

3) One logbook entry for "TCM" is fine for most small and micros. Don't go filling up the logbook just because you want to mark your territory. 50 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 Tacoma Cache Machine FAQ:

 

When is it? When is the start time?

Saturday, January 7, 2017. Start time is 7:15 a.m. at GC12RQB, Wonder of Wood.

 

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, January 6, at 6:30 PM: An informal pre-event dinner will be at Carr's Restaurant, 11006 Bridgeport Way SW. Last-minute changes will be announced at this dinner and here in the Groundspeak forum.
  • Saturday, January 7 at 7:15 AM: Cache machine begins!
  • Saturday, January 7, at 5:00 PM: Dinner will be at at La Palma, 5701 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd. SW (N 47° 09.920 W 122° 30.700). It’s listed as an event cache, GC6Q1H8. RSVP at the event cache page. Arrive early; I've requested 40 seats.
  • Sunday, January 8: Nothing's planned, but you're welcome to get all of the caches we drove past on Saturday that made you say, "hey, why aren't we getting that one?" And Point Defiance is full of several that we're skipping in the interest of time.

 

Hey, why aren't we getting that one?

My standard answer here is that 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. I'm also skipping caches that just seem at first glance to be a little lame, because there's so many caches and so little time. I'm focusing heavily on caches that have a lot of favorite points, and I'm giving you an early morning loop trail hike in DuPont, so it's going to be a full, busy day.

 

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

Hey, that road doesn't exist!

What's with making us ford the creek?

Thanks for catching that! Let me know, and I'll incorporate it your fix into the route.

 

If dinner's at 5:00 p.m., why does the route go well past 6:00? 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, try to remember where they were, look at the old logbook signatures, or guess when we'll be at the caches you haven't hit yet. Maybe pass your phone number around for us to call when we get stumped.

 

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 may check with the owner (if disabled). I know the Sequalitchew Creek trail in DuPont is a long hike. I've done it twice. It's worth it.

 

X cache is in an environmentally sensitive area.

My cache is physically fragile and I don't want it broken.

By all means, let me know. I don't want to send 50 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?

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?

There's no breaks in cache machines! Just hold it. :-P Or find something on the way.

 

Rain? Snow? Landslides? Flooding? Rattlesnakes?

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. Red car icons show places to park a car for a short time (usually a trailhead).

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

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Couple things about this one.

 

1) It's mentioned above, but I'll repeat it here. There's a 2.5 mile hike in DuPont in the morning. I strongly suggest you figure out a way to move between the start of the trail and the end (e.g., find another cacher to shuttle you, bring two cars, swap keys, etc.) Otherwise, you'll have another 1.3 miles on suburban streets to get back to the car.

 

It's on the current draft as stops 9-18. From stop 9, it's a gradual downhill to the Earthcache on the shores of Puget Sound. Then it's a bit of a muddy set of switchbacks up to the top off the bluff, then generally level from there out. You could just as easily go the other way (18-to-9), with a rapid descent through the switchbacks, and a slow climb up from the sound.

 

2) I'm headed out of town this weekend, and then Christmas, and just general business busy-ness. This will be the only draft; I'll post the final on January 2.

 

3) Oh yeah. Here's the first draft of the route. Take a look and let me know if you see I've done something strange.

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#16 GC4YP0X Red Rectangles is a night cache.

#17 GC4XHAY Black/Silver is also a night cache.

Good catch -- I hadn't seen that. Several logs on each indicate some folks found them during the day, and it's marked as a traditional, not a multi, so I think they'll be OK to keep on the route.

 

#54 GC11C2W Spouting Off - Last 6 logs are DNF, but it's a 4* difficulty.

Looks like it's just a tough find. Almost 10 years old, with 154 finds and 208 DNFs. It looks as if it's just an evil, evil cache.

 

Should stops #6 & #7 be swapped? The route goes to 6 then up to 7 and then back down past 6 again.

Yup. Missed that when I did some last minute route reversal. It'll be fixed in the final. Thanks for bringing each of these to my attention. Keep 'em coming!

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You might add GC2V2MA SALAL-AMANDER by #40/#41 - it's right next to the parking lot used by those two caches (both have parking waypoint there). That would make it a three-for-one stop - many would probably do it anyhow, might as well make it official.

