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Geocaching In 2004


The Navigatorz

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Looking back on Geocaching in Year 2004, there are probably one or two caches that are the most memorable. If someone asks, which cache found in 2004 was your favorite? Which one pops into your head first? Reasons why will vary from one cacher to another. Perhaps it was the view, or reaching the top of a difficult climb, or a unique experience associated with a particluar hunt. There may be many favorites, but if there is one or two that come to mind as most memroable, it would be interesting to hear which ones.

 

For me, I have two. Dew Line (GCGK6Y), by Barnabirdy, is at the summit of Slate Peak, location of a Firewatch Lookout Tower, Elevation 7440 feet, located in the North Cascades . You can get there by car and the view is breathtaking. Highly recommended.

 

The other is where I found my 1000th cache, View Cache, by Lucyandrickie, located between Kachess Lake and Lake Keechelus, stands out as one of my most favorite caches, because the day we went was perfect for taking pictures of Ranier, the huckleberries were ripe and thick for picking, and my Dad came along. An enjoyable day I'll always remember.

 

How about you? Favorite 2004 cache hunts?

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Let me see. Favorite cache hunts leaves a lot of room for thought. Probably my favorite cache itself is Guillemot Cove by Real Deal (since adopted by Belleterre). It wasn't that long a hike, but it was a tough hide. The fact that the last find was by a new cacher does not take anything away from my pleasure at finding this cache. As for hunts, two come to mind. In April I organized an event to welcome Sept1c Tank to Seattle. A large group of us got together and did a whole bunch a cacnes in the Maple Valley area. The other hunt that comes to mind was a group hunt with Totem Lake, MA, Jester and Kealia where we did several caches up on Cougar Mountain.

 

As I think about this question another day comes to mind. I hiked up to the Iron Horse Trail from Asahel Curtis Canpground and did Avalanche Shed, Tunnel of Light, and Iron Horse.

 

It is so hard to limit this to just a few, but these are some of the highlghts of 2004.

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Two of my favorite finds were my 600 find at Liberty Bay Resort. It is a underwater cache and I had to launch my boat at Keyport and motor to the cache. I had a Navy Full Commander as my crewman (Ajetpilot). I was presented a very nice Certificate by the owner Crimson Wrath. The other was Half Moon Bay near Lebam

where I got my 700th find and Bruce, Ajetpilot got his 600th find. Bruce has now caught up with me getting his 700th find in Saint John, VI so we will probably get our 800th find together. Dick, W7WT

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Being a newbie, I'd have to say my very first find, Taylor Landing Cache, for being the first and my 'training session' with TotemLake and LittleBlue to find Kingsgate Cache because of the learning experience.

 

But I don't think any cache is as nice as meeting all the great people that are cachers, both at TravelingViking's Event Cache in Kirkland, and on the 'got coin?' event after T-Day.

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Only two? Wow - that's tough.

 

OK. My top cache hunt was a DNF for me, but it's somewhere I've wanted to go for years: Above the Clouds, up the south slope of Mt. St. Helens in September. I don't know what the other cachers I was with threw into the mountain, but about 10 days later, it started erupting again.

 

Second would have to be Ring of Fire in the south Olympics. It got me to visit a piece of family history that I'd nearly forgotten about.

 

Other great finds in 2004:

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#1 is definitely Above the Clouds with nolenator, chubby forest monkey, Shunra, travisl, and some others - even though I went most of the way up by myself. Who knows when anyone will be able to do that cache again.

Which reminds me, I need to post pictures on the cache page.

 

#2 is the hike to Moonshine Madness and A Salute to Col Bob with Criminal, Curmudgeonly Gal, leatherman, and ironman114. Good hike on a crappy day with great company.

 

My most dissapointing is my second hike up Mt. Ellinor for a DNF..

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I'm with others, only two? Not enough, but I'll keep it down to three.

 

Did Pisgah Move? - I wasn't overly excited about the final part of this cache but without this cache I never would have gotten my wife to climb that hill. And it was well worth the hike.

 

The Last Stop - I had wanted to get out to this cemetary for about 5 years but didn't know how far down the trail it was. Turns out I had turned around just before it many times, and would have missed the turn anyway. Finally, enough nudging from CurmudgeonlyGal got me out to this very cool cemetary on a great hike.

