You are looking for a 3-gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck container that has been spray-painted black and hidden under the boardwalk in Willow Creek Nature Park. Do not walk through the wetlands. No bushwhacking is required to find this cache. The cache be be found by taking only one foot off the boardwalk.
Closest parking is on NW Waterhouse Ave near N45 31.690 W122 50.516. If you want a longer walk, you can enter the trail at N45 31.611 W122 50.909. We are not sure how hard the hunt will be, but we set the difficulty at two stars because you may feel a bit exposed as you look for the cache, tree cover will impede your GPS reception and it's a very long boardwalk with lots of potential hiding spots. (We highly recommend that you walk the entire length of the boardwalk from Waterhouse to 173rd Ave. It's not necessary to find the cache, but it makes for a beautiful and relaxing stroll.)
The cache is stocked with books that have been registered at BookCrossing and "released into the wild". Look for the BookCrossing stickers on each book to find it's BCID #. This number allows you to track the book like a travel bug on the BookCrossing Web site. Please go to www.bookcrossing.com to make a journal entry for any books that you take.
If you are dropping off books, please go to www.bookcrossing.com and register them before trading. You can either print out the BookCrossing label yourself, or write down the BCID # before heading out and use one of the blank labels that I have pre-printed and placed in the cache.
If you forget to register your book in advance, or you just don't feel like doing it, affix one of the pre-printed and pre-numbered labels that I have placed in the cache--just be sure to write down the BCID # so that you can log it on the BookCrossing site when you get home. If you choose this latter option, however, any books you release will be registered under my login.
You do not have to leave a book to take a book! Like travel bugs, BookCrossing books want to find new friends. These books are here to be read and passed on. All I ask is that you not leave the cache empty.
Books do not have to be returned to this cache. Give them to friends, family members or just leave them somewhere that they will be found such as your local coffee shop or possibly another geocache.
Please keep the book theme. No geojunk, please! Also, BookCrossing does not track periodical publications such as magazines, journals and catalogs. These items do not have an ISBN, they are not usually durable enough to withstand the travels, and frequently, the material is quickly outdated. Only paperback and hardback books should be placed in the cache.
Travel bugs and geocoins are always welcome!
Use the plastic bags in the cache to protect the books as a precaution. They should be large enough to accomodate most hardbacks and trade books. Oversize books (like coffee table books) will probably not fit in the cache container at all.
If the cache is running low on books, labels or ziplock bags, please state this in your log so that I can restock.
If you find an unlabled book in the cache, please attach one of the pre-printed labels so that it can be tracked.
Then either email me with the BCID # or log it yourself on the BookCrossing Web site.
As with travel bugs, do not mention any BCID #'s in your logs so that unscrupulous individuals cannot create false tracking entries. Do mention which books you have left, however, so that other geocachers will know what is present.
View the current inventory of books in the cache at BookCrossing.
The original contents of the cache are:
- Uh-Oh, Robert Fulghum
- House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
- How to be Good, Nick Hornby
- When the Wind Blows, James Patterson
- Jhereg, Steven Brust
- Lucky You, Carl Hiaasen
- The Testament, John Grisham