 

The parking for #37-39 is actually down the the hill closer to them, the map doesn't show the road but it can be seen on sat photo's (I did #37 a few years ago and used that lot).

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#63 GC632ZD Water Flume Trail: Capt. Robert Gray -- The letterbox has a starting waypoint a mile south (on 74th), with a poem to help you get a "tool" needed to retrieve the cache (part way along the route from start to cache). It sounds like the tool is fairly close, but a note should be added to warn people about the extra steps (retrieve and replace tool).

 

#70 GC5QF03 Spirit Quest - Old Pioneer Cemetaery -- the map shows an entrance off 74th (which the route uses) but there isn't any access from 74th. The cache has an entrance waypoint on the north side at 70th and 52nd.

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Just out of curiousity, I was looking at the maint logs on a few of the caches. On one in particular I had to scroll back 2 years before I could find where a person had marked it for maint. So, if the CO hasn't done anything to fix a cache that has a log that is so wet it cant be signed, should it be included on the machine?

Not knowing what the recent logs have been saying, maybe locals or visitors have been tidying up as time goes along.

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#60 GC4EFHP Washington Park

#200 GC5FXZQ Old Glory Cache

#290 GCV2QT Fuzzy Fuzz

All have recent NM logs about wet/unusable/missing log.

 

#20 GC3EPDV Movie Anyone?

Seems to be off listed co-ords. A couple of recent logs (but beyond the last 5 logs included in PQ's) list N47° 10.277 W122° 31.221 as alternate.

 

Nine other caches have the NM flag, but from a long time back (one was replcaced since, but didn't clear the flag).

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Just wondering if we will be able to get a list of the Tacoma Cache Machine caches in a gpx file or a bookmark list so we can load them into our geocaching app? I found having a list of just the cache machine caches preloaded in my gps to be very useful when I did the Tri-Cities Cache Machine last March.

 

Oooops!!! Never mind; I found the bookmark list.

Edited by KestrelAerie
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You might add GC2V2MA SALAL-AMANDER by #40/#41

Will do.

 

The parking for #37-39 is actually down the the hill closer to them, the map doesn't show the road but it can be seen on sat photo's (I did #37 a few years ago and used that lot).

Yup; I've been to that park several times. I can only place the parking spot on roads that Streets & Trips recognizes, or otherwise it generates instructions to go back to the car between each stop. It should be obvious to anyone seeking it, though.

 

#63 GC632ZD Water Flume Trail: Capt. Robert Gray -- The letterbox has a starting waypoint a mile south (on 74th), with a poem to help you get a "tool" needed to retrieve the cache (part way along the route from start to cache). It sounds like the tool is fairly close, but a note should be added to warn people about the extra steps (retrieve and replace tool).

Excellent catch. I'll point it out.

 

#70 GC5QF03 Spirit Quest - Old Pioneer Cemetaery -- the map shows an entrance off 74th (which the route uses) but there isn't any access from 74th. The cache has an entrance waypoint on the north side at 70th and 52nd.

Too late in the route and closes at dusk. I've removed it from the route. Thanks to the cache owner and Team Noltex for pointing this out.

 

#6 GC4EFHP Washington Park

#20 GC5FXZQ Old Glory Cache

#29 GCV2QT Fuzzy Fuzz

All have recent NM logs about wet/unusable/missing log.

#29 had its log replaed by Ms Marvelous. The other two will probably motivate the owners to get fixed when they receive several dozen logs mentioning the condition. :-)

 

#2 GC3EPDV Movie Anyone?

Seems to be off listed co-ords. A couple of recent logs (but beyond the last 5 logs included in PQ's) list N47° 10.277 W122° 31.221 as alternate.

Good catch. It looks like it should be on the other side of the fence from the posted coords. I'll mention it. Unrelated, I've also moved it to the end of the route, due to the addition of caches in Fort Steilacoom Park causing a re-route.

 

Expect to see the final route up on Monday.

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And also, Team Noltex is going to be hosting a lunch stop near the Chambers Bay stops. See Tacoma Cache Machine Lunch Stop for details. They've been amazingly helpful with routing, suggestions, advice, and keeping me on track. They've also got a bunch of caches on the route, so yeah, they're going above and beyond to help make this a good CM.

