Monday morning I spent tackling the hedge that runs the length of our property. It is a mammoth creature that I have not so affectionately nicknamed “The Beast”. After, 2 years of cutting and trimming I have it down to about 12-14 ft. tall and 8 ft. wide. The goal this spring is to get it completely cut down on the neighbors side back to the property line and down to about 8 ft. tall. I accomplished that task on the first 15 feet or so by Monday afternoon, just in time to enjoy the late day sun streaming into the yard space that hadn’t seen sunlight for years. Man that felt good.

What could make my day any better you ask?

Well, my sadistic side got a bit of a workout that afternoon. I fired up that Chipper/Shredder for the first time this spring and cut that “Beast” to bits!! The grinding, whirring, whooshing sound of the shredder in high gear was the most beautiful music I have heard in a very long time! It was transcendent! I just kept grinning and shredding, grinning and shredding, grinning and shredding! What a glorious day!

During my transcendent experience, the City of Lakewood published the next clue for their Treasure Hunt. PJ is hooked on this treasure hunt. If you have followed the link above and read the clues, you may notice the they are obtuse to say the least. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. This City is full of possibilities and with this latest clue, PJ rushed out to track some of those possibilites down. Me I was to busy grinning and shredding grinning and shredding… You get the picture. As night fell, PJ rolled in and we both started looking at the clues again. Trying as many different perspectives as we could find to come up with possible search locations. We looked all afternoon and into the evening. No Luck.

We decided to regroup and get dinner at Red Robin. To be honest up until this portion of the day I was leaning toward blowing off geocaching (and thereby this post) to keep looking for the medallion that is the treasure in the Treasure Hunt. But, sitting down to dinner I happened to check facebook and there I saw a very saddening message from a friend and fellow geocacher. His father passed away yesterday. I knew this would have hit him hard. So I decided to go a grab the tribute geocache, Screw You Sean! (GC29MF5) placed lovingly in his honor by Polarbz. It was just our way of showing a fellow geocacher some support. Our best to you and your family Sean.

The next geocache was a quick grab while stocking up on puzzle solving, up all night brainstorming food-like substances and Diet Coke. We found JAM (GC26Y12) by krklnmn. I haven’t met this cacher, but I would like to thank him for being an astute student of the obvious. Ya see, we live in Washington State. It rains here. It rains here a lot. I am constantly stunned by the number of micros that use regular paper as logs here. Regular paper turns to mush when wet. Heck just pulling a log out to sign it on a misty day is enough to get it wet enough to make signing for the next guy a real pain. BUT! krklnmn Didn’t use regular a regular old piece of paper smushed up in a tiny ziplock bag. NO!! Krklnmn is BRILLANT!! He used “Rite in the Rain” or iGage Weatherproof Paper. No need for a irritating little plastic baggie, just a Sharpie or a “Rite in the Rain” Weatherproof Tactical Clicker Pento be able to leave your mark with. I carry a very Fine Sharpie and a Fisher Stowaway Space Pen. If you are going to be a geocacher in Washington, these pens need to be considered “standard equipment”. If you are coming to Geowoodstock VIII in July, you may want to pick up a couple. After all, it is the middle of June and it is still raining here!

Well, here is hoping that tomorrow dawns bright and clear. Part of all that green that is springing up all over are weeds that need pulling. More yard work and mind bending clue deciphering are on the agenda for tomorrow. Until then, sweet dreams out there in geo-land!

The links to products on this page are affilate in nature. If you purchase items from these links I may or may not receive a small compensations. The Federal Trade Commision made me say that. Really. They did!

Tupperware Tuesday

So, tell me .. How was your “Tupperware Tuesday”? To find out more and how to participate, follow this link: “Tupperware Tuesday”. If you love geocaching, we’d love to hear from you! Chime in with your comments or your weeks caching highlights. Can’t wait to read what you found today!

I just saw your latest TV commercial and it seems you have the “little guys” out shopping early this year, so I thought I better get to writtin’ ya real quick like. See… I’ve been a really, really, really, good geocacher all year this year.

• I aint’t been in the parks before dawn or after dusk.
• I aint’t crossed any “No Trespassing” signs. (That was hard!)
• I always traded up instead of equal.
• I logged every geocache, travel bug and geocoin the same day found them.
• I ainn’t done no four-wheelin’ where I shouldn’t uv.
• I stayed on the clearly marked approved trails and tried not to step on too many plants.
• I didn’t hold on to any travel bugs or geocoins more than a week. (ok maybe a week and a half)
• I even kept the dog on a leash and (if you can believe this) even picked up her poop!

Really, you’ve seen my dog, I oughta get a medal or something for that last one! Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is… I think I’m bein’ pretty darn reasonable asking for this one geocaching gift this year for Christmas. I’d really like this fancy new geocaching GPS called the Garmin Oregon 550t. (I included the link to it for ya below.)

Garmin Oregon 550t Touch-Screen Handheld GPS Receiver with US Topo Maps & Integrated Camera IN STOCK The navigator with the photographic memory — Garmin Oregon 550t combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation and pre-loaded 3D topo maps with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. The result? A multipurpose device that will make your biggest adventures even more memorable. Also new is the addition of the addition of the 3-axis tilt-compensated compass. This will allow the unit to report an accurate heading even when the unit is not held in a level position.

It sure is pretty! Those geotagged photos could come in handy when the Mrs. just don’t believe I was where I said I was and when. And the 3-axis tilt-compensated compass would come in real handy after a few cups of holiday cheer. I’ve been know to tip at least three ways after the annual Christmas party! Anyway… Talk it over with the Elves and let me know what ya think. Hope you had a great year of Geocaching! ~ CoastCacher

p.s.: I’ll make sure to leave a candle burning for ya this year instead of the fireplace going. Sorry about that one. Hope you aren’t too mad about it.

p.s.s.: I found this review of the Oregon… I hope it helps you make up yer mind See ya soon Santa!Oregon 550t Review

Garmin eTrex Vista, Photo by CoastCacher

I have often been asked why I prefer the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx to the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. Two reasons: the electronic compass and the barometric altimeter. The Vista has them and the Legend doesn’t. Now you may be thinking that a compass isn’t really important if you have a GPS unit. After-all, once you get to the coordinate location you just have to rummage around and look for the cache. Right? Well, maybe. But, if your are at the cross section of two trails, in heavy tree cover and the cache listing has a hint that says, “the cache is behind the third tree on the southwest corner”. It would be nice to have a “electronic compass”, now wouldn’t it. The same holds true for parking garages and the “barometric altimater” feature. Eight stories of parked cars, surveillance cameras and only one location for the cache. I never thought I would use the altimeter. I was wrong. Variations of both of these situation have happened to me several times over the years. Each time I am thankful over and over again I made the choice I did. I may have spent and extra forty dollars upfront to have these features, but I have saved more than triple that amount’s worth of aggravation on long days of geocaching. Click here to view a side by side comparison of features between the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx and the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx

I still have my first Garmin eTrex Vista Cx. It is still my GPS of choice for urban caching. It is small, fits in the palm of my hand and tucks away quickly without generating much notice from people nearby. It easily blends in with the urban environment unlike my other favorite GPS; the DeLorme PN-40. But that’s another story for another day.

Here is video on using the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx for geocaching.

UPDATE: Congratulations to “StrangeMinds” on your Garmin eTrex Vista Cx purchase!