Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island Day Trip

Went to Whidbey Island this past weekend for a full day of caching. As you recall, I made this trip several years back in 2019 to get some very specific caches to complete challenges, and several Earthcaches, which you can read in a previous "BLOG"

We headed down on Friday afternoon and planned to cache all the way to Burlington. Our first stop was in Ferndale to avenge my DNF I got there when I was thru last month on the way to fly out to Vegas for a magic convention. It was a cool Multi cache called "Stamp Panorama". It was at a post office with artwork on the wall. You needed to search the art for clues to get the co-ords.

I could not find it last month as I believe it was missing. We found it this time and it was a brand new container with only about 4 names so far. Still a cool place to visit. We then headed down the road and grabbed several more caches on the way to our hotel.

We found a few Guardrail caches (Common in the States) but this was by far the best of them.

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We cached until just after sunset, which is now about 9:30pm.

We then headed to the hotel to rest up for the next day as we knew it was gonna be a full day!!

 I found a total of 17 caches, with 3 of them being challenge caches and 2 multi's. The rest were traditional caches. 

Not bad for leaving Vancouver at 4:30ish

The next morning we arose early and got ready to head out.

The first cache we grabbed was in plain view on the side of a community hall. 

Almost like a bird house cache.

We then headed down the road and grabbed 1 part of an Adventure Lab. We had 7 AL's that we were also working on between caches, but wasn't sure if we would complete them and just get some of the stages. But we can always make that another trip to complete them. lol

Deception Pass

 Welcome to the Deception Pass Bridge! This iconic structure was built in just under one year, from August 1934 to July 31, 1935, and depending on the tide sits about 18 stories above the water. It is comprised of two sections--a 511-foot structure from Fidalgo to Pass Island and a 975-foot structure from Pass Island to Whidbey Island. It is now the crown jewel of the park and receives over two million visitors annually. 

The water thru here is very forceful

 Although Deception Pass may be famous for its natural beauty, it is also well known for its powerful and sometimes deadly currents. Capable of reaching speeds between 8-12 knots, the tidal current that runs through the pass forces nearly two million gallons of water flow through the pass per second. That’s more than 50 times the average flow of all the rivers emptying into Puget Sound.

Oak Harbour 

Murals and statues are everywhere.

The town is full of history and art. The next picture isn't art. lol

This was out on the dock. It is an area for dogs to go do their business. Be aware, the next pic is a spoiler as to where the cache was.

Very cool container, hiding the container.

These metal people were welcoming you to Whidbey Bluffs, which we stopped at to get 2 caches in the nearby cemetery. .

At the bottom of Whidbey Island, there is a webcam cache, so we made sure to grab it as we were trying to get as many cache icon's in a day as possible. After we got the webcam cache we headed back up the island grabbing more caches. 

Whidbey Spit

There is a cache on this sign, but we could not find it. We were running out of daylight so we gave in and headed down the road. As we still had lots of other caches to find. We will be back

We grabbed a few more on the way to Coupeville, including one that is a difficulty 4 and had 225 finds and 109 DNF's on it. Always nice to grab one that is tricky for so many others. Especially after our DNF at the Whidbey Spit sign.

Underneath all this greenery is a huge boulder known as the "Coupeville Erratic". This huge boulder is about 25-30 feet tall and 35-40 feet wide. A glacial erratic, as defined by Wikipedia, is a piece of rock that deviates from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests; the name "erratic" is based on the errant location of these boulders. These rocks were carried to their current locations by glacial ice, often over hundreds of kilometres. Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders.

Day 2 had me finding 29 caches, 21 Adventure lab spots from 7 Different AL's, 1 DNF, 1 webcam cache, 3 Multi's, 1 puzzle, 1 Earthcache, 1 Letterbox, 1 Virtual, and 1 Wherigo.

A total of 566.7 KM in a day and a half and I got a total of 46 caches, with 9 different Icons in one day, we also started 7 different Adventure Labs but only completed 1. lol...we will be back

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!

This past BC Day long weekend we went out to get Susan's 1500th cache. She wanted to do a cool cache, so I searched out a cool one for her. It was a cache I did back in 2018 called CacheDuino.

Usually you have to find the TB tag that is associated with the cache to go find the cache box at a secret location. Then you have to bring the locked box with you and find the spot where it will open for you.

We picked up the box, as you can see in the picture above,  and then we worked our way towards the secret spot after finding 4 other caches first, so this would be her 1500th find!!!

We decided to go get the 2 multi caches that where at the Golden Ears bridge and we had to walk across the bridge both ways. Probably not the best idea when it was so hot out. Plus we forgot to pack any water with us. Yikes!!

But we made it across and back again, traveling over 6km by foot, and we got both caches. 

Some very cool info on the bridge, but a long walk to get it. lol. Should have done it by bike.

The reward was finding two very cleverly hidden caches.

Can you see it??

How about now??

After our 6 km, 2 hour hike across the bridge and back in 35 degree heat, we decided to make our way towards the spot to open the cache box. We grabbed 2 quick caches to bring her total to 1499. Susan pressed the button, to get info from the box and we were on our way!!!

After pressing it several times and deciding which direction to head to, she got the "Puzzle Solved" message and the box unlocked!!

Here is the reward, you get to open the box and log the cache!! YAY 1500!!!

 Next week just days before Geowoodstock, I will be heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a couple of shows, and of course I will grab a few caches while there. But more about that next month, and the BIG event, that has been delayed since 2020 called GEOWOODSTOCK!!!! I am also hoping to get 12 different Icon's on that day. Wish me luck!!

 

Geowoodstock is Coming This Month!!

Where will you be on August 11th to the 13th??  All the cool cachers will be at Canada's First Geowoodstock!!! If you have not registered yet for this event....what are you waiting for??? Go to "Geowoodstock XVIII" to register NOW!!! Also log your will attend at "GC86VDF"

Well that's it for this month,

See you all at Geowoodstock XVIII

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65