 

A little more info on the Sequalitchew hike: my teammates have already done most of it, and I've hiked the trail twice, so I'm going to skip it myself, but I'm leaving it listed. If it's as cold and potentially snowy and icy as the long range forecasts predict, I'd suggest you skip it, too. The trail from the beach up to the top of the bluff can be a little difficult to find. Coming down, it's pretty obvious, but it not a maintained trail, so it can be hidden under ferns and salal and other typical northwest ground cover. My route has us going up the trail, so even if you find it, it could be slippery and challenging. Mind you, once you get to the top it's one of the flattest trails I've encountered, but that transition from beach to cliff-top might be a little sketchy in sub-freezing temperatures.

 

Beyond that, as noted by Jester, two of the caches on that up-top trail are night caches, possibly workable in the daylight, but perhaps sending you hiking back the way you came.

 

Someone also asked me about the Friday night unofficial dinner, January 6 at 6:30 PM. Carr's Restaurant is at 11006 Bridgeport Way SW in Lakewood, at N 47.1573°, W 122.5048°

Edited by travisl
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Thanks for all your work putting this together! This will be my first cache machine. I've got the bookmark list all set up as a PQ that I can download Saturday before heading out.

 

When do you think it will be safe to print out the driving directions? It looks like that is still version 1. Thanks!

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Thanks for all your work putting this together! This will be my first cache machine. I've got the bookmark list all set up as a PQ that I can download Saturday before heading out.

 

When do you think it will be safe to print out the driving directions? It looks like that is still version 1. Thanks!

 

I plan to have the final route posted Monday. Terrible Ts will have to speak to the timing of the updated bookmark list, but it can't be done before the final route's up.

Edited by travisl
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I just came across this photo from the 2004 Portland Cache Machine. This is the equipment Wienerdog and Team Sagefox used for that two-day CM.

 

That's very cool -- back in the days when it was rare for someone to have internet access from the road, and we used FRS radios to communicate unexpected route events.

 

In 2004, I think I just migrated away fromy my Handspring Visor with GPS cartridge, to the little yellow eTrex, pre-WAAS.

Edited by travisl
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The final route is live. I'll repeat here: the route through DuPont includes a 2.5-mile hike, if you can arrange transportation back to your car. It's 3.8 miles if you can't. If it's icy and slippery, the hike from the beach to the top of the bluff might range from challenging to dangerous. The forecast at this moment is for snow/rain mix, with a temperature of 27° to start the day, 29° at the time of that hike, and a high of 36° just before dinner. You can still get a couple of the hike's caches right at the trailhead.

 

I'm also eyeing GCQRVP, "Dead End Crossing", as an off-route stop, just because it looks like a neat spot I haven't been to yet. It's just off the west side of page 7. On the page 1 overview map, it's the lone cache about a mile NE of the Nisqually earthcache.

 

I also alluded to it in an earlier post above, but I'll restate it here: stops 42-44 are further downhill than the route shows, which is why the stops are labeled "entrance to..." instead of "parking for...". The parking lot roads go closer to Puget Sound than is shown on the map. You can see the three caches on the zoomed out view on page 13.

 

Also, those forest-green splotchy icons you see scattered around, like the one ENE of stop 1? They're a badly rendered Starbucks logo. I know at least one cacher will be looking for these.

 

See you Friday night and Saturday morning!

 

And, by the way, I just realized I never mentioned it in this thread. This is the 50th cache machine I've organized, The first was in December 2002 in Bremerton, GCB295. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me, given me constructive route feedback, or simply attended one or more of these crazy free-for-alls. I've already got the next 33 CMs into 2024 tentatively scheduled, and I'm already looking forward to seeing where CM100 takes us.

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#78 on the final route is accessible from outside the cemetery, but the CO has asked for it to be done during daylight hours only.

