Sunday, May 30, 2004

Log by travisl for The Pipeline* (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for The Pipeline* (Traditional Cache):

travisl found The Pipeline* (Traditional Cache)

Of all the caches that I wanted to hit on my road trip home to Tacoma from Reno, this was the one I wanted to get the most. I wasn't disappointed.

I think the pipeline was turned off today, because there was no water spraying anywhere, and no indication that anything was flowing through it. About a quarter mile from the end of the grated trail, I had to scramble over a pair of generators which had an extension cord going down into the pipeline. At the end of the trail, the cord was visible down in the air vent. That's a long cord.

Left a Team Supergenius geocoin (#16) and a Cannonball Run II racer. Took nothing.

On the way back, I thought I'd take a safer way than to walk along the railroad tracks. I ended up making a wrong turn, and found myself in an apple orchard way uphill from the parking lot, but walked around and back down.

Neat place. Thanks.

Log by travisl for OR History Lesson #26 - Barlow's Road (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for OR History Lesson #26 - Barlow's Road (Traditional Cache):

travisl found OR History Lesson #26 - Barlow's Road (Traditional Cache)

Wow. Driving back to Tacoma from Reno (with an overnight stay in Burns), I was way ahead of schedule when I got here. I found the cache, then brought my laptop over to a picnic table and plotted the rest of my route home. Thanks for the stop!

Log by travisl for Welcome To Shaniko (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Welcome To Shaniko (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Welcome To Shaniko (Traditional Cache)

The audio book for ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is just over 20 hours long. That's also how long it takes to drive from Tacoma to Reno, then to Burns, then up to Shaniko -- the end of the book finished just as I pulled up to the cache site.

Easy find, and traffic was very light. Thanks.

Log by travisl for Digging Fossil! (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Digging Fossil! (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Digging Fossil! (Traditional Cache)

Wow -- I met the nicest person here today. I'd signed the log, and was placing it back in the film canister, when this friendly looking lady drove up. By the way she smiled, I was sure I'd met another geocacher, but she got out of the car and asked, ''Interested in the fossils?'' She was the caretaker of the display and the exhibit in the trailer near the fossil site, and we discussed the fossils, and I told her about geocaching. She was OK with the cache being there, and seemed glad that it was bringing more people here.

She said she was headed to lunch, but if I'd like, she'd be happy to show me the displays inside of the trailer, and to give me some fossils to bring home. I checked it out, and politely declined to accept some of the nice looking fossils, but went and got a few of my own off of the hill.

I then had lunch at the restaurant a couple blocks away, right in the middle of a Harley Davidson rally.

Thanks for the fossils, for letting me meet this really nice lady, and for finding a good turkey/pepperoncini sandwich.

Log by travisl for Fossil Fields Forever (Virtual Cache)

Log by travisl for Fossil Fields Forever (Virtual Cache):

travisl found Fossil Fields Forever (Virtual Cache)

Easy find. I stopped by nearly all of the geological markers between here and the north side of the national monument. By all means, don't miss the overlook a few miles northwest of here, just before you drive into the canyon (which reminds me of the pod-racing canyon gap in Star Ward Episode I).

Log by travisl for John Day Cache (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for John Day Cache (Traditional Cache):

travisl found John Day Cache (Traditional Cache)

After spending the night in Burns (on my two day road trip home to Tacoma from Reno), I figured this would be a good first cache to hit today. It was 47 degrees out, windy, and the nearby neighbors were standing out on their deck watching. With the bad coordinates, I looked briefly behind each small tree, but couldn't find it. Time to move on.

Log by travisl for Alkali Steel (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Alkali Steel (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Alkali Steel (Traditional Cache)

Easy find -- the ziploc was visible from the car. Hid it better than I found it. Thanks.

Log by travisl for State Quarter (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for State Quarter (Traditional Cache):

travisl found State Quarter (Traditional Cache) You know, if I was a girl -- and I'm not -- and I felt like making out with a guy -- which I don't -- and I thought it'd be a good idea to do it on a mountain pass in chilly, windy weather -- which I wouldn't -- don't you think I'd remember to bring my bra and my skimpy nightgown back to the car with me? I would.

I left the clothing there, in case there's a more gender-appropriate geocacher who these clothes might fit.

Log by travisl for Steep Grade (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Steep Grade (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Steep Grade (Traditional Cache)

A quick easy drive-by cache, 91 miles from the last one, and 63 miles to the next one. Thanks for giving me a place to stretch my legs and to expectantly watch the GPS for.

