Jun 08 morning, I found GC12 and GC17, two oldest geocaches in Mt Hood National Forest, Oregon. I returned to GC17 trailhead at 12:19. It has been five hours from when I left the motel, I have chewed two protein bars, so it's time for lunch. Google Maps says there's no restaurant in the middle of the forest, but there are some near my next destination. I entered the address into HERE WeGo, ate a third protein bar, and started driving.
Here we go again, HERE WeGo commanded me to "turn sharp left toward SE Brian Ranch Rd", a narrow, steep, and unsafe road through the ranches. I ignored this command, and continued on SE Wildcat Mountain Dr. An hour later, I arrived at View Point Restaurant & Lounge, Estacada, OR. I need a burger right now.
Original Stash Tribute Plaque
World's first geocache, then known as "GPS Stash", was published by Dave Ulmer on 03 May 2000:
Well, I did it, created the first stash hunt stash and here are the coordinates:
N 45 17.460 W122 24.800
This location is easily accessible with a car, and does not need any hiking. The original bucket no longer exists, but an Original Stash Tribute Plaque was created at this very spot. The description suggests:
don't forget to place your GPS unit on top of the plaque for a moment or two in order to receive extended battery life and super-accurate satellite reception!
Instead of a GPS unit that I do not own, I placed my head on top of the plaque for a moment or two in order to improve my puzzle solving skills.
Apart from the plaque, there is a 5-gallon bucket hanging from a tree as the cache container. I signed the logbook, and traded trackables.
Almost-DNF the Un-Original
The Un-Original, published on 22 Oct 2000, is the fourth oldest active geocache in Oregon. It is "within 10 yards of the Original Stash", as the 528-feet rule was not established back then.
The container size is listed as a Regular. Officially, a Regular is size of a shoe box. Commonly, a Regular could be a lunch box or an ammo can.
I started searching. I looked everywhere that a Regular would fit, but found nothing. It's been half an hour, but I don't want to log a DNF (Did Not Find) on this important geocache.
My app says Georick402, my geocaching partner in Maryland, found this cache in 2017. I sent him a text message, asking for a spoiler photo that he normally collects every time he found a cache. Unfortunately, he's in Michigan and cannot access his photo library. But I got an encouragement:
As I continued searching, Georick402 was reading online logs (that somehow isn't shown on my app). He discovered an important fact: the container is now a film canister, not a Regular. With this knowledge, I found the cache instantly.
It seems that the container for this cache has gone through several iterations:
- In 2003, it was an ammo can.
- The ammo can lasted until Apr 2011.
- In May 2011, it became a red thermos.
- The red thermos was still seen in Apr 2014.
- In Jul 2014, it became a lunch box.
- The lunch box was in place until Jan 2018.
- In Jun 2018, it's an ammo can again?
- This ammo can was last seen in Sep 2018.
- In Oct 2018, the current film canister emerged.
Facebook community thinks it's a throwdown, a poorly done one that does not even match the description. I logged a need maintenance for the container size mismatch, but I got the smiley.
Vacation Continues
My Oregon vacation continues with a GEO event in part 4.