 

I'm the C/O of the cache I think your talking about, it's actually stop #77 and to clarify it's Spirit Quest Home of Piece. There were several reasons for the daylight hours only restriction in the beginning, and I have kept it on mainly to keep people from looking for it at odd hours, like 2AM in the morning, or accidently going inside the cemetery when they shouldn't. Keeping in mind during the summer dark can be as late 9PM or even later. I think since the cache is accessible from the sidewalk on the street outside the cemetery that it is just fine for folks on the cache machine to look for the cache in the early evening, even if it is after dark. I have posted a note on the cache page as well to that affect. However please don't assume that is ok at my other spirit quest cemetery caches in the area such as Mountain View and Old Pioneer. Those are inside the cemeteries and should never be looked for after dark ever, which is why they were removed from the CM because of the time the CM would get there. But for SQ Home of Piece it's totally fine to look for it in the early evening hours.

Thanks,

SirKarp

Edited by SirKarp
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Travis and his helper have done a wonderful job putting together these Cache Machines. I remember doing our first Bremerton II Cache Machine July 2005. I have LOVED doing them since then. Keep up the great job and looking forward to doing this one and many more to come.

Edited by SeabeckTribe
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If you use the Geocaching App (New or Classic), can you get the numbers in there? I'm not seeing a way. The only thing I have come up with is either create a PocketQuery of the caches or put them into a personal bookmark list... I can at least limit the map to just those caches, but that doesn't show the name change (with the CM number) of the bookmark list, or if you put anything in the individual book mark entries...

 

Is there something I'm missing, or are App users just SOL?

 

(I use GSAK to load the caches into my 64s and Geosphere, so I don't need a solution, mostly just curious)

 

-TWT

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I haven't found a way either. I can save off a csv or a pdf file that has a limited amount of information in it, that people could use to follow along, either printing it out, or using a viewer app on their phones. It would not be linked back to the Geocaching app so they would not be able to log the caches as they go.

 

If anybody has any ideas, please post them.

 

Terrible Ts

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#78 on the final route is accessible from outside the cemetery, but the CO has asked for it to be done during daylight hours only.

 

I'm the C/O of the cache I think your talking about, it's actually stop #77 and to clarify it's Spirit Quest Home of Piece. There were several reasons for the daylight hours only restriction in the beginning, and I have kept it on mainly to keep people from looking for it at odd hours, like 2AM in the morning, or accidently going inside the cemetery when they shouldn't. Keeping in mind during the summer dark can be as late 9PM or even later. I think since the cache is accessible from the sidewalk on the street outside the cemetery that it is just fine for folks on the cache machine to look for the cache in the early evening, even if it is after dark. I have posted a note on the cache page as well to that affect. However please don't assume that is ok at my other spirit quest cemetery caches in the area such as Mountain View and Old Pioneer. Those are inside the cemeteries and should never be looked for after dark ever, which is why they were removed from the CM because of the time the CM would get there. But for SQ Home of Piece it's totally fine to look for it in the early evening hours.

Thanks,

SirKarp

 

Duly noted. Thanks for making it clear that this will be OK (for those of us who get that far along the route anyway).

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Last minute announcements:

 

Don't hunt these disabled caches:

Stop 18, Riding the Rails vs. 2, GC2MVTG

Stop 22, Revisiting the Red Hot Little Park, GC150WB

Stop 23, Stop Monkeying Around (a tiny tin cache), GC202Y7

Stop 26, Addiction Cache #27 - A Dynamite Train, GC25DDD

Stop 30, Paul Bunyan's Blue Bison, GC1F0M8

 

To get to stop 32, Paul Bunyan's Rip Repairer, GC1DXBC, walk from stop 31 or from its posted parking coordinates. You can't access stop 32 from the street.

 

Like pictures? Here's the above, in map form:

01dde96d-2d59-4faf-8315-0296f16fbb15_l.png

 

The road to stops 42-44 goes a lot further downhill than the map shows. Less walking, more driving, faster caching.

 

Dinner is at 5:00 PM. Seating is limited. I told them in November to expect 35 people; I'm seeing 68 will-attend notes. If you arrive late, and there aren't any seats, I highly recommend Pizza Studio next door, or otherwise Five Guys or Panera nearby. Also, if you want to watch the 5:15 PM Seahawks playoff game, The Ram is located about 900 feet WNW, as the crow flies.

 

The current weather forecast shows snow starting around 3 PM. Be careful.

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