Info on a beach cache that was in south Tacoma

[dunelakesfarm]

My son and I began geocaching in early 2000s after an intro by a classmate at PLU. I would collect him after school, load up with a supply of snacks & we would head off the find a cache nearby. In those days a 1996 Thomas Guide was the best resource for mapping a location that would get us close enough to hike/walk to cache & track with our little Garmin GPS handheld. My son was either a Kindergardner or 1st grader back then.

 

We found a cache bushwacking our way to a beach location in south Tacoma and I was hoping to get any info on what its name was, and its location. We had to park above the location and follow a trail (more like remenants of a trail) thru a nature area that had a creek at the bottom that dumped into a small bay. created by the creek. When we reached the bottom of the hike, mostly under tree cover, the trail opened to this fabulous beach that was at first covered in a layer of fog that burnt off as we rested and tried to guess where we were. We remember a small totem pole, and several shelters made out of large pieces of drift wood. The beach was mostly small rounded rocks. The creek was shallow and we walked across it to discover a parking area and road, and a sign that said private beach. 

For some reason I thought it was called Scooby Doo, but I am not sure. I believe it was in the Chambers Creek area, but it seems to be a smaller creek, and the stash was on the beach that looked out on Puget Sound. Any info on where this stash was and its name would be greatly appreciated. I believe it was a stash from one of the original developers of geocaching. As we still have a treasure from the stash that we have been waiting for the right spot to put back into circulation.  Thanks! Happy Hunting!

[Moun10Bike]

I suspect that you are remembering Scooby Doo's Sister Stash. It was archived a couple of years ago.

[dunelakesfarm]

I don't believe it was Scooby Doo's Sister Stash. This stash was a little north and there was no train tracks or park. It was a private beach and was not part of the park . I destinctly remember a small totem pole close the the cache. Thanks for the response. Is there anywhere that lists caches by state and date? We have moved from the westside to the eastside, and  changed our username so we lost our original  list of finds. Hard to believe it has been 17 years since our first hunts. and we were introduced into geocaching. Thanks for the link!

 

[+crs98]

Can you identify any specific cache you found from that period in your life?  If you can, you might be able to look at the logs from when you were in the area and possibly identify your old username.  If you can do that, you can click on the username and get a list of the caches that you found back then.  The key would be to find at least one cache that you know you found so you can look at the old logs to identify your old name.

[+travisl]

I'm an old-timey cacher in Lakewood, so I know the area a bit. What about https://coord.info/GC345 , Steilacoom Stash? The cache description states "While you are there, go check out the Steilacoom Marina- it's like something out of a Scooby Doo movie. Rather interesting but scary too!"

 

Based on the description you gave, though, it sounds like there's a private parking lot across the creek from the trail entrance, and I'm not coming up with much that matches. There's Sequalitchew Creek in DuPont, which has a trail down to the sound and opens like you describe. It's a wide freeway of a trail now, but maybe in the early 2000s it was more overgrown. See https://coord.info/GC2MVTG for a nearby cache.

 

Alternatively, there's a slim chance it's Solo Point ( https://goo.gl/maps/uNPbc3e3BgH2 ). That's on Fort Lewis, and civilian access isn't allowed, but there's also nothing preventing it other than signage. I don't remember there ever being a cache down there, though.

 

Third, perhaps you're mis-remembering the Chambers Creek caches? https://coord.info/GC9D48 is one from 2002. It's near the parking for the fish ladder, and a trail up to Fort Steilacoom starts here.

 

The "no train tracks" though... that's tough, as if you're on the beach between Nisqually and the Narrows Bridge, there's going to be heavily used train tracks.

Edited June 8, 2018 by travisl