 

Nutty Narrows Cache - No hike, no view, not even an unusual location, heck I drive by it almost every day. But this one was just different enough that it's been memorable for me. Even more so because GeoDude! (my 6 year old boy) found it on his own when Dad was failing miserably.

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With 704 finds in calendar year 2004 there were so many goodies that it's hard to narrow it down to just a few but here goes...

 

Purgatory at the summit of Mt Pilchuck was the site of my 1000th find and was unforgettable due to the spectacular views when I did it on Oct 1st. Jaw-dropping views, unlimited visibility and no one else at the top to bug me. As good as it gets!

 

Geocache GCD was a thrilling quest for a Moun10Bike version 2 coin during incoming bad weather and one of the most fun hikes I've ever done. Coming from View Cache you get to pick your own route, no trails!

 

Finally, DUNE on the escarpment west of Albuquerque NM was an awesome one to end the year. It involves a half-mile rather scary walk on a knife's edge with sheer cliffs on either side to get to a butte with a lone monster sand dune on top. Spectacular!

 

Honorable mention goes to Lily-Point-Roberts as one of the truly special unforgettable ones.

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Few of them stand out:

 

Moun10Bike's Maze....classic chase for the coins:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...15-3d6c757b7a53

 

The evergreen bushwack series by Runhills

 

Deep woods conundrum....FTF with fellow Potato team member Drinksmith

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ab-daf3b3a4ac58

 

Top of Tenerife....FTF

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6b-6622ccafe6c9

 

Hadley Falls...with CAche Ahead....two years unfound

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...aa-39e8beed44da

 

Climbing Oregan's Mt. Defiance searching in vain for a 2-plus year old virgin cache. Great hike and got other boxes on the spur trail home.

 

Mailbox bagged.

 

Scout Lake for 2000

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...a4-12ba2cd8141e

 

Last but not least, Last day of the year was an exceptional day sharing FTFs with Tolmaus as we checked out the excellent new trail back of Granite Falls. Teh Kilne series

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...44-7664721ccc14

Edited by evergreenhiker!
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I starting caching at the end of February. I have to say the most memorable caches would be Panther Lake,Bloated Head, and .The Pirate's Parrot.

 

Panther Lake becacuse it was my first find. That is where all the excitement and addiction started. Then it would have to be the group night hunt for bloated head on Halloween for my 100th find. Finally, the Pirate's Parrot for solving a tough puzzle and being CoFTF.

 

I also enjoyed meeting lots of fellow cachers my first year. A few out while caching and many others attending events. I look forward to a great 2nd year of caching!

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Three special caches come to my thought as the most memorable of the past year:

 

FTF on Liberty Bay Resort by Crimson Wrath, in Poulsbo -- a fun "underwater" cache reached only by kayak or small boat at high tide.

 

Kettles Maze by Whidbey Walk, in Coupeville -- an extensive hike through interesting glacial formations. This cache tested both my mental and physical mettle -- sadly, I was the last-to-find before it was archived.

 

Lastly, Half Moon Cache by Slinger91 in Lebam -- this cache was special in that it was the one I chose to do for my 1000th cache find on December 26, the anniversary of my first cache find one year ago, and also for the special surprise waiting at the end of trail.

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We've been lucky to host several visiting cachers in 2004 and make a point to take them to Whidbey Island to do some of our favorite caches. These are caches that I have done more than once and fully expect to do again in the future.

 

Ebey Bluffs will always be on my all time top caches list. Technically I found it the first time in 2003, but I revisited the cache twice in 2004 so it counts!!! Light House Point is also a great cache, did that one twice in 2004.

 

I know it's now 2005, but we just got back from a day of caching that started out at Half Moon Cache. I'll definatly second Half-Canadian's thumbs up on that one, it is really special.

Edited by Wander Lost
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I went on some particularly great hikes this past year with a great a great group of people. In no particular order, these two made my top 10 list for 2004.

 

Melakwa Lakes. This is a hike that will cause you to consider turning around before reaching your goal. Stick with it, it is worth the hike. Just bring plenty of water to drink or a good water filter.

