Yakima Cache Machine (plug)

1.8k · February 27, 2003

(Crossposted to the geocachingwa mailing list, too)

Today, I've created the web page for the upcoming Yakima Cache Machine event.

If you did the Bremerton Cache Machine, you know how fun this will be. If you missed the BCM, here's your opportunity, except that it's on the other side of the mountains.

"I'm sure she would have been thrilled to find so much pooh in a little metal box."

1.3k · March 15, 2003

This needed a bump.

Team Misguided has arranged for the Little ones to be cared for so we'll be able to attend.

We're all here, because we're not 'all there'.

March 16, 2003

I may try to attend. But I have some reservations and misgivings about these 'events' that should perhaps be considered by others as well. These are based on feedback I received about the Bremerton CM and also my own thoughts.

Environmental Impact--It has been said that geocaching is not as bad for an area as, say, a busload of school kids who all show up in a day and run around. But I have to think that all of the vegetation within X feet of the cache will get trampled if Y people are all scrambling to find the cache at the same time.

Parking--I would say that well over half--maybe even 9/10--of the hundreds of caches I have visited had limited parking. I mean really limited parking, like room for one to six cars. This includes most of my geocache hides. As a cache owner, I would have a cow if a dozen vehicles pulled into my cul-de-sac and offloaded a bunch of geocachers hunting Squeaky Cache. I mean, having an event in my driveway is one thing, but...

Sheer Volume--I've done some big hunts, on the order of 10-20 finds in a day. Although I enjoy them for the most part, I don't enjoy the feeling of being rushed. I like to enjoy the hunt. Any time I am in a hurry, it takes the fun level down a notch or two.

Event?--It's been a while since I have looked at the cache page for for YCM, but I hope that the criteria for logging it is the get-together at the end. Otherwise, I might be tempted to log an extra find every time I go hunt a bunch of caches with my buddies.

I suppose that geocache owners in the Yakima area know about this, so if they didn't want their geocache included in the YCM, they might say so. I hope that they would, anyway.

My two cents.

- Seth!

2.7k · March 16, 2003

I agree with Seth!'s comments. I've found at least 95% of my caches solo. I've gone on a few hunts with old friends or have chance encounters with other cachers. Caching in small groups like that is fun...everyone gets the hunt in. If you go with a large group, there's a good chance the hunt experience will be degraded significantly. So it's my preference to go solo or with a small group. Don't get me wrong...I enjoy caching with others, just in a smaller group.

March 17, 2003

Thanks for all the input... positive and negative.

Plans for the "Beaverton Cache Machine" are well underway, and I have a feeling even Seth! may approve of this one (more to come)...

"And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination."

March 17, 2003

Having participated in the BCM, I guess I need to mostly disagree based on what I saw for that particular date with those particular participants.

Parking was acceptable, and I don't recall any significant damage, even with the 15-20 folks who were there.

I guess I have to agree with the 'was it as much fun' part though. For me, it was just too much, too fast, with too few instances where we were all really 'finding' the cache (other than the couple notable exceptions where it took 20 people just to find a couple of them).

As much as I enjoyed meeting folks and exploring the area, it was far too much of a hurry-drive-and-log for me. So I'm passing on the YCM and other CM's as a result.

FWIW, I only logged (didn't claim a "find") for the BCM event 'cache' itself. I didn't feel right claiming an event as a 'find'.

Your mileage may vary...

1.8k · March 17, 2003

Let me hit your points one-by-one:

Environmental impact - true. Fledermaus' log for Forest Ridge Cache speaks volumes:

quote:
The area immediately above this cache location was very badly trampled! It looked like a very large animal, a caching creature perhaps, had chosen to lie down and rest a spell! I hope the ferns and etc grow back soon!

This was four days after the Bremerton Cache Machine rolled through.

If any of these Yakima caches are in environmentally sensitive areas, I'd WANT to keep them off of our route.

Parking - fortunately, we're quick If we're there for more than 15 minutes, we're taking too long. Anyone watching the BCM at Avron Children's Park must've thought we were all looney, but we were out of there quick.

Event - I qualified it as an event, due to the need to find the coordinates of the meeting place, and the gathering at the end. Whether event caches should ever get finds is a topic for another thread.

Sheer volume - This is my big concern, too. As I've mentioned to a few others, I really prefer to go caching solo, or with one other person. The BCM event was rushed, and I didn't really get to enjoy the different areas we visited. However, I did get to go to areas that I otherwise wouldn't have gone to. I'm almost certain I wouldn't be taking two days to hunt a batch of caches in Wenatchee, Ellensburg, and Yakima if I hadn't put this event together. Surely you'd agree that a weak cache hunt is better than not caching at all.

From a purely selfish standpoint, the reason I put this kind of event on is to give me a reason to go to a way-out-of-the-way area, and to explore as many different features of that area as I have time to. If that exploration is merely cursory, well, at least I've seen it.

"I'm sure she would have been thrilled to find so much pooh in a little metal box."

March 17, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by travisl:

...

Event - I qualified it as an event, due to the need to find the coordinates of the meeting place, and the gathering at the end.

...

Of ALL the 'event' caches i've been to, the BCM is the one i feel most justified in logging as a find. jumping jesus on a pogo stick, i had to find like 37 caches that day to log red robin as a find. Normally, all i gotta do is show up at fricking mcmenamins or lucky lab, drink a pint or five, and tell a random geocacher that their gcxxxx was really challenging.

but at the BCM, i had to drive around with a bunch of people i didn't know all day--to find micros in ballparks, ammo boxes in 200 yards of scrub, virtuals in downtowns i hadn't heard of, and tupperware in places that i wouldn't wish on my worst enemies.

