GHCM - Mad Cache Dash

Grays Harbor Cache Machine

I've been instructed not to turn this into a "Geocaching Blog" by the high command but we did have a lot of fun last weekend and I would be remiss not to include it here.

We participated in what is called a "cache machine". This was the Grays Harbor Cache Machine to be specific. Basically, what that is, is somebody goes to a lot of trouble of creating a specific route for geocachers to follow providing turn by turn directions to each and every cache on the route. A huge group of cachers then follows along this route collecting the caches as a group. I know, it doesn't sound fun but it is.

You get to meet a lot of folks that you wouldn't other-wise meet and generally just have a lot of fun. I know it doesn't sound fun but as we have grown into geocaching more and more, a social element has grown with it. We actually "know" quite a few of the Washington State cachers now either through meeting them at some point at events or just communicating with them via email or forums. There is unexpected interaction there.

This particular route had 72 caches on it including the event itself, which was a dinner in an Aberdeen Chinese restaurant. I (Blue Power Ranger) had already found 9 of these previously on random trips through the area. There are very few places in our half of Washington where we haven't already fond a few. That left us with 63 caches to find in one day. (paradise!)

The event kicked off at 6:30 a.m. so we decided to head town after work and stay at an Aberdeen hotel. No way to drag the kids out of bed early enough on a Saturday to be ready to hit the trail at 6:30 two hours from home. Of course R-L-Painter... er, Grandpa joined us in Aberdeen to share a hotel room.

We decided there were too many caches to find in one day so of course, at o'-dark-thirty, we headed out of the hotel room to grab a few at night. Sarah came along for that. Parking for the first cache was only .25 miles from the cache. No problem, until we realized it was up the side of a steep mountain. We huffed and puffed up the hill as the rain increased and pounded our faces. The fog rolled in and it became miserable in general. That was compounded by the fact that we searched for over an hour and came up with NOTHING.

Great start... sigh.


Back down the mountain we went, discouraged but not defeated. We quickly turned on the skills and found the next five caches in a flash. Good enough. We earned some sleep.

Score for day one...
5 finds
1 DNF

The plan for the big day was thus... Painter and I would take of early for the rendezvous with the group at the first trailhead while Valerie let the kids sleep as much as they wanted. She would them let them swim in the hotel pool in the morning (a bargaining chip) and would meet us when they were ready.

We took off early and went back to our nemesis cache from the night before. This time there were other cachers with us and... Bingo, found it about ten seconds. Okay, we were rolling.

The weather was GREAT. Sunny but not too warm. Perfect to move quickly and great for scenic views. We were on the move now and were finding things easily and quickly. We separated a bit from the main group of cachers since we already had the ones from the night before in the bag.

Through Aberdeen, to Cosmopolis and up towards Montesano we headed. Some were easy stops, some were short hikes and some were bushwhacks but we had a great time.




Eventually the path took us right back by the hotel so it was a great time to pick up the rest of the family. We did so and headed right back out armed now with four more pairs of eyes... if you count Ben... which I do! (If we every come across a cache disguised as a small rock, he will be all over it!)

At some point in the last several months, the kids have gone from liability to asset when finding caches. Sarah was especially useful as she spent the rest of the day coming up with tough grabs even amidst some large groups of VERY experienced cachers. I love that!

We spent the whole day racing from place to place. Aberdeen... on to Hoquiam, out to Ocean Shores, up the coast to Pacific Beach, back south through Copalis Crossing on to Hoquiam, back to Aberdeen. It was a lot of fun.

The kids, Ben in particular were exceptionally well behaved in the car considering the circumstances which really helped.

We stopped for a disastrous lunch in Ocean Shores. We decided to just buy some food and head out onto the beach so we could eat and the kids could run around a bit. We all got McDonald's but apparently the ocean air got to Valerie and she instead opted for Fish & Chips. We went to "Flippers" for her. Would you eat fish that came from a place named after a dolphin?

Just seems so... unwholesome somehow, that's all I'm saying.

Well, the only thing flipping at Flippers was me as it seriously took like 40 minutes for them to fry that dumb lunch. I was in a hurry and was in no mood for this. GRR! We took the food, zipped out on the beach and I quickly got the van stuck in the sand.

Karma is a cruel mistress.

So much for a relaxing play-lunch. A kind stranger on the beach helped us eventually break the van loose using the floor-mats for traction and helping us with a push. We were back on the way.

We hit our stride again though and started ripping the caches off again.

All in all it ended up being a great day. We saw cool places, we met cool people and cached from sun up to sun down. We tucked some tired kids into bed by the time we got home in the evening.

Score for day two...
56 finds (counting the event)
2 DNF's (one was actually gone)

Wow! A new record!

The sun set on a happy day.