 

Mt. Townsend. This one is a must do hike. I can't tell you how many times I questioned why I chose to go on this hike, but with the right company and a little perseverance, you'll agree with me when you get to the summit.

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There have been a lot of great caches in 2004, but the ones that come to mind immediatly are:

 

Valhalla by mohai

 

A great hike that I enjoyed with great company.

 

Dew Line by Barnabirdy(s)

 

I had been to this spot several times before and the cache gave me a great excuse to go back.

 

Light House Point by Whidbey Walk

 

A great opportunity to fight my fear of heights!

 

China Wall by Xaclue

 

A great piece of forgotten history in a totally unexpected location

Edited by Right Wing Wacko
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We started in 2004 so only have this year to compare to it's going to be hard to top my two favorite so far.

My favorite was a hike I did with my brother the hike was great and the cache was just a bonus. I logged it under Ray8251 because Rose said that I couldn't use Ray&Rose on my trip to Nevada. We did it on the longest day of the year and it was a good thing the trip took 13 hours. Starting out at the parking lot at 8,000 ft and ending up on the top of MT Whitney at 14,500 ft, it was a good thing I had my brother with me he is in a lot better shape than I'm in so by the time we got to the top I was more than a little light head, and he is the one that found the cache.

Peak-A-Boo: Mt. Whitney

My second favorite has to be the one I found a Mountain Bike Coin on, the only thing I have to regret on that hike was that I didn't check the camera when I headed out and when I got on top and tried to take some pictures I found out the batteries were dead.

Maple Pass Loop Trail Cache

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As far as the most spectacular cache which combined a nice short (1 mile round trip) hike with awe inspiring views, my vote goes to Frenchman Coulee Rib . AS for the most fun, I was an adult leader for a short backpack trip with Boy Scout Troop8 from Wenatchee to the Ancient lakes basin Just noth of I-90 near George and Quincy WA. The boys were all introduced to Geocaching and worked on their Backpacking Merit Badges in one swell foop. At least one of the boys got a GPS for Christmas. I took several eager sixth graders to Potholes Coulee, Ancient Lake Amphitheater, and Ancient Cliff View. Those 3 caches all together were about a 7 or 8 mile hike in an awesome desert environment. You can camp in the ancient lakes basin and catch your breakfast in the southeasternmost lake. Big fun.!

 

Thanks to all who have done the leg work to make this game what it is.

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While overall my caching time dropped a bit this year, I had the opportunity to go on some really fabulous hunts. I have a hard time narrowing them down to 1 or 2, so here instead is a handful:

  • Warthog Down by sponge - a spectacular hike to an A-10 crash site in the desert of Arizona. A group of us visited Las Vegas made the trek out to this one in 90°+ heat. Tough but well worth it!
     
  • Melakwa's Heaven by evergreenhiker! - another fantastic group hike into some spectacular northwest scenery. This will be on my recommended list for a long time!
     
  • Valhalla by mohai - yet another fantastic group outing that included a wonderful hike, scenery and company.
     
  • Diamond in the Rough by Yellow Alligator - a great multicache just south of Spokane that is a true diamond of a location. It is a ranch that was turned over to the county for a park and is very pastoral. A thunderstorm moved through while I was there and I was treated to some dramatic scenes followed by a beautiful rainbow!
     
  • Frenchman Coulee Rib by Bruce Bjornstad - a short hike to some really impressive scenery highlighting Washington's epic ice age floods.
     
  • Lily-Point-Roberts by Terry and Gillian - a fabulous location very reminiscent of one of my all-time favorites, EraSeek's Ebey Cliffs.

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Hmmm, Bremen`s Tierleben - a 12 part multi that took me on a 7 mile walk through a 1000 year old city in Northern Germany. Also Valentin near a WW-II U-boat factory up near the North Sea. Amazing seeing the bunker-busting bomb damage done by the Allies. Got 4 new cachers from WA and Iowa hooked on this one during a long lunch break.

 

Locally, has to be Ghost Ship BB-3 in Portland - a lovely 3-mile round trip along the Willamette in Portland on a 85 degree summer day, and of course Iron Horse which got me on a solo, scared half to death due to insufficient light, freezing from wind howling through the fog-laden Snoqualmie Tunnel excuse to get the bike out just before it closed for the winter. Can't wait for the tunnel to reopen to go back !!!!

