Going APE!!!

World Record Attempt

 

Geocachers all over the world came together to collectively try and set a new record for the most cachers caching on a single day. (NOT Caches found in a single day) 

That day was International Geocaching Day on August 20/22. This was the 11th anniversary of International Geocaching day. It was started in 2011. The previous Record of cachers out caching in a single day was Aug 11/2013 when a total of 126,833 cachers logged at least one cache that day.

Cachers everywhere went out to seek at least one cache on Aug. 20th to hopefully set a new record, but unfortunately we came up short with only 112,477 cachers logging in. No one is sure why there was lots of cachers out on the record day of Aug. 11/2013

Groundspeak still awarded those that went out that day with a cool virtual souvenir!!!

Going APE and the Snoqualmie Tunnel

The Snoqualmie Tunnel is a former railroad tunnel near Snoqualmie Pass in the U.S. state of Washington, located east of Seattle. The tunnel crosses the Cascade Range about three miles (5 km) south of the pass, which is used by Interstate 90, on the border between King County and Kittitas County. It is 11,894 feet (2.253 mi; 3.625 km) long and is at an approximate elevation of 2,600 feet (790 m) above sea level, just north of Keechelus Lake. Its east portal is at Hyak.

The tunnel was originally constructed for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in the early 1910s and was abandoned in 1980. It now serves as part of a rail trail in Iron Horse State Park, known officially as the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. The trail was formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and commonly called the Iron Horse Trail.  A major renovation to the walls, ceiling, and path were completed in July 2011 after a two-year closure.

What the heck is an APE cache? Check it out: Mission 9: Tunnel of Light. Originally placed in conjunction with the release of the Planet of the Ape's movie back in July 2001, 14 caches were placed with a unique icon. 

Alas, our beloved APE cache was stolen and archived in 2011. A tribute cache was placed called Mission 9: Tunnel of Light Reclaimed.

Due to the concerted efforts of a small band of cachers the original container was found about 300 feet down the hill and abandoned in the bushes, with some of the original swag still inside. With Groundspeak's blessing and the input of the community, the last Ape cache in North America was unarchived and reinstated in its place of honor in time for you to once again find the unique icon. At the time of writing this, the APE cache has 6916 finds and 2814 Favorite points!!! It was first placed here on July 18/2001

Seattle Bound!!

On the way down to Seattle we grabbed a few caches. One was called "Crazy Monkey Monopod", which I tried to get several years ago on a different trip. It was up in a tree, but my extendable pole would be of no use. I had to make the climb. 

The first part of the Tree of about 8 feet, there was no branches or anything to grab onto. We brought down a 3 step ladder to get me high enough to grab something to pull myself up. That was our TOTT of the day. lol. 

Here I am retrieving the cache.

Our next stop was Seattle to do a webcam cache, a couple of vituals, an AL and grab some gum. lol

 

We visited Pike Place Market, it was the evening so a lot of stuff was shut down, but that just made it easier to grab the caches and Adventure Labs we needed to get.

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!!!

There is a cool Virtual at the Market, which takes you to some cool spots, including the First ever Starbucks.

No visit to Seattle and Pikes Place Market is complete unless you visit the famous Gum Wall. The fact that there is a cache there also helps. lol. I found the original cache that was there years ago, but this is a new cache. This one was easier to find.

We even bought some gum, and each left a piece on the wall. Cause that's what you do!!!

Here we are getting a rare Webcam cache, that many have not been able to get as the camera changes from North to south view quite often, and you need to get it when it is pointing South!! That is us at the corner just to the right and Susan is wearing a pink hoodie as you can see in other pics of us this evening at Pikes place Market, and the gum wall!!

After wandering around the area and visiting the pier to grab another Virtual called "BIG WHEEL" we decided to call it a night.

We then headed to the hotel as we planned on getting up early for the next days adventures!!

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

The next morning we headed towards the event, but were able to grab a gadget cache, a couple of traditionals, a TB Hotel and a Virtual along the way. We went to another gadget cache called "It Takes THREE" but we couldn't do it as you needed between 3 and 6 people to access the cache box. We couldn't do it so we thought we will come back thru here anyway after the event and hopefully some people will be here, so it can be done. 

Can you see the cache?? Tricky part was getting it open, as you need at least three people.(PS it's not the port a potty)

WSGA's Going Ape XI

We made it to the event and then went and signed in.
This is the log sheet for the "Going APE XI" event. He was only the first of 4 creatures we would see today.

