Lightning strikes twice...
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:
 (regular)
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A hike, a cache, and a view.
Lightning Jeff has a lot of caches out in this area, and most of them I've tried have taken me awhile to figure out. More than a few have had me coming back for multiple tries, at least two have had me at strike two...thus the title. I came out (ok, bushwhacked through 100 feet of dense blackberry thicket) to a spot near here searching for one of the elusive WASL series, and searched a good long while, before giving up. Coming across a well-clawed tree helped convince me it was time to head back also. After getting home, I asked for help, and the owner was kind enough to point out a flaw or two in my math (engineers can't do math...), and again on my second and maybe third try at calculating the correct coordinates. Oh well.
But the view from up on these ridges is gorgeous. On a sunny day, like I had, you can see the Seattle skyscrapers peeking over the hills and between the Bellevue skyscrapers. In the other directions, the views are of the usual snowcapped mountains, or local views down into the canyons, lakes and valleys of this little-travelled lowland forest.
There is a nice system of logging roads that you can use to hike, bike, or run (most of the way) too and from this cache. Turn north off the heavily-travelled logging road at about N47 43.18 W121 49.94. The road gets steep here, you are about to gain about 800' of elevation in slightly less than a mile. Turn L (west-ish) off the road onto a less travelled, and later, much dug-up, road spur. Roughly N47 43.50, W121 50.14. If you are on a bike, you might as well ditch it here, unless you are a much better rider than I am.
The hide is a Bundeswehr (German Army) first-aid box, roughly the same dimensions as a standard .30-cal ammo can, but this lies flat and so hopefully will stay dry when lying under/next to a log. Gee, was that a hint? Nothing all that special in this cache, mostly trinkets for the kids and some other kitsch I've been given or found. A couple of polished geodes. And a nice, waterproof logbook. Oh, and another thing - opening these boxes requires throwing all four latches, i.e. two on either side of the box, it can then be hinged open.
As close as this area is to "civilization", it is still as wild, if not wilder, than areas farther east and of higher elevation. There are critters out here, nice ones and...somewhat scarier ones too (lions and (ok no tigers) and bears, oh my!). If the berries are ripe, make sure you make some noise or travel in a group, and keep the kids close.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)