Mega Pothole Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

ACFunk: Sounds like the area has been compromised, so we have decided not to replace the cache that has most likely gone missing. Thanks to all who have visited!

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Hidden : 1/12/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

A regular cache hidden at the edge of a monster pothole in lower East Lenore Coulee.

This is a hike to a cache hidden at the western edge of a "mega" pothole. To get there, first turn off of Hwy 17 at N47 27.966, W119 30.900 onto a dirt road to the east. For the first few hundred feet, most vehicles can negotiate the road. The road gets worse as you go, so if you don't have high clearance and 4WD, be looking for wide spots to pull off and park. Pass up the first road to the left and go to the next intersection and head north (N47 27.978, W119 30.700). Vehicles without higher clearance should not go any further and need to park here. Another quarter mile or so, there is a gate and a small parking area. From here you need to hike the rest of the way. Follow the road past the gate for about 3/4 mile to the cache. The route and the cache are on public land (WA Dept of F&W).

The cache container is a camoed quart plastic jar with some swag and a FTF prize. The terrain is rated 3 for the uphill hike (about 200 feet of vertical from the gate to the cache). The cache is within 30 feet of the road. In warmer weather, take water and watch for snakes!

Mega Pothole

The pothole is about 800 feet across and over 60 feet deep. In his second book, On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods, The Northern Reaches, Bruce Bjornstad says that this pothole is the largest in this region of the channeled scablands. Water hundreds of feet deep from the glacial floods raced over this pothole at 70 miles per hour and sucked chunks of rock out like a giant vacuum cleaner to form it. There are other unique glacial flood features (and caches) further north in this coulee that can be accessed via the Great Blade Notch (See the Great Blade Notch earthcache GC2BX9T).


As an interesting side note, we discovered an old archived cache (Burst Your Bubble by bludart) while looking for a hiding spot for the cache. It seems this area was leased for a time by a hunting club and that posted signs were encountered that resulted in the cache being archived. That hunting lease is gone and the area is posted as WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife land, so no issues with access any more.

Congratulations to Mr. Gadget#2 and medicrncen for the FTF!



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Additional Hints ()

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Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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