Washington State Centennial GeoTour

[+Ranger Tina]

The Washington State Parks Centennial GeoTour has been active for a year and a half. New geocachers are starting the tour all the time. There are plenty of silver geocoins for those starting the GeoTour. We have 49 gold geocoins to award to those completing the statewide adventure. Come and earn yours!

 

Wonder what can happen for you on our GeoTour? Comments by participants build this wonderful story of people and their love of a challenge, the outdoors and our Washington state parks. There are so many family stories. The youngest participant mentioned is 6 months old, along with their parents on the adventure. On the other end of the spectrum there are senior age children and their 80 and 90 year old parents. So many parents and children of all ages participating!

 

Exhilaration at new milestones. Many people from foreign counties enjoying our state parks while geocaching. People who made hikes they never thought they would have the endurance to do and their thrill at success. All the joyous moments of life; a wedding proposal, wedding, anniversaries (including a 51st), the birth of a babyand birthday celebrations.

 

Learn history and see flora and fauna. The Washington state park system is varied, covering the eastern and western parts of the state. Many stories of park staff who were helpful and very much appreciated by the participants.

 

Discovery of parks new to people. Parks they had driven by for years and never had a reason to stop at. The GeoTour providing the impetus for them to discover what a gem of a park they had passed by over time.

 

Nine individuals/families have visited all 103 participating parks and 33 individuals/families who have visited 100 parks to qualify for a gold coin.

Edited February 18, 2015 by MissJenn
added the link to the GeoTour page and pic

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

Thanks for the update on the GeoTour. I have started this tour, and have been to 12 State Parks. I only have 10 stamps, one was missing the stamp (since replaced), and the other one was a puzzle cache that we didn't figure out (the mosquito's were ravenous). Getting all 103 is impressive, that is a lot of traveling.

 

Skye.

[Rock Chalk]

This GeoTour is AWESOME! Having just moved to Seattle in September, it was a great "excuse" to visit various parts of the state. It's been remarkable to see the different topography and features that exist between the different regions. I think we're at 51 stamps right now and hoping to find a lot more once spring and summer arrive.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

I was able to go and find a few more caches on this tour a couple of weeks ago. Basically, I have all the caches east of Wenatchee found (except Steamboat).

 

With a stamp based verification system, you always run the risk of the stamp going missing. What I really like about this GeoTour (this is true of the Lane County GeoTours also) is the fact that the CO's are very good at keeping the caches up and running. I had one cache where the CO wrote a note in the logs they wouldn't be able to replace the stamp for a week. They replaced it on the day they said they would, and I was able to get the stamp when I came through the area the next day. If they hadn't, I would have had to spend half a day just to get this one stamp. I also logged a DNF in one of the not yet open for the season parks. A couple of days later, the CO logged that they verified the cache was still there.

 

This is one of the reason that I like GeoTours. Good maintained caches.

 

THANKS TO ALL for putting together and maintaining this GeoTour.

 

Skye.

[+Ranger Tina]

Sometimes nature takes a hand in access to the GeoTour stamps. There are so many parks around the state with different weather conditions. During seasonal park closures geocachers will still be able to enter the parks in most cases, the trek to the cache will just be longer. Be aware of closures that are for your safety such as wild fire, high water or other emergency closures. With the exception of these you can go ahead and find the ones in seasonally closed parks.

[alexie90]

I believe I read somewhere today that the WA STate Park Centennial GeoTour is now officially over..... is this correct? of course cant find the link of where I saw it either. did see a link abt all the finishers. even if the official geo tour is over will the caches still be left to find?

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

I believe I read somewhere today that the WA STate Park Centennial GeoTour is now officially over..... is this correct? of course cant find the link of where I saw it either. did see a link abt all the finishers. even if the official geo tour is over will the caches still be left to find?

 

I still see the WA State Park GeoTour listed on the GeoTours web page, and the link to the official website still works. The list of finishers still shows coins are available.

 

Hopefully it is still going, I'm only half way done.

 

Skye.