Log by travisl for Filet of Sole (Virtual Cache)

Log by travisl for Filet of Sole (Virtual Cache):

travisl couldn't find Filet of Sole (Virtual Cache)

Left the previous cache 48 miles earlier, and had another cache to hit 91 miles ahead. Had ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' audio book in the CD player. Stopped a few times along the way to check out the geological formations in the area.

With all this, I'd forgotten about the cache until the GPS said it was six miles behind me. Sigh. Onward.

Log by travisl for Honey Lake Rest Stop (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Honey Lake Rest Stop (Traditional Cache):

travisl couldn't find Honey Lake Rest Stop (Traditional Cache)

Old McDonald had a farm
Gee ee gee ee o
And near this farm he had a cache
Gee ee gee ee o
It's not over here
It's not over there
Where's the cache, where's the cache, nowhere is the cache cache
Old McDonald had a farm
Gee ee gee ee o

(GPS was pointing me 45 feet into the farm, with 14 foot accuracy. I didn't feel like trespassing with the farmer watching, and didn't have a lot of time to stand around in the rain. Looked behind two telephone poles and a telephone electrical box, but no luck.)

Log by travisl for Start Your Engines....Road to Reno (Virtual Cache)

Log by travisl for Start Your Engines....Road to Reno (Virtual Cache):

travisl found Start Your Engines....Road to Reno (Virtual Cache)

I don't know if I found this one or not. Let me know if I didn't, and I'll change my log type.

At the coordinates, I found a billboard (photo attached). It looks like it may have had dates on it at one point, but there were none today.

Log by travisl for Jordan EJ11 (Travel Bug Dog Tag)

Log by travisl for Jordan EJ11 (Travel Bug Dog Tag):

travisl retrieved Jordan EJ11 (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from GBES Geocachers Reno Travel Bug Port

I was looking for travel bugs to take home with me to Tacoma, but unfortunately three of the bugs in this cache were Cannonball racers, so I couldn't take it two states away. I did the next best thing with this one, and brought it up to Hood River, Oregon, just off of eastbound I-84.

Log by travisl for Tuke, the moose (Travel Bug Dog Tag)

Log by travisl for Tuke, the moose (Travel Bug Dog Tag):

travisl retrieved Tuke, the moose (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from GBES Geocachers Reno Travel Bug Port

I found Tuke in Reno, and as I'm road-tripping back to Tacoma, WA, he's getting a big bump along his route from me. Yay!

Log by travisl for GBES Geocachers Reno Travel Bug Port (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for GBES Geocachers Reno Travel Bug Port (Traditional Cache):

travisl found GBES Geocachers Reno Travel Bug Port (Traditional Cache)

Hit this one after spending the week in Reno. This was the first of ten caches I hit today and tomorrow on the way home to Tacoma. Left the Two Brothers Traveller and took the moose and a cannonball run racer travel bugs.

I waved goodbye to Reno from this point, and thanked it for the $70 I came out ahead playing roulette. Great view from here!

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Log by travisl for Steamboat Cache (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Steamboat Cache (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Steamboat Cache (Traditional Cache)

Ricky's got a gun...
Ricky's got a gun...
Pigeons are on the run...
'Cause Ricky's got a gun...

Very close to the cache site, Ricky (10 years old?) and his brother with no name (7 years old?) were taking pot shots at the pigeons with a BB gun. That's OK with me, 'cause I detest the buggers. I'm sure they thought I was gonna say something when I walked past them to the cache site.

I spotted the cache easily (you guys don't have much ground cover or douglas fir boughs to hid caches under!), and began to sign the logbook when I heard Ricky and little Ricky coming. I blocked the cache with my body, and wrote about the pigeon potshots in the log when little Ricky came into view. He didn't realize I was there until he was about ten feet away -- I sure gave him the jibblies! I kept writing until they left to go home for dinner. Or so they said.

As I walked back to the car, they came back down the hill and began their failed attempt to cull the pigeon population again.

Spectacular views of the city from up here. Thanks.

Log by travisl for Trouble with the Beaver (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Trouble with the Beaver (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Trouble with the Beaver (Traditional Cache)

I figured in 80 degree weather at 6:30 in the evening, this spot would be crawling with people. Nope. The only thing I saw crawling was a termite, and the only other guy I saw was leaving the park with his dog.

A cache like this would never stay dry back home in Tacoma. Signed the log and replaced it like I found it. Thanks for the hunt.

Log by travisl for FLUME RIDES AGAIN (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for FLUME RIDES AGAIN (Traditional Cache):

travisl found FLUME RIDES AGAIN (Traditional Cache)

I had to do a u-turn to find the trail, then had to scramble back up the wrong hill when I tried to take the direct route. Caches out here are sure a lot easier to find than the ones under the trees back in Tacoma.

Still... no rattlesnakes. Lots of pigeons, though. Or ''mourning doves'', if I'm being politically correct. The result on statues is still the same.

Neat spot. Thanks for bringing me out here. I'm not sure if I was trespassing, but it's a cool spot.

Log by travisl for Basque Sheepherder (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Basque Sheepherder (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Basque Sheepherder (Traditional Cache)

Came in from the wrong entrance, coming in from McCarran, and scraped something nasty sounding along the underside of the GeoSaturn as I'm avoiding oncoming 45 mph traffic. Yee haw!! (Cue the General Lee's horn here)

A nice stroll to the cache, and I read all the plaques along the way (''Believe it or not, wet areas have different plants than the desert.'' Duh.) and didn't realize those weren't the plaques you were talking about until after I was attacked by Quincy the black lab, wondered what a Basque Sheepherder was, and then checked out the monument. Ahh... those plaques.

I then went after the cache, which was an easy find, but a bit of a stretch for my short arms. Dropped off the Encompassed travel bug, took nothing.

I've not had this much contact with the history of sheep since a friend of mine told me about a warm night in Montana, but that's a story for another time, and definitely another place.

Log by travisl for Mardi Gras (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Mardi Gras (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Mardi Gras (Traditional Cache)

I'm not sure what kind of 2WD vehicle you think could make it to this cache, but the old GeoSaturn sure couldn't. I parked at the ''Keep our forests green'' sign (you wacky Nevadans -- whose sense of humor prompted them to post this in a desert with no green, just various shades of tan?), and hoofed my way in.

This marked the third cache that I didn't see a rattlesnake at. Aren't you supposed to have them guarding every cache? I'm so disappointed.

Dropped off the Psyduck travel bug that I brought from home in Tacoma. Didn't take anything out of the moldy but dry cache.

Amazing views from up here -- I can see my hotel!

Log by travisl for Dam Curiosity (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Dam Curiosity (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Dam Curiosity (Traditional Cache)

Easy find, if you get the elevation right. A bit tougher if you're wrong.

I think you Nevadans have a strange sense of humor. I'm from Tacoma, where the worst thing that can get you when you're looking for a cache is a homeless guy or a rabid robin. So the first cache I try to get in this state is where? In a spot that a rattlesnake would be happy to call his home. Fortunately, he wasn't home, and I retrieved the cache with no problem.

Took the music CD and left the Flutterby travel bug. And yes, this is a very strange place for a dam.

Log by travisl for Standing Trees (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Standing Trees (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Standing Trees (Traditional Cache)

My one and only cache on my 13 hour drive from Tacoma to Reno. MapPoint said I should take a 15 minute break here, so I took 30 and scrambled across the rocks to this cache.

This marks the first cache this week where I started to worry about rattlesnakes. We don't have nasty creatures like those in Tacoma. Just a stench.

The black plastic bag was doing a great job of collecting water and funneling it onto the cache. I removed it and rehid the cache in the wet ziploc. The cache itself seems fine.

I dropped off the Lucky Duck TB, but it looks like someone else grabbed it before I got a chance to log it in here. That's a quick duck!

On the topo map for the area, there's strange blue blobs in Poison Lake. I figured they were submerged volcanos or giant aquatic boogers or an ancient civilzation, but was bummed to find out they're only clumps of grass.

Nice place for a cache. Thanks.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Log by travisl for Tacoma Travel Bug Mania Vault (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Tacoma Travel Bug Mania Vault (Traditional Cache):

travisl posted a note for Tacoma Travel Bug Mania Vault (Traditional Cache)

With Team Noltex's permission, I'm grabbing the three bugs out of here at about noon today, and will drop new ones in next weekend. I need company for my road trip to Reno :-)

Log by travisl for Princess Lauren's Toychest (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Princess Lauren's Toychest (Traditional Cache):

travisl posted a note for Princess Lauren's Toychest (Traditional Cache)

My third visit to this cache, and maybe I'm blind (maybe? some would say it's nearly certain, right Criminal?), but I don't remember seeing the 'Area closed after dark' signs before. It's probably not a good idea to hit this cache at night, which is a bummer, because I thought I'd discovered a good spot to break out the telescope on clear summer nights.

