This is a three stage multicache (two intermediate and one final). It's
part two of a series of caches:
- Bear Creek "A"
- Bear Creek "B"
- Bear Creek "C"
- Bear Creek Final
The series of caches takes you on a tour of Bear Creek as it winds its way
through King County. Many of the caches/waypoints are in secluded spots,
but several are at places where Bear Creek passes under fairly busy roads.
You never need to stand in the road to see or find a cache, nor do you need to
stand on the road side of a guard rail while you hunt. Since some of the
roads carry heavy traffic, families with small children might want to exercise
some extra caution at those spots. Finally, the water level of Bear Creek
can vary dramatically. Most of the caches/waypoints are well above the
high water mark, but it's possible that if the water is high, some
caches/waypoints might be completely inaccessible, dangerous to reach, or get
washed away completely. Please, please, exercise some caution and judgment
if the situation seems even faintly dangerous.
At each of A, B, C, the cache contains parts of a puzzle which you must solve
to get the starting location of Bear Creek Final. Each cache contains the
puzzle info on slips of paper in a envelope, and printed on a label on the
inside of the lid of the cache container (in case the slips of paper all get
taken). Make sure that when you find each cache, you take a copy of the
puzzle parts so you can solve the puzzle and find the final, final cache.
The hints for each stage are broken into three parts - a 'nudge', a 'strong
hint', and a 'spoiler'. You can adjust the difficulty to match your
preference by reading the hints in order and by reading hints only as you get
stumped.
Stage 1: N 47 45.927 W122 03.719
This is another property purchased by King County as part of the Waterways
2000 program. This is one of my favorite spots on Bear Creek, and just
downstream from this point it flows through an area that is increasingly
developed.
The bridge itself started life as a railroad car; if you climb down to where
you can look under it, you can see the chassis of the rail car. The rails
were added as an Eagle Scout community service project. Isn't it a nice
job? I love the way the angled top rail makes it pleasant to lean over and
gaze at the water - try it out!
Stage 2:
Note how Bear Creek is a little more channeled at this point, and there's
more water going past than there is upstream.
Be careful of the traffic. There's parking east of the
coordinates. You don't need to go out into traffic to find it.
Stage 3:
You'll walk over Bear Creek to get to this waypoint, which isn't far from the
Creek. As you pass over Bear Creek, you'll pass a really nice interpretive
sign with a great map of Bear Creek and the streams that flow into it.
Take a moment to check it out! You're looking for a .30 caliber ammo can
painted brown. Initial cache contents include bouncy ball, plastic triceratops, bottle of bubbles, pink jelly roll glitter pen, green jelly roll glitter pen, yellow dolphin squirt gun with mouth that opens when you squirt it, Slinky, and a hotwheels car.
In addition to the log book, there's a disposable camera - please take pictures
of the folks in your group, and leave the camera in the cache. When the
camera is full I'll have the film processed and scanned and post the photos on
the WWW.