 

Best DNF was another cache in Bremen Germany, Bremen: Drop Tower - Blockland (beta) which is near the largest microgravity research drop tower in Europe, pretty cool visiting the real deal before exploring the cool soda-bottle wannabe in Portland at OMSI.. Great 4 km round trip walk, got two 'more' coworkers interested in caching in this one...

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For me, a couple of San Juan Island caches:

 

San Juan Sunset --- A great hike up a seemingly endless hill with the kids. We were new to the hobby at the time, so were very proud of our accomplishment. The view at the end was unbelievable.

 

The other was a DNF (solo trip, thank the lord). It was where I learned a painful, much-needed lesson (don't leave the flippin trail). Jones Island. I got up very early. Inflated the kayak in front of laughing dog-walkers, and paddled to the island through choppy waters. Beached the kayak and started off down what I thought was a trail. What began as tame woodland turned into a tangled valley of fallen giants. I pushed on through, climbing over mammoth logs, crawling under craggly logs, sliding down mud banks, tiptoing across rotting, moss-slicked trunks. I went from the South side, to the North side, in about two and a half hours. Got to the North, looking like a tramp, and still had about .3 miles left. I checked the watch, checked my condition, and decided I couldn't get there (we were checking out that morning and catching a ferry, so I had a time limit to paddle back, shower up, and pack). In looking for a trail back, I walked two hundred yards, avoiding the scout campsites, and found the freeway of a trail between the two sides. I walked back to the south end, and my beached kayyak in 20 minutes. I've broken the golden rule a few times since (always to my detriment), but will never forget the Jones Island experience. I'll be back next summer to get that one.

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Here are some of my highlights.

 

You can see Forever The view and area us wonderful. Watched the sunset here.

 

Frenchman Coulee Rib Again a great view but very different terrain.

 

Fourth Corner Fall-Out My favorite event, Half-Canadian did a great job and it was on my birthday.

 

Iron Goat Trail Great walk of history.

 

Lucy's Lost Again Most laughs had at this one. You'd have to hear the story of this find to understand. (Lucy knows)

 

Where the Coyotes Howl Favorite cache container, & the the first time the team of Patudles and Robinego set out together. :D

 

Edit: Ooops ~ Tudles

Edited by Patudles
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I made your list MA. Whoo Hoo!

 

1) Above the Clouds -- Thanks Bull

2) Scout Lake -- Thanks Marcus

3) Maple Pass -- Thanks again Bull

 

Peace Mexican style, Nolenator

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My favorite cache that I did in 2004 would be Let Us Pass Over the River.... For several reasons, but what I will remember most is my four year old daughter asking me to read her the markers as we walked along. She had an uncanny ability to pick out markers of children who had died far too young. She asked lots of questions.

 

My favorite cache that I did and was placed in 2004 would be Walking Tour of the Solar System. A really fun walk. I have to admit that OTTFF does come really close.

 

Hmmm, I see a trend. All of these caches I did with my daughter along.

 

I just asked my daughter what her favorite was, her first answer was Zoe and the Swamp Monster, which has been archived. Her next answer was the caches we have done with GO.

 

Thanks for the thread, a couple were already on my to do list for 2005, but I have added several more.

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I've been thinking about this one for awhile. Having to chose 1 or 2 is tough! Since others have already mentioned "Otter Falls", which is up there on my list, I'm going to list a couple of others that don't get a ton of visitors, but were great fun and could use some publicity.

 

Dragon's Lair

 

Follow the rainbow

 

Follow the rainbow (AKA Snoquerra Falls) is one of my all time favorite hikes. I try to get up there at least once a year. If anyone wants to go, send me line and I'll go with if I'm available.

 

Og

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It's time to log on and say how much I appreciate the lists so far. There are a lot that I'll have to put on my list of places to visit, especially up in the mountains. If only I can get some hiking partners too, but that's another story. Thanks everyone.

 

My list of favorites last year are as follows:

 

Challenges:

Views:

England:

  • Buttertubs by sleepless42
  • A bridge too far... by harrogate hunters
    (how often can you find three bridges that form a equalateral triangle with a fourth bridge directly in the center?)