I recently set up an event cache at a bar near my neighborhood just because i thought that the fact that people get dressed up as klingons to sing karaoke in their native tongue was worth sharing to people that i--in some weird way--care about. In retrospect, i should've made dancing with the star-trek girl a requirement for logging a find (she WAS kinda cute, in her own nerdy way).

Anyway, if joe geocacher can show up to one of my sad events and count it as a find then i think that things like the BCM and the upcoming YCM should count as two smiley faces. With little ribbons around them.

As proof, i offer the following:

A) travisl's events include a month of planning, pdf documents (updated more-than-weekly), and hotel and parking information--complete with maps.

oregone's events include about a 48 hour notice with pleas to buy my lower-middle-class-income-earning butt an IPA.

March 18, 2003

Caches that were in parks on the BCM route were generally right off the trail. Thus not much impact. The few that were, already had beaten down paths to them. Which begs the question, why was the cache placed so far off the trail, in a park setting?

As for the Forest ridge cache, it was in an area that was covered with a multitude of trash, and human waste. The area was pretty much shot before we got there. Now I can't vouch for the landscape of Yakima, but things around here tend to grow back rather quickly.

Maybe as a general rule, cache owners should be encouraged to add spoiler pics if the cache is in an area with sensitive vegetation, and or poor Satellite reception. Just a thought.

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA.

1.8k · March 20, 2003

(Also posted as a note on the cache page)

My original plan was to start this event at 7:00 a.m., but I'm considering starting earlier. Morning twilight begins at 5:18, so I'm wondering if a 5:15 meet / 5:30 start would cause problems for anyone.

Problems I see with an earlier start:

1) Some folks might be driving in from a long ways in the day of the event, which means, for example, that instead of leaving home at 4:00 a.m., they'd have to leave at 2:30. Ick.

2) People may have already made specific plans that make changing the time problematic at this point.

3) For folks driving home a long distance that night, that makes for a really, really long day.

Please post here or e-mail me and let me know your feelings on this idea. I'm inclined to leave it as a 7:00 start, but if objections are few and minor, I'd be OK with giving us an extra 90 minutes of hunting time.

"I'm sure she would have been thrilled to find so much pooh in a little metal box."

March 20, 2003

5am?

I have to drive all the way from the motel 6 in yakima, and i don't think I'LL even make it by 7am. i mean, sheesh, some of us have to spend most of the night before (and part of the morning of) getting in fights at local taverns or stuffing dollars in area G-strings.

Let's just keep it at the original time so as not to distress the four humours. That is to say, a mixture of coffee and bacon ingested rigorously at 6:20am may soak up enough beer to get me to the start point by 7. if i'm lucky.

'Specially if i'm out with a bunch of loggers the night before!

7.4k · March 21, 2003

I'm keen on trying for the record number of finds in one day, so moving the start time earlier appeals to me (especially since I've already done several of the planned caches). How about moving to the early start, and then those who want to join later meeting up further along in the route? The current plan calls for moving in toward the city core on the initial swing, so maybe that would work?

I'm not trying to exclude anyone or ignore anyone's preferences; just trying to plan for maximum carnage!

March 21, 2003

Now oregone, don't get to hasty. We'll just go straight from the tavern/strip club to The YCM. Hell that would even save hotel money for more important things. Like G-strings.

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA.

March 21, 2003

6:45am. (emoticon!)

2.7k · March 22, 2003

I've changed my mind...I decided that I should try out these cache machines. I'm for thre early start 530 am. It's sure getting light early.

1.8k · March 23, 2003

Here's the plan: there's been a couple of folks who have indicated that 5:30 would be difficult, so we can meet up with them at 7:00 at Painted Rock Micro-Cache, which will be our 7th or 8th find of the day (depending on our timing). If we're behind schedule, I'll run ahead to Painted Rock and let the 7:00 group know where we are. Maybe Oregone will have some bacon and coffee waiting for us

The early group will meet at Winter Feeding at 5:15 , and leave there at 5:30 to start the day.

I've posted what I think will be the final route. I hope to have the GC.com pages batched together as a PDF and posted late tonight or tomorrow.

"I'm sure she would have been thrilled to find so much pooh in a little metal box."

1.3k · March 31, 2003

I'd just like to thank TravisL again for organizing this event!!!!

That was so much fun, I'm already excited about the next one.

We're all here, because we're not 'all there'.

March 31, 2003

I just put up about 20 of my photos to a seperate album on the Yakima Cache Machine page at ClubPhoto.com

The link to the album is:

http://members16.clubphoto.com/yakima696688/1230635/

You can see all the albums as they are added by going to:

http://members16.clubphoto.com/yakima696688/

(TravisL gives directions on the password to add more photos at the YCMachine page)

I have a good photo of ElkMilk presenting Moun10bike with a jug of ElkMilk.

2.7k · March 31, 2003

TravisL did a great job in organizing this baby together. We all had a blast!!!!

April 1, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by evergreenhiker!:
TravisL did a great job in organizing this baby together. We all had a blast!!!!

Agreed! Peggy keeps saying how much fun she had. We're both very happy we came. Meeting all of the Washington and Oregon geocachers was fantastic. One of these days we'll be logging our 900th cache, too. ('course by then, Moun10Bike will be up to 4000 or so...)

Thanks again to TravisL for setting it up, all of the Yakima geocachers for their hospitality, renraw and the geogeeks for putting us up for the weekend and taking us around on Saturday.

Ron/yumitori

Yakima Cache Machine (plug)

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