Waymarking Gone Astray

Waymarking replaced Virtual Geocaching and proceeded to go astray.

According to “The Geocaching Handbook” by Layne Cameron, Virtual caches offer “beautiful or unspoiled views. A pristine view, the soothing rapids, or sand dunes at sunset…”

In “The Essential Guide to Geocaching” by Mike Dyer, a virtual cache is “tailored to those who would like to visit someplace “magical” or unique…a particular location, which has unbelievable natural beauty, uniqueness, or ambiance…Whatever the location, the object of the game is that you will see and experience what the Virtual cache creator deems truly incredible to see.”

In “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching,” Virtual caches are “a distinct, unique object...”

I became deeply disappointed with Waymarking several months ago. Waymarking had deteriated into "Yellow Pages." The most recently proposed Waymarking Category is FUNERAL HOMES!

Geocaching Program on OPB’s Oregon Field Guide

A Geocaching Program will air on OPB’s Oregon Field Guide on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 8:30pm and will repeat the following Sunday, February 7 at 6:30pm.

"Rivertracks" GC6

On Sunday, January 10th, my #2 son, Christopher, and I went to Camas to check on the cache for "Key to Lacamas" and replace the ziplock bag for the "Key to Heritage Park." It was bitterly cold and windy as we drove east on Hwy 14 into the Columbia River Gorge. The wind was so strong that there were whitecaps as well as waves along the shore.

We found “Rivertracks” GC6. Dave Ulmer placed GC6 on May 9, 2000 six days after the Original Cache was placed in Oregon. We found the black five-gallon bucket cache but the lid was missing and it was filled with water. I took a photo of Christopher taking a photo of the black bucket cache.

We stopped at Skamania Lodge to use the restrooms and get a hot drink. I was disappointed to find that the great room was closed for floor maintenance and no fire in the huge rock fireplace. I had a cup of hot cider. We logged “Rivertracks II’ cache for approval and did some brief research on other early caches.

We crossed the Columbia River at the Bridge of the Gods. We found the cache at “Cascade Locks At Rest.” It was so bitterly cold I wrapped a small sports blanket around my head and shoulders to search for the cache. We drove back to Vancouver along I-84 and Hwy 14. Vancouver was not as windy as the gorge. It was 47 degrees.

Centralia/Chehalis Cache Machine, January 2, 2010

I picked up my son, Christopher, in Portland and then my daughter, Kimberly, in Vancouver about 7:30am on Friday, January 1st. We headed north to Centralia/Chehalis in the pouring rain. We found about 17 caches on the way. My favorite caches: Clan MacLeod, One Good Egg!, Cowlitz Mission and Jackson House.

We checked into a suite at the Best Western in Chehalis. We had hot tea and cookies from the breakfast room. After resting for awhile we drove to Centralia to attend the informal pre-event dinner at McMennamin’s Olympic Club Pub. The dinner was great. Afterwards we found a few caches and a benchmark in the rain. The Christmas lights were spectacular. We found 20 caches and a benchmark today.

After a full breakfast in the breakfast room, we packed the car and went geocaching. We found 24 caches today including the Twin Cities Cemetery Series. We replaced the cache at one cemetery location plus determined the missing clue number. My favorite cache and historic places: Fair Bear, Twin Cities Cemetery Series Final-Pioneer Cemetery and the historic Borst home built in 1864, the blockhouse built during the Indian wars and one-room schoolhouse.

We arrived at the Royal Buffet in downtown Chehalis about 4:00pm for the scheduled 5:00pm dinner. The food left something to be desired. I am really not fond of buffets. I did enjoy the hot tea, vanilla ice cream and the pound cake. It was great seeing some cachers that I recognized and meeting new cachers.

Afterwards we headed back to Vancouver and Portland. It stopped raining finally. The drive back went rather quickly. I dropped Kimberly off at her house in Vancouver and took Christopher to his apartment in Portland. Back home I logged Friday’s cache finds and then the next morning I logged Saturday’s finds. I had an enjoyable time and would do it again.