Didn't we just see this guy at Geowoodstock up in BC, Canada?? He sure does get around!!!

And then it was time to head thru the Tunnel to the APE cache!!!

 You could feel the temperature drop as you got about 200 metres before the tunnel. And it was like entering a whole new world. Such a cool feeling.

Inside the tunnel on the ceiling there are icicle shaped formations hanging from the roof. These are called "Speleothem's." There are similar to the Stalactites, you would find in a cave.We saw a lot of these. Very Cool, and it was also part of an earthcache that I did not get when thru the tunnel last time.

In the middle of the Tunnel there is a cache. It has been here since 2004 and the CO comes here for the event, dresses up like a werewolf and hangs out at the cache to scare cachers and other passerby's. 

I got my picture with him in 2013 when I walked thru the tunnel for the first time. Had to get one this time as well!!

We came out of the 3.625 KM long tunnel and headed up the trail to the coveted APE cache, grabbing other caches as well. While there we got a picture with Sasquatch.

One of the caches we got called "The Iron Horse Express", while here, had this posted on the Cache page:

 July 22nd 2011. 5 or 6 of the caches along the Iron Horse Trail were vandalized / stolen, including this one and the A.P.E. Cache. 

So it wasn't just one cache that was targeted to be destroyed or stolen. We met one of the cachers who organized the hunt for the APE cache, and he showed us where they found the original cache container. Here is the story: "Long Lost APE cache is Found"

Here is a picture of Susan and I, just above where the APE cache was tossed, and 5 years later found, a mere 300 feet from it's original hiding spot. 

Once we spent a bit of time and chatted with others, on this side of the tunnel, we decided to head back thru the Tunnel and to the parking lot. 

We put on our headlamps and off we went.

On the other side of the tunnel we finished up the last of the Adventure Labs that were placed for the event. Next stop would be back to "It takes THREE" to grab it this time. There were several cachers there, so finding it was easy. (We had a plan if no one else was there, that involved tape....shhhh) We then grabbed some gadget caches on the way back to BC.

There are several gadget caches in the Seattle area that were placed by a cacher named "Bouncebounce."

If you get the chance to grab any of his caches, I highly recommend it. The next three caches we grabbed on the way back north, were his and they did not disappoint. Here are some pics of them, but without seeing them in person, you don't get the same feeling.

This one had 100 feet of chain that you had to pull out of the pipe to get the cache at the end of it.

"Super heroes in Jeopardy" was an amazing electronic cache. We were there at least 20 minutes, to solve it, and get into the cache box.

We then headed for a couple more caches on the way back across the border, including a challenge cache and a very spooky cache, which we found in the woods just as it was getting dark.

So in total this weekend(Actually just a day and a half) we found:

35 caches

24 Adventure Lab locations

1 webcam

5 virtual caches

5 gadget caches

1 challenge cache

1 BIG Wheel

1 Gum Wall cache

1 APE cache

2 earthcaches

1 Free little Library cache

1 High Five!!

1 Tree climb

1 Letterbox

1 mega event

2 puzzles

1 multi

1 werewolf

1 Sasquatch

1 Signal the Frog

1 signboard on an Ape

1 Looooong Tunnel

Such an awesome time, looking forward to my next Geoadventure with Susan!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

GEOWOODSTOCK XVIII

Abbotsford Geo Tour

The city of Abbotsford has a new Geo Tour for us cachers. It consists of 15 caches with a mix of Traditionals, Multi's, and a couple of Letterbox caches. 

From their website at: "Abbotsford Geocaching"

The Abbotsford GeoTour invites you to touch and taste agriculture as you explore a selection of parks, businesses and historical centres in our community. We are proud to share our rich food culture and easy access to agriculture-related events and experiences that showcase the best of what we have to offer.

Sansue and I headed out on Saturday, a week before the BIG Caching event called GeowoodstockXVIII as I assumed it would get lots of action during the event. If you find them all and send in the secret codes online, the City of Abbotsford will send you a geocoin. We wanted to make sure we got our Geotour Passport in before it got busy.

Before heading there, we attended an event in the morning over by a very old mill site.

After the event, we all headed over to a familiar place that several cachers have been but have not found the elusive cache that is there.

The cache at this spot is called "Sea Hag II" This cache is now just over 8 years old and has not yet been found. Cachers would love to find the elusive little cache and become the FTF!!! That day although about 15 of us were looking for about 2 1/2 hours, we did not come up with the find!!

NOTE: The following day some cachers from Oregon in town for the Big event found the Sea Hag!!!

