This cache is themed after my favorite hiking story. The story is shared with you with permission.
You have those friends/family that are outdoor people. They love the hiking, the scenery, the weather. All of it. Then there’s everyone else, who are maybe less enthusiastic about the outdoors and all it brings.
This story is about two friends. One loves the outdoors and the other, well, it took her some time to come around. At the time of this hike, she was NOT an outdoor person. So, she found a stick and proceeded to give a ninja style hi-ya to every spider web in the path.
We walked, enjoyed the beautiful day as well as the views, and annihilated every spider web that was across the path. Then, as we rounded a bend, my friend scared a giant grasshopper, who, in its haste to get away, misdirected its jump and hurled itself toward the perceived danger and nailed my friend right in between the eyes. It hit her so hard it left a red impact mark on her forehead, which I hadn’t seen yet because my friend lost her balance and was teetering on one leg. She spun around, both from surprise and the impact. Her spin took her close to the edge of the trail, which was about a 50-foot drop off. Not wanting to fall, she threw herself to the other side of the trail, landing on the hillside and finally coming to rest sitting down.
I watched this whole thing unfold, frozen. Once she sat down, there was a pause of silence before I started laughing so hard there were tears. Nearly falling over myself, I leaned against the hillside to recover.
Needless to say, my friend called the hike and we turned around.
Moral of the story: you never know what you’re going to encounter on the trail.
About the cache: You’ll have to work a little for this one. It’s not terribly difficult and should be fun - maybe even a little surprising. I’ve encountered all sorts of critters while geocaching. This cache is dedicated to all the wildlife we disturb while playing this fun game. ***Note: you do not have to go down the side of the hill to retrieve this cache. If you're more than 1-2 steps off the path, you've missed something.***
Directions: From Silverdale take Bucklin Hill Road to Anderson Hill Road. Turn right onto Warren Ave., about 1/4 mile to the parking lot / trail head. There is room for about 6-8 cars at the trailhead (main parking option). At the 2nd option, there is room for 3 cars in the pullout along the road.
Trail details: The cache is located in the less popular part of the park. If you start at the main parking lot, the trail proceeds steadily downhill (therefore, uphill from the 2nd parking option). About halfway there, the trail changes from wide and flat to skinny and uneven. No matter which path you take, near the GZ, you’ll be required to climb over a large tree across the trail, hence the terrain level.
In September 2002, a group of 19 concerned geocachers scheduled a meeting after hearing that the Washington State Parks was considering banning geocaches in the state park system. Out of this meeting, the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) was "born" with its core values of promoting geocaching as a fun, family-oriented outdoor activity that increases awareness and appreciation of the environment and our parks and trails, provide opportunities for participants to enjoy geocaching and to socialize with other geocaches, educate park systems and land managers about geocaching and its benefits, increase awareness and support of the geocaching through interaction with other outdoor groups and the public, encourage low-impact geocaching and promote stewardship of our natural resources, and support "Cache In Trash Out" activities to help maintain parks and trail systems.
In 2022, the WSGA turns 20 years young. To celebrate this milestone, the WSGA is hosting a 20th-anniversary GeoTour. This GeoTour will give you the opportunity to travel to all corners of the Evergreen State while you search for 140 GeoTour caches. To make it easier to tackle such a large GeoTour, each of our 7 regional chapters will host 20 chapter-specific geocaches in bite-sized GeoTours with the entire GeoTour consisting of 140 caches. To learn more about our GeoTour, please visit the GeoTour page on our website which you can find HERE. We hope that you enjoy getting back out on the road while touring around Washington State. If you have any questions about our GeoTour, you can reach out to us via the contact tab on our website.
