Cache and Splash 2009 Event Cache

This event will commence Friday evening, June 19th at 7:00 pm at Jordan's Fine Dining with a session of eating and getting to meet some fellow cachers. The meal here will be on your own and they do serve alcoholic beverages if you are interested. You are not required to order a meal to attend. This location has free Wi-Fi if you have a laptop you would like to bring. The coordinates for this restaurant are listed below as an additional waypoint.

There will be several new caches hidden for this weekend and information on eleven of them will be available at this Friday meet. I will have five CD's with a *.gpx file on it that laptop users can use--on a first come, first served basis--if you want to load the caches onto your laptop. I will also have printouts of the caches available. Finally, if you bring your patch cable for your unit, there will likely be a laptop available to load the caches to your unit for those folks who do not have a computer.

In conjunction with this Friday night meet, TripCyclone has placed an event cache, GC1RTR5 A Geocacher's Guide to the Galaxy, at Merritt Reservoir. To encourage attendance at this event, many of my new caches for Friday are near the lake.

Saturday evening at 7:00 pm there will be a pot-luck supper at the City Park. This park is located at the north end of Main Street at the listed coordinates. The gathering will be at the picnic shelter just inside the entrance. There are several picnic tables and there are four park style grills adjacent to the shelter. At one end of the shelter is a kitchenette with 40 feet of counter top and a dozen electrical outlets for those bringing the iconic crock pot or similar. It is a short walk to a public restroom and there is plenty of room to park.

For the supper, I will be providing sloppy joes and hamburger buns. You are invited to bring what you want, but please RSVP via your log and indicate what food you are bringing and how many folks are in your group. Alcohol cannot be served in the park without a permit and I did not spring for the extra cost.

Several new caches will be available this night, and similar to Friday, I will have five CD's on the first come, first served basis for folks to download. I will also have the printouts for folks without a computer. Again, just in case, you might bring your cables for your GPSr, as someone will likely have a laptop and can load the new caches for you. This location does not have Wi-Fi access. After the supper there will be a night cache released with the coordinates being available at that time. If you ordered any geocoins, they have arrived, and will be available at the event.

After the Friday introduction, cachers will be free most of Saturday, June 20th, to do as they wish. At the time of this event notice, there are 194 caches within 50 miles, and 527 within 100 miles. Since many of the attendees will have to drive to get here, there are numerous caches to pick up en route.

There will be around 25 permanent caches released for this event, with eleven of them being made available at the Friday Meet. The last one will be available after the potluck on Saturday in the form of a night cache. This will be a three stage multi/puzzle cache that will require the use of a flashlight and a sharp piece of green lettuce to complete.

Besides caching, there is canoeing, kayaking, and tubing on the Niobrara River. The Niobrara was designated a National Scenic River in 1991 and rated by National Geographic Magazine as one of the top ten U.S. canoeing rivers in 2000. You are welcome to bring your own canoe or kayak, or if you prefer, you can use one of several outfitters in the area.

As most of you will be coming from out of town, here is a partial list of local lodging. There are also many things to see and do in Valentine, so here is the link to the Chamber of Commerce site and the official Valentine Visitor's site. These sites contain information about local attractions, plus additional information about lodging, camping, and river outfitter details.

There are also a few primitive campsites in the park for $5.00 a night on a first come, first serve basis. Lodging fills up fast this time of year in Valentine, so if you think you might attend, be sure to book your room or campground early. Hope to see you there!

Official event geocoin produced by:

Event sponsorship provided in part by: