You may or may not have noticed that Washington State has more large rocks and/or erratics all around compared to any other state, especially in regards to Earth Caches. I found it interesting that all these Earth Caches have different questions involved even if the overall theme and historical reasons were the same. I wondered just how many large isolated rock caches this area had and soon realized that this area has more than any other state or province by far after doing some research. Also, I was just amazed how large these rocks were and in many cases, how isolated they were. Who would expect to find a 70 ton rock in the middle of the woods for example? I decided to make a challenge out of it.
Here is your challenge. You need to find/own 10 of the 12 Earth Caches in the state of Washington. I originally required you to find some interesting traditionals that are near other large erratics but I have eliminated that from the challenge. Here is what you need to do.
Requirement: Find 10 qualified Earth Caches
- A Rock, Eh in Silverdale GC18BJ4
- Coupeville Erratic on Whidbey Island GC1C6CY
- Frog Rock on Bainbridge Island GC1C93A
- Glacial Erratics in Mill Creek / Bothell GC1F6X1
- Glacial Facial on Whidbey Island GC1M6WN
- I Love the Stilly #7 - Big Rock in Arlington GC1CXZY
- The Best Little Rock in Snohomish GC1CEF5
- The Navel of the World in Skamania GC1673T
- Wedgwood Erratic in Seattle GC1B1JN
- Martha Lake Airport Park Erratic GC70G0X
- Recipe for a Mudflow in Skamania County (the rock is not the sole purpose of this lesson though) GC1F7WY
- Golfing Erratically GC249FA
- Long Way From Home Earthcache? in Central Washington GC1A66E
You find/own 10 of these 12, you are done with the Earth Cache requirement of this challenge.
However, I will also allow substitutions of One of the following Oregon Earth Caches for any of these 10.
I will also allow substitutions of One of the following British Columbia Earth Caches for any of these 10.
Thus you could find/own 10 WA Earth Caches, 9 WA and 1 OR Earth Cache, 9 WA and 1 BC Earth Cache or 8 WA, 1 OR, and 1 BC Earth Cache for a total of 10.
I will allow finds of the archived Beacon Rock GCPFQX to substitute for Navel of the World if thats all you need, assuming you have a picture of your party with your GPS on that listing. The same goes for Haystack Rock and the archived GCMRFZ. You can only substitute one of these 2 archived caches.
I also realize there is an 13th Earth Cache in WA about erratics called Thunderbird Track. GCPD31 The cache does have a great view and information to learn. However, it actually has no large rock on site, so I have excluded that one from this challenge.
Part Two: Traditional, Unknown and Multi Caches. These are no longer required but listed for fun.
- Ode to Lamprizzle in Issaquah GC16XXZ
- Whazzat? in Bellingham GCPQ4R
- Little Rock at Big Rock in Duvall (Archived now) GCMMAT
- Addiction Cache #11: Beware!! Erratic Rock!! near Yelm GCTFYE
- Erratic Graffiti near Bellingham GC18ED5
- The Rock! near Woodinville GC1R3PR
- Martha Lake Airport Cache in Mill Creek (Archived now) GC12B8C
- the new one Martha Lake Airport Reborn in Mill Creek GC2FC5G
- The Rock south of Sequim (Archived now) GC1152D
- The Lightning Rod near Port Gamble (Archived now) GCWTAJ
- Top To Bottom south of Sequim GC11GRD
- Sund Rock near Hoodsport GC1N26R
- The Rock Cache south of Bellingham GC1TCQY
- Arrgh! Thar Be Pirate Treasure in Grand Ridge Too around Issaquah GC15WQ1
- Clear Creek Hitchhiker in Silverdale (Archived now) GCMN30
- Skystone in Bonney Lake (Archived now) GCMY5Z
- Fantastic Non-Erratic near Newcastle GC1MW03
- Even Rockhounds Get The Blues in Mukilteo GC254XH
- Chiwawa Big Rock Cache in Cascades GCPWBN
- Right Reiter Ride Rock east of Gold Bar GC29FD7
- Martian Rock--Asteroid Land in Central WA GCNYET
- Sauer Rock near Leavenworth GCWD5Q
- Erratic Behavior near Omak GCQWV6
- Rattlesnake Slope Erratics and Bergmounds near Richland GCKVBC
Part Three: How to document and find this cache.
The listed coordinates are of the final location. No secrets there. I do not think you have to bother with bookmark lists or letting me know in advance. In your log, please post which 10 Earth Caches you have found or create a bookmark list if you like, thats up to you.
FYIs. If you think of another large isolated rock that is in WA that you think should be listed, by all means, let me know and I can add it to the list.
If any future large isolated rock Earth Caches in Washington get listed, I will make a determination at that time to add it to this challenge or not (the same goes for BC and Oregon). I prefer to focus on caches in Western Washington for this challenge.
I hope you will enjoy all the great rocks this state (including the one at the final) and areas around it have to offer and learn about them as well in the process.
Thanks to all those folks who mentioned rocks to add to this challenge (documented in the bookmarks) and a special thanks to Hike A Photo for the suggestion of where to hide the final as I was having trouble finding a large unclaimed rock.
Additional, there are 4 coins that are on the cache page. The codes to discover them will be presented to the finders of this cache, should they care about doing that. They are NOT in the cache.