Stopped by to get the Lucky Ducky travel bug.

Log by travisl for Lucky Ducky (Travel Bug Dog Tag)

Log by travisl for Lucky Ducky (Travel Bug Dog Tag):

travisl retrieved Lucky Ducky (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from Princess Lauren's Toychest

Picked up the duck in preparation for my road trip to Reno. I know he wants to be near water, so I'll try to drop him off at a cache near the ominously named 'Poison Lake', but whether I'll have time to stop there or not, I don't know. Regardless, he's heading south quite a ways.

Log by travisl for Phatboyz LOTR - Two Towers (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Phatboyz LOTR - Two Towers (Traditional Cache):

travisl posted a note for Phatboyz LOTR - Two Towers (Traditional Cache)

From what others had written, I thought I'd return to this cache and find the whole area trampled. It's been a good spring, though, and there's really no noticable damage.

I stopped by to pick up the Two Brothers Traveller, and noted so in the logbook, which is damp, moldy, has staple rust, and I think is becoming sentient, because it asked me to close the lid when I was done. It's still usable, but be nice to the evolving mold creature within.

Log by travisl for Two Brothers Traveller (Travel Bug Dog Tag)

Log by travisl for Two Brothers Traveller (Travel Bug Dog Tag):

travisl retrieved Two Brothers Traveller (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from Phatboyz LOTR - Two Towers

Picked up this bug in preparation for this week's road trip to Reno.

Log by travisl for Rest in Peace (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Rest in Peace (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Rest in Peace (Traditional Cache)

Wow. What an amazingly cool cache. This one's gonna make it onto my top 5% list. Great container, and a spot I pass every day and have always meant to visit but never have. Thanks for getting me out here.

It took me about ten minutes to find it, but I was going at a very leisurely pace, checking out all of the 19th century engravings. Geogrrrl's went to daycare next door, about five years ago, and one day they decided to take a field trip (I guess that's almost literal) out here. Geogrrrl still remembers seeing the grave of a baby.

Dragonfli was not amused that the preschoolers came out here, but she doesn't like spots like this anyway. I think she's watched too many horror movies. Decomposing carbon and proteins don't do anything for me, unless they stink. Then I'll avoid them.

A rubbery white substance is coating the logbook's bag. Some of it got on my fingers -- I think it's glue. The logbook's in great shape, though.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Log by travisl for Tiny Park - Tiny Cache (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Tiny Park - Tiny Cache (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Tiny Park - Tiny Cache (Traditional Cache)

I like when I park the car and the GPS says the cache is less than 100 feet away. That happened here. Unfortunately, the arrow on the GPS was pointing directly at a short round grandmotherly kerchiefed mamushka who (guessing here) was watching her grandchildren with great interest, and me with great suspicion. The GPS wasn't pointing directly at her now, but instead was pointing closer to the center of the park, so I followed the arrow, but took care not to get too close to the kids, nor to pay the kids any attention (so that the mamushka wouldn't think I was interested in them).

I searched a couple of spots which didn't pan out, and finally followed the arrow back to her seat.

''May I take a look at this?'' I asked. ''I'm on a scavenger hunt.''

She smiled and stood up, and walked towards the center of the park. I checked, didn't find the cache, and thanked her for her time.

I wandered around the park a bit more, read the sign describing how the park got its name, and the arrow continued to point back to where I looked the first time. I checked again -- no luck. I walked to another spot about 20 feet away, and saw the cache instantly. Could I get it discreetly? Yup -- the mamushka's view was blocked by a train.

Signed the log, replaced the pretty visible cache, and headed back to work. I took the brand spanking new C Street on-ramp to westbound highway 18. I think if you got some speed up, you could get your car airborne fairly easily as you crest the railroad overpass there. I'd try it, but I don't think my Saturn's suspension could deal with that too well.

Thanks for the hunt.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Log by travisl for Scooby Doo's Sister Stash (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Scooby Doo's Sister Stash (Traditional Cache):

travisl posted a note for Scooby Doo's Sister Stash (Traditional Cache)

This was the eight cache I ever found, and I was at the park again today with my wife's preschool celebrating the end of the school year.

