Fill the tank, hit the ATM, and toss down some breakfast. Once we start the hunt, our only stop for food will be at Break Time. After that, we’re not stopping until the daylight does. Once we’re done, we’ll end at the Yakima Red Robin to recap the day, quaff a few drinks, and embarrass a few waitresses. There's only one multicache involved (Robbers Roost), since those’ll usually just slow us down :-)
The big rule of the day: if you find the cache, you'll be the one who has to re-hide it. After the BCM, the only complaint I heard was from cache owners who indicated that a couple caches weren't re-hidden well or in the right spot. I'm guessing this was because the last person to sign it wasn't there when the first person found it, so they didn't know where it went.
Meet at the the above coordinates at 5:30 a.m., March 29. It's also the coordinates for Winter Feeding, so we'll already have one cache under our belts by the time we start.
If 5:30 is too early for you, meet at Painted Rock Micro Cache at 7:00 a.m.
Overall, I have a list of 70 caches. Twilight ends at 7:00 p.m, so I plan to hunt until dark.
Bring FRS radios if you’ve got them. We’ll use Channel 2 to communicate among caching vehicles and to say 'Howdy' to listening locals.
The official route is a 2.8 meg PDF. The PDF containing each of the cache pages is 3.8 megs. CAUTION - IT CONTAINS DECRYPTED HINTS. You should print both of these PDF files the day before and bring them along with you.
Supplemental to the above PDFs
- Add stop 25½: A Bend In The River, GCEB63.
- Waypoint 67, listed as ''Central Washington Museum,'' is the ''AC-Aggie'' cache.
Suggestions and ''Count me ins'' are welcome below.
If you’ve already found a couple of these caches, that’s fine - give us a chance to find the cache, and then we may turn to you for a hint.
I'm be staying at the Yakima Motel 6 the night before, and spending most of the 28th hitting easy caches from Puyallup to Yakima, with a probable side trip to Wenatchee. If you'd like to join me for that as well, let me know via private e-mail through my profile link above.
The YCM FAQ:
When is it?
5:30 or 7:00 a.m., March 29, 2003.
Will it be one large group, will we be split into teams, or what?
One giant group, which means we'll hopefully find each cache quickly. Then it's on to the next one. This event is all about quantity.
A cache on your map shows the wrong place to park.
By all means, let me know. The BCM wouldn't have been as successful as it was if we wouldn't have had Bremerton's locals help plan the route. If you're a Yakima area cacher who's found or hidden some of these, I'd love to talk to you about our route.
It sounds fun, but I've already found some of them
Then come laugh at us, or guess when we'll be at the caches you haven't hit yet. Monitor FRS channel 2.
You don't have X cache on the route. Why aren't we getting that one?
I'm avoiding multicaches, and caches that appear to be overly time consuming.
You have X cache on the route, but it's disabled/archived.
I'll generate a final route a few days before, with updated data. This should catch any new caches that get created in the area, too.
What's this gonna cost me?
Free. Or, at least, nothing more than it would cost than if you did the trip solo (e.g., paying for your own gas). I'm not collecting any money for this.
Lunch? Break Time?
Elkmilk, Mojavegirl and twowackywhits are graciously welcoming us wet-siders (and any other cachers) to the Yakima Valley with sandwiches, chips, and drinks at the Break Time event cache. Aren't they great?