[+Ranger Tina]

I believe I read somewhere today that the WA STate Park Centennial GeoTour is now officially over..... is this correct? of course cant find the link of where I saw it either. did see a link abt all the finishers. even if the official geo tour is over will the caches still be left to find?

Our GeoTour will continue until June 2016. There are still silver and gold coins to claim. If you need a passport you can follow the links to the Washington State Park geocaching page to get one.

 

Caches will be left after the wrap up of the GeoTour, where we can find owners who are willing to continue to do maintenance. Many are in interesting and beautiful places that we love to have people visit.

[+MissJenn]

Thanks so much, Ranger Tina!

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

I saw the WA State Park GeoTour when it was first published. However, given the number of caches, and the size of the state, I didn't put this one on my to-do list. But, it was always in the back of my mind.

 

On March 23rd, 2014, while commuting between home and work, I saw Steptoe Butte. It's hard to miss, a big butte towering above the rest of the landscape. My GPS said there was a cache up there, so I decided to go find it. I found the cache, but I didn't have the passport with me. Later that day, I decided to try for the silver coin, and go after 50 of the 103 caches in the GeoTour.

 

By mid-August 2015, I had exceeded my goal of 50 WA State Park caches, with 54 stamps on my passport. I had covered ¾ of the state. With the exception of Steamboat Rock, the caches left were in the NW quarter of the state. While finding the actual caches was uneventful, getting to the parks was a different story. I had a water pump go out on one trip, and I knocked over a deer going up Mt. Spokane on another. I came around a corner, and three young deer jumped off a small ledge and onto the road in front of me. They scattered in every direction. I slammed on the brakes, and tried to avoid the one that was running up the road. As it was, I barely tapped the fawn. It went down, but was back up in an instant, running away, with no sign of injury.

 

In for a penny, in for a pound. When Ranger Tina informed us that the GeoTour would be ending, I had a decision to make. Try for 100, or settle for 50. A series of fortunate conditions conspired to allow me to try for 100. I completed 102 of 103 on May 7th, 2016. During this period, I had the starter on my vehicle fail while in Anacortes, getting ready to head to the San Juan Islands for the three caches there.

 

In slightly over two years, I found 102 of the WA State Park GeoTour caches. The only cache I did not attempt was Mount Pilchuk.

 

I don't know how many miles I ended up driving for this one, nor how many days I spent on the road. I do know that I had quite a number of days with over 10,000 steps, and several that were over 20,000 steps. My record was over 28,000 steps, on April 12th, when I started the day with a hike at Miller's Peninsula.

 

What an adventure completing this GeoTour has been. From the untouched beauty of Miller's Peninsula, to the fully manicured Peace Arch. From the little 25 acre Bay View, to the huge, 10,000 acre Riverside. From park n' grab caches like Triton Cove, to a terrain 4 with strenuous climbing at Steamboat Rock. From traditional ammo can caches, to multi-caches and gadget caches. What a great GeoTour!

 

I do want to thank the WA State Park System, Ranger Tina, WSGA, and all of the CO's that made this GeoTour possible. I have now completed six GeoTours, and this one is my favorite. It is my favorite because of all the different locations, and the fact that there were lots of different styles of cache hides.

[+MissJenn]

I have now completed six GeoTours, and this one is my favorite. It is my favorite because of all the different locations, and the fact that there were lots of different styles of cache hides.

 

What an adventure indeed!! This is a very cool write-up, WPTC.

[+HotDiggityDogs]

I just wanted to post that this was a fabulous GeoTour and our whole family loved it. We got almost all 50 of our caches on the west side of the state. I think only 2 or 3 over the pass (Snoqualmie/I-90).

 

Still -- we had never been to or known about so many of these parks. It became one of our favorite weekend outings to do together -- visit a new park or two.

 

And now because of the fun we had with the State Park Centennial GeoTour, we're doing the Mt Rainier Centennial GeoTour. This one is different but we're very much enjoying it!

 

So thank you to everyone involved in the the State Park tour -- I hope you know how much people enjoyed it!