I can only take being around two dozen 3-, 4-, and 5-year old for just so long before I snap and do something I regret later, like telling them the story about when Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were college roommates, so instead of that, I figured what the heck, and tried to re-find this one from memory, more than two years later.

The tide was mostly in, meaning I walked on the sand most of the way but climbed a few rocks towards the end. Easy find.

In the log book there are two very pleasant logs from a biker-Christian who has found the cache and is using the logbook to chat with different folks. Other cachers have written nice Christian messages back to him. I logged that although I'm a kind-of-somewhat-maybe-wishy-washy-atheist, I think it's great that geocaching can bring strangers together to discuss spirituality.

I also got a nice cell phone photo of McNeil Island, which I think could be confused for Gilligans island, although most of the folks over there will be there longer than the standard three hour tour.

Thanks for maintaining this cache; it's still in great shape!

Friday, May 14, 2004

Log by travisl for Tennis Anyone? (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Tennis Anyone? (Traditional Cache):

travisl couldn't find Tennis Anyone? (Traditional Cache)

Me thinks this cache has been muggled. Me reads description. Me walks to obvious spot. Me sees square of velcro, but no cache. Me no see cache anywhere. Me takes a picture, which is probably spoiler, but me not know how me can gives spoilers on a no-find. Me sad. Me go have lunch instead.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Log by travisl for The Haunted Hunt Night Cache (Multi-cache)

Log by travisl for The Haunted Hunt Night Cache (Multi-cache):

travisl requested The Haunted Hunt Night Cache (Multi-cache) to be archived

This has been under the weather for at least 2½ months. I'm not too shy to clock the 'archive me' button. It sounds like this one is currently unfindable, and the owner unable to respond. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night, who said when he came to he had a vision that Stingray and Devil Kitty moved to California. But you know how reliable Ferris is.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Log by travisl for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache)

Log by travisl for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache):

travisl posted a note for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache)

I've just posted the first draft of the route. Take a look, poke at it a lot, and let me know what to fix.

The maps are a little grainy because I used a lower quality setting when I created it (to keep the file size fairly small, about 700K each). The final will be a bit clearer.

Log by travisl for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache)

Log by travisl for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache):

travisl posted a note for Portland Cache Machine (Event Cache)

I'm planning to create and post the first draft on Sunday night. It'll have detailed turn-by-turn maps and instructions, and will contain a list of the caches in the driving directions as they come up.

I post the first few drafts for feedback (such as ''this cache is in a sensitive natural area that large groups shouldn't stomp'' or ''this is the wrong way down a one way road'' or ''this cache will take more than 15 minutes to get''). I wouldn't recommend using any draft other than the one I mark as 'final' for planning, navigation, creating a list of waypoints, or anything else. I'll post the final draft sometime around June 19.

Log by travisl for Turning On/Off the Tapps! (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Turning On/Off the Tapps! (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Turning On/Off the Tapps! (Traditional Cache)

A good cache, to me, can be one that takes me to a spot that I've always wanted to visit, one that shows me a neat place I wouldn't otherwise go, one that doesn't play 'I've got you here -- now good luck you fool ', one that can get to on my lunch break, and one that gives me a FTF.

Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Yup. This is a good cache. I didn't believe the wheelchair accessibility part, but it's true. The coordinates originally had me in a non-ADA compliant spot, but they settled down quickly, and I found the cache almost as quickly.

In the logbook, I wrote something to the effect of ''there's people about 100 feet away, and I bet they see me. I'll go talk to them after I'm done.'' Problem is, they left before I got the chance. While this is a great area for a cache, I'm guessing it won't be here long before it gets muggled.

I took the WG$, and left a water puzzle/game. I used the WG$ to buy a bag of pretzels in a new vending machine at work.

(My obligitory tangent here: You know when you buy a bag of chips from a vending machine -- you put the coins in, punch in the code for the chips, the spiral wire spins and feeds the chips forward, the chips are tottering at the precipice... and the spiraling stops, and you shake the machine, beat the machine, curse the machine, put your hand through the glass of the machine, wipe the excess blood off on the machine, and grab your chips? Well, thanks to advances in modern technology, the machine manufacturers have remedied this problem.

My pretzels got stuck at the end of the spiral cycle. They didn't fall. They just sat there for five seconds. Then, because the pretzel bag didn't break an invisible electric beam, the spiraling commenced again, feeding another bag of pretzels forward and off. Two bags for the price of one. Yay!)

Thanks for the pretzels and the hunt.

Log by travisl for The Cop Stop (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for The Cop Stop (Traditional Cache):

travisl found The Cop Stop (Traditional Cache)

Hi, I'm Faith Sunbeam. I'm a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Vegetables, and I need to ask please, PLEASE, won't someone please think of the grass and the dandelions and the blackberry bushes? These poor vegetables deserve a long, healthy life, but the presence of this micro geocache in an area with amazingly beautiful thicket of lush grass, perky dandelions, embracing blackberry bushes, cottonwoods with leaves that seem to kiss the ground, stately douglas firs that oversee everything... it breaks my heart.

From afar, I observed three cachers spend almost an hour looking for this cache. Along the way they crushed an uncountable number of blades of grass, stomped willy-nilly on dandelions (forcing them to release their young before they were old enough to take care or themselves), stabbed mercilessly at balls of cottonwood fluff using fallen cottonwood twigs (oh, the horror!), and pick up every rock in a 50 foot radius, tossing them with reckless disregard onto the vegetation they were violently assaulting.

Finally, after TravisL had been there for about 45 minutes (the look on the other two's faces when he arrived told me that they knew this would be a long hunt), Zebo found it, further south than any of them had been looking before, and southwest of the patch of ex-dandelions where their GPSR's were zeroing out. That's 45 needless minutes of suffering for the poor dandelions. Can't you imagine how they feel?

The sheer evilness of hiding a micro in a vegitatively lush area such as this brings me to tears. The poor blades of grass. The poor thorny blackberries. I can't take it.

I'm going to go have a steak now.

No, not with a salad, you barbarian."

Log by travisl for Iron Horse (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Iron Horse (Traditional Cache):

travisl requested Iron Horse (Traditional Cache) to be archived

This cache needs to have it's Archive status toggled :-) Great news, PBB!

Log by travisl for Gateway to Triple F (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Gateway to Triple F (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Gateway to Triple F (Traditional Cache)

As I pull into the nearly empty parking lot, I notice that a Pierce County sheriff is sitting in his car near the yellow gate, engine running, taking up three or four spaces, facing south. I think, ''hey, what the heck'', and to make it as obvious as possible that I don't think I'm up to no good, I park three spaces away from him, not in his way, but close enough to let him know I'm definitely aware of his presence. I get out, grab my geo-pack from the trunk, and walk around the back of his car, because I'm expecting that this cache is on the way to FFF, so it must be past the yellow gate. By the time I get to the gate, though, the arrow is pointing me in a different direction, so I walk around the car and follow the arrow to ground zero.

I don't know if I spooked the cop, 'cause he left as soon as I got on the grass.

At ground zero, there's really only one obvious spot -- I saw it once in Yakima, and again at a Phatboyz cache in South Tacoma. I kick aside the grass covering it and...

Hey! No cache! GEMs... I should know better than to expect you to make it that easy. I mean, I've done your MuseumOfGlass.org and Book Drop and Downtown Graham caches, so I think I know how you think, but this spot is just so perfect that...

Wait.

That doesn't look right.

Not to give anything away -- ok, maybe I do mean to give it away, but just to the three of us in the know, and Moun10Bike's already found it. Gaviidae and k7-wave will get it, too. Remember ''Cache Practice 2'' up in Vancouver, where k7-wave thought he was Ichiro and almost took off the old lady's wig with one swing of the bat? It's a little tougher of a pitch here, but, um... ''Swing, batter!''

Signed the surprisingly dry logbook and replaced the container.

This park sure has changed since I waded through chest high grass and shin high puddles to have goats laugh at me as I nearly got electrocuted two years ago looking for FFF. Lookin' good.

Log by travisl for Seattle Seekers Memorial Cache (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Seattle Seekers Memorial Cache (Traditional Cache:

travisl couldn't find Seattle Seekers Memorial Cache (Traditional Cache)

The motorhome that BuffyAndFamily, Kodak's4, Translucent Green, and UWDawg mentioned in their logs was there again today, and it was indeed close enough (actually up on the curb this time) that I could touch it and the tank at the same time.