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Our nomination for “cache of the year” is Blythes Bounty (GC72D4) in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. The cache itself was unremarkable but the hike took us to the upper benches where flocks of hundreds of Sandhill Cranes were stopping on their migration. We were so high the flocks were only a few hundred feet over our heads as they came in. The next weekend was the Othello Sandhill Crane festival and we assume the birds had arrived early and were in a holding pattern.

Our first runner-up is Lookout Below (GCA901). It is a nice drive and hike and gave us spectacular views of Mt. Rainer, The Enchantments and many other peaks.

Barnabirdy(s)

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[1)  Above the Clouds --  Thanks Bull

The man to thank for that is EraSeek. That cache is the reason I decided to reserve permits in the first place.

 

3)  Maple Pass --  Thanks again Bull

 

You're welcome. :laughing:

You are right Bull, thanks EraSeek! I almost forgot, all the Wednesday after work hikes with Runhills. Run, you are the MAN! Peace, Nolenator

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I have three faves that come to mind:

 

"Early bird gets the cache" in San Francisco: It was great to find a cache is such an urban area like the North Beach area. The views that day were awesome. It was my first time to SF too.

 

"Monty Python's Holy Grail" in Doune, Scotland: Doune Castle is where the movie was filmed. The castle is not some big glamourous place like Buckingham or Windsor. Its rather medieval though its available as a rental hall for events. That movie was my favorite as a kid. In fact I had my mom get a coconut, split it in two so I could "clomp, clomp, clomp" around for a summer. The dialogue also come back to me while finding the cache and exploring the castle.

 

"The other side of Edinburgh": We didnt have a street map of Edinburgh downloaded into our GPS so we just hopped a double decker bus and went exploring. The cache was along a public trail on the Water of Leith (Leith River in american). It was very fun and also my first trip to Scotland.

 

I gave you three not two, sorry.....

 

1/3 Brodiebunch

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Hmm. When The Navigatorz started this thread I couldn't think of any memorable caches, but then maybe my memory isn't all that great. Recently, however, I went back to Spokane for my niece's wedding, and I remembered some very beautiful areas that I had visited there.

 

On July 25, 2004 I went with a group of cachers on the "Valhalla" hike: nearly 9 miles of trail in the Steven's Pass area. Jeremy took along his video camera, and produced a wonderful movie about it. I'm not in it very much -- if at all. I was too slow most of the time, and I started early after lunch so as to not slow folks down too much. I would liked to have done more of these cache hikes, but only managed to get to the one last year. :P

 

On August 9, 2004 I found the "Sea/Land" cache. That had a wondeful hike to get up to the cache. (I say it "had" about the hike, because there was a lot of home construction being done on the NorthWest face of the hill.) Here is my log for Sea/Land.

 

On August 11, 2004 I found the "Semi-Summit" cache (GC15DA). I took 17 photographs out there, but forgot to upload them until now. An absolutely beautiful place! Here is my log for the Semi-Summit cache.

 

Later that day I found "Another View of Deep Creek" (GCG109) There I only took 8 pictures. This is just on the opposite side of the creek from Semi-Summit. Here is my log for "Another View of Deep Creek"

 

It was hot over there in Spokane, and I must have been in a bit of heat delirium -- I was always doing these hikes in the heat of the day!

 

On the "wet" side of the mountains, probably the most memorable cache hunt was for the Moun10Bike Maze Multicache, which I did with KC0GRN (from Minnesota) and his girlfriend. That was a *long* hunt, but quite enjoyable. It is also one of the very few cache hunts I have been on with another geocacher.

 

I had another "memorable" hunt in late October, but that was for different reasons. :D

 

There were also several caches that I wished I could have found, but, alas many have gone the way of all flesh. Others I dared not try on my own.

 

In addition there were some memorable event caches. There was the WSGA meeting on my youngest daughter's birthday. ohjoy! was very thoughtful and announced this to those assembled, we all sang Happy Birthday to her, and ohjoy! even gave her a present! For that I am extremely grateful. It was great to meet those of you who I have met, and there are still others I would like to meet.

 

Here's wishing for a great year for all of us -- especially for those of us who haven't had much of a good year so far!

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