Victoria Cache Machine II Event Cache

Welcome to Victoria: a city of totem poles, heritage architecture and afternoon tea, bustling with the energy of a university town. There's a shocking number of caches around this town, making for the shortest driving distance of any cache machine yet, and also the potential for the most finds ever.

Fill up the tank, toss down some breakfast at way-too-early o'clock, and meet a mob of fellow cachers at N 48° 27.824 W 123° 22.542 ("Bridge Over Turbid Water") at sunrise on Saturday, September 20, 6:30 a.m.

Then, you'll have just over 13 hours to get more than 100 caches.

Follow all traffic laws, and drive safely. This is not a race; there are no winners. The only loser will be someone who gets hurt.

If you're still out on the road at dinner time (7:30 p.m.), skip the rest of the route and come on in. Socializing at dinner is one of the best parts of machine events (and that's coming from me -- someone who usually hates socializing). There will be travel bugs to discover, a buffet to gorge yourself at, and more geocachers to commiserate with than you can shake a walking stick at. The most important rule:

As with all cache machines, if you find the cache, you'll be the one who has to re-hide it. Hide it as well as you found it.

For any micro cache with a tiny logbook that we find on the event, one "VCM" log entry should suffice for the group. We tend to fill up log books too quickly, and our stickers tend to make micro log books hard to re-stash. For normal-sized caches, or even large micros (like key holders), everyone should sign in.

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. 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. The Victoria Cache Machine II FAQ:

When is it?
6:30 a.m., September 20, 2008. Latecomers can track us down en route.

Will it be one large group, will we be split into teams, or what?
We start the day as one giant group, which means we'll hopefully find each cache quickly. Then it's on to the next one. The group tends to fragment after the first few caches, though. The longer we can keep the big group together, the more fun it is!

Is anything going on before, during, or after?
- Friday, September 19, at 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., last minute changes will be announced at an informal pre-event dinner at the food court at the Mayfair Shopping Centre, N 48° 26.871, W 123° 22.184 (3147 Douglas Street).
- Saturday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m., dinner will be a Chinese buffet at Crystal Jade, 801 Vernon Street, Victoria (N 48° 27.480 W 123° 22.500).
- Sunday, you're on your own. Go get the ones you missed. Mt. Douglas Park is a cache farm. Go for it.

A cache on your map shows the wrong place to park.
Let me know, and I'll incorporate it into the 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 skipping a lot. I'll be avoiding longer multicaches, puzzle caches, caches that appear to be overly time consuming, and caches that the owner has asked us to avoid.

You have X cache on the route, but it's disabled/archived.
Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route (if archived) or will check with the owner (if disabled).

X cache is in an environmentally sensitive area.
By all means, let me know. I'll work with the cache owner to minimize our impact, or skip the cache altogether.

I disagree with the whole idea of cache machines. I don't want you finding my cache.
Sorry to hear that. It's too bad you've got a neat place to show us that we won't be able to see. Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route.

What's this gonna cost me?
Nothing for the caching. Or, at least, nothing more than it would cost than if you did the trip solo (e.g., paying for your own gas, hotel, and dinner). I'm not collecting any money for this. Be aware, though, that the boat to the island and back will probably cost around $100, that hotel rooms are looking at about $100, and the weak US dollar makes everything in Victoria more expensive than you'd expect.

Lunch? Breaks? Bathrooms?
Lunch: You should probably bring a sack lunch to eat on the road.
Breaks and Bathrooms: There's no breaks in cache machines! Just hold it. :-P Or find something on the way.