I searched for 20 minutes, in spite of the garage sale at the nearby house, and finally broke down and called GEMs. I think he did a great job of telling me where the cache should have been (almost at ground level below the shoe in The Enumcachers photo, right?), but I sure couldn't find it. After a half hour of searching, it was time to go.

If it's not there, I think I've jinxed it. This is my second DNF on this cache (one more to go before I get 100!), and I was the first DNF after it went missing last time, too.

Nice sunny day and a nice park, though. Thanks for bringing me back down here for a third time.

Log by travisl for The Bloated Festering Head of My First Victim (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for The Bloated Festering Head of My First Victim (Traditional Cache):

travisl couldn't find The Bloated Festering Head of My First Victim (Traditional Cache)

DNF number 100!!! Whoo hoo, I guess. I'm glad I chose this one to be it. It took almost an hour to get to a spot within 150 feet of the cache. I parked almost due north of the cache location, got within 0.15 mile, and decided it might be easier to approach the cache from the east.

It wasn't. From the east it was still 0.15 miles, and (as I learned as I went out through the north approach) the east had much thicker brush.

I was hoping I could find a way to the cache where I would be able to cross the 150 feet of swamp with no chance of sinking up to my neck, which would make me easy pickings for Ellylidan. At one point, crawling on my hands and knees, I stumbled across a bit of surveyors tape. Who would be surveying clear out here? Soon thereafter, I found a metal fence post, long abandoned, but with more surveyors tape.

About to give up, scampering east and west along the edge of the bog, I pin my final hopes on a thick tree that's fallen across. I climb up on its trunk, and take a step. I hear small cracking noises. This tree's been here a long time.

I take another step.

In Dungeons and Dragons, this would be the time where a normal Dungeon Master would ask me to make a dexterity roll to see if I fall off into the swamp. A GOOD DM, however, would have me make a wisdom roll, to see if I'd be foolish enough to take another step out onto this old, rotten, quickly narrowing log, which ends in the swamp with a cluster of pencil thick branches.

I got lucky, and rolled well. I didn't take another step. I punch 'Go to car' on my Etrex, hop down off the log, and start my beeline path back to the ...

Oh. My. God. An absolutely true story is about to take place. Ask me about it next time you see me -- I'll fill you in on the gory details that are unfit to list here.

From out of nowhere, this undescribably horrific beast slams it's claws into the left side of my head. My left ear is ringing, I think I might be bleeding, and I grope at it, trying to get it off of me. As its claws burrow deeper into my skull, a second creature grabs my right hand, ripping off skin, and begins to feast.

The next few moments are a blur now, but I was literally running through the underbrush at this point, trying to escape from the double horror. My right hand is now free, but the beast on my left is continuing to claw at me. He's fast, and as I turn to face him and fight him off, he parrys with me, and I can't reach him.

The voice of a child on the nearby trail breaks the silent battle. The beast retreats back into the bog, and I find myself in surprisingly good condition, but facing a fence that's at least 40 years old that I can't get across. My GPS says I need to go north, but the arrow's pointing at the setting sun to the southwest, so I'm not sure which way to go. Fortunately, I've got a compass with me, and decide that yes, indeed, I need to get across the fence. A few minutes later, I find a low spot, hop over, avoid the barbed wire, and scramble the last 50 feet to the trail.

That was the plan at least.

Up until this point, I've miraculously made it through with dry feet. Six feet from the trail, there's a four-foot wide ditch full of water. I've got to cross it. I step close to it...

Something's got my foot. It's being pulled down through the peat, it's soaking wet, and it's about to be a quick snack for Peg.

I grab a branch overhanging the ditch, struggle, and as I pull my foot free from Peg's grasp, a bicyclist passes by, sees the mold and moss on my once-black shirt, the sticks in my hair, the wild look in my eyes, and sees me hanging from the branch.

''Man...'' he says, and speeds up to get away.

I quickly make it back to the car, drive home, and as I walk into the house, Geogrrrl says, ''Dad, you don't look like you've been at work.''

She's right. But she's lucky I survived to make it back.

Log by travisl for Phatboyz Weird Gate (Traditional Cache)

Log by travisl for Phatboyz Weird Gate (Traditional Cache):

travisl found Phatboyz Weird Gate (Traditional Cache)

I'm not sure what's so weird about this gate, or so special about this spot, but I found it quickly. I thought the guy in his backyard southwest of the cache was yelling at me, but it turns out he was yelling at his dog. TNLN.