I guess we just didn't look good enough???

Saskatoon Caching

Was pretty busy while in Saskatoon doing shows and didn't get much chance to grab caches. I did get one in between events. The first morning after arriving, I went to CTV studio to go on air and do some magic to promote the shows.

You can check out the TV spot "Here"

I had fun, showing some Magic to the host of the morning show at CTV.

I went from there over to the Ronald McDonald house with 2 other magicians (Norden and Gordon) to perform some Magic for the kids that could not make the shows later in the day.

Later we did 2 shows at a huge venue, and lots of people in attendance. 

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!!!

GEOWOODSTOCK XVIII

It's Finally HERE!!!!!

Such an amazing time this whole weekend was...there was caching, events, GPS adventure maze, BC parks Mascot "Jerry the Moose", Geocaching mascot "Signal the Frog", Icon hunting, special talks, special guests, vendor booths, a magic show, extra activities, close up magic, awesome food, Adventure Labs, TB's everywhere, old friends, new friends, and of course the main reason to be there....The GeowoodstockXVIII Giga event!!!

Friday I got to perform some close up walkaround Magic for the thousands of people waiting in line for early registration and the GPS adventure maze. Saw some old friends and made some new ones. Such a fun time getting to do what I love.

The BIG Day!!

On Saturday Aug. 13, we got up early and on the way to GeowoodstockXVIII we grabbed a Wherigo, a Letterbox cache, a puzzle cache, a Multi cache, a traditional, a Virtual cache, and an Earthcache. When we got to the fairgrounds we were able to log a few more traditional's, and an Adventure lab(Actually 4 different ones that day). We then logged the GIGA event, and after my show we went and did the GPS Adventure Maze. We also logged a Locationless cache(Picture with Signal the Mascot) and to top it off we logged the Midnight Madness event(I was one of the MC's) Total of different icons for the day was 12, my past previous record of most icons in a day was 9 just a few weeks ago!!

Here are the caches we grabbed to complete our 12 Icon day. The Adventure labs we did are not on this list as they are on a different app.

 

Such a fun time from the planning and working on 12 different icon's to grab in one day!! We had no DNF's and found all caches with ease, including a few extra traditionals that were on the Exhibition grounds. So awesome when a plan comes together!!

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

Susan and I at an Earthcache called "Fishtrap park Stormwater Retention Pond" and our 7th cache icon of the day by 9am!!

We got to meet "Jerry the Moose"

He is BC's Park Mascot

And of course "Signal" was there. He is the Geocaching mascot. For finding him, you could log a special Icon called a locationless cache.

The opening ceremony began with a talk from the organizer's and other special guests.

I got a pic with Bryan Roth. He is the Co-Founder of Geocaching. I have met him a couple times in the past at other events also.

The Logbook for the event was a large wooden Canada Flag. How awesome is that??

Signing the logbook in style!!!

Got a pic of our signing, before it got full.

At noon I got to perform on stage and had time for a quick photo with Signal again, while in my suit this time.

GeowoodstockXVIII has a lot of records, as it was Canada's First Giga Event, it was also the First Geowoodstock outside of the USA. It was Canada's First Geowoodstock, and also the Most Northern and Most Western Geowoodstock so far!!

This pic is from one of the stages to an Adventure Lab at the event. You did not even have to do any walking as all 5 stages opened up without leaving the event area. The questions were all about past Geowoodstock events. We also did another 5 stage AL that is about Abbotsford Exhibition Park, and was here before the event, a 10 stage AL created for the GIGA event, and a One stage night cache AL also.

The Awesome day coming to an end!!

A quick pic taken up the hill at the BMX track,  with GeowoodstockXVIII GIGA event in the background

Midnight Madness!!

One last event to end the awesome day. There was raffles, games, food, prizes, coin and pathtag trading, GIFF screening, and much more!!

(Geocaching International Film Festival)

The whole day was awesome from 6:30am when we headed out of the house, until Midnight when it was all over. A long day, but so fun!! Looking forward to the next Geocaching event!!

The next day I went thru all the stuff I got from the event.

This is the SWAG I got from the event. Lots of cool geocoins, pins, patch, lanyard, souvenir's, water bottle, and a dry pack

In September we are planning a trip to the "WSGA's Going Ape XI" event. We will also walk through the "Snoqualmie Tunnel" to go to the "Mission 9: Tunnel of Light" A.P.E. Cache. But more about this in next month's Blog!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

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.

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

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