My Adventures and Places Life Takes Me: Going Ape XI

I decided about a week ago that I was going to go to the Ape Event at Hyak this year. I haven't been since 2017 when I took Ben, Mom, Dad, Trish and Amy through the tunnel for my 12,000th cache milestone at the Ape cache. I thought about all the stuff that had happened since then and it was a lot. 2017 was the last year my life was somewhat normal. I love seeing what the future holds but I definitely miss what life was like back in 2017.

This would be my 7th time at this annual event that the WSGA sponsors (except for 2020 and 2021). This time it is being held in September when it's usually held in mid-August. This year we were still catching up on event's that had been postponed so August would have been too busy to hold it then. Ben had a race shift South Sound Speedway and Mom had a CPR training at the office, so I guess I was going by myself with my bike. I prepared the Escape the night before by putting the bike in and other various things I thought I would need like the bike pump and the helmet. I put in some extra shoes and a bag of snacks. I also made sure I had a full tank of gas, so I didn't have to stop anywhere in the morning.

I set the alarm for 6:30, got up, got ready, put on the appropriate clothes for the day, grabbed some drinks for the cooler, fed the kitties and told Ben to be safe at the racetrack. I added that I wasn't sure what time I would be home but would update him throughout the day. It was very smokey outside because of the bad wildfires and I was really hoping the pass would be less smoky. I left the house by 7:10.

I got onto I-5 north, merged onto 512, then to 167, Hwy 18 and finally onto I-90. I didn't hit one lick of traffic and it was awesome because I was making great time. This is how the drive should be, but I know it will never be like this every time, besides it's early in the morning on a Saturday. The drive up I-90 was really easy going. I think I drove past a couple of geocachers that had visible trackables on their vehicles.

I arrived in Hyak around 8:30, parked, used the restroom and then got my bike out. I made sure my bike had adequate tire pressure, I threw on my tennis shoes and wheeled over to the event. I said hi to a couple people I knew but didn't want to impose because I knew they were busy getting the event ready for the 10 a.m. start time. I went over to the refreshment tent with Annette and Dick to chat for a little bit. I hadn't gotten to talk to them that much since Covid. We had a great time chatting as we waited for the event to start. I also did a bunch of the Adventure Labs while we hung out because some of them didn't have a geofence. I signed the WSGA's Going Ape XI (GC9N8PG) logbook and talked to Brian and Vickie for a little bit.

I decided it was time to go through the tunnel before it got really busy. Before I grabbed my bike, two ladies came up to me at the refreshment tent and asked if I was cougarcach24. I told them I was! They introduced themselves as Dicentra and Quiltist2. I told them it was very nice to meet them and told them how that Adventure Lab went in July. They were the ones who helped Ben with it and both beta tested it. Before they left for their adventure (this was their first ape event), I told them thank you for helping with the big day. They said they were happy to help and congratulated me. I smiled and felt famous for the rest of the day.

I grabbed my bike and headed towards the tunnel. It wasn't that busy yet which is what I was hoping for because nobody likes a crowded tunnel. I did some of the Adventure Lab waypoints as I went and did an archived cache, Canadian Ape Cache FVCB3 (GC8JQ21). You pressed a lever and slide the lid and an ape hand tries to grab you. It was a fun cache.

I stopped at the entrance, put my winter hat and the headlamp I borrowed from Mom and Dad on. It is chilly in there even though it was summer like outside.

I rode through the tunnel trying to avoid the occasional walker, bike rider and small child or dog walker. As I cruised through, I got dripped on a couple times by the cracks in the ceiling, rode through some muddy spots and was really glad I remembered to bring my hat because I could see my breath in front of me in the middle of the tunnel.

It didn't take me long to get through to the other side. This is why I love bringing my bike with me. I've done it several times with the bike and walking throughout the years. 2.25 miles definitely feels longer when you walk it! I stopped just to the side of the tunnel so I could take off my hat and headlamp. I overheard some people talking about the Adventure Lab R65 Trifecta and that one of the five waypoints was on this side of the tunnel. I had gotten the one at the Seattle event a couple weeks ago. I picked up that one and finished another Adventure Lab I had begun in the parking lot.

I rode further up the gravel trail to the Misson 9: Tunnel of Light (GC1169), which is a high sought-after cache since there are only two left in the world. Here and Brazil. I found it for the first time back in August 2017 after it was resurrected. This time, I was leaving behind and picking up trackables and doing the Adventure Lab. There was a small group of people near the cache and its guardians, GrnXnham, two local cachers and WSGA members from Graham. I've chatted with them before in the past, did GCD with them, twice, and they are also Cougar fans. I visited with them for a few minutes and gave them one of my pathtags and they reciprocated by giving me one of their wooden nickels.

I chatted with a lady from Montana, a girl from Mount Vernon and a guy named Yosemite Sam for a while. He traded a pathtag with me before pedaling away. I was there for a good half hour, forty minutes before deciding it was time to go back through the tunnel. I put my hat and headlamp on again and made my way through the tunnel. This time it took me a little longer because there were more people, dogs and bikes inside. I passed quite a few people.

Once on the other side, I did another Adventure Lab but, I had to go back and forth into cell service because it wouldn't work and soon got super annoying. I eventually finished it but took me way too long to do it. I decided, since I had my bike, to pedal east on the trail towards Lake Keechelus. It's been quite a few years since I've gotten caches out that way.

You could clearly see the smoke getting thicker as the afternoon wore on. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was down in the valley though. I was glad to be in the mountains during a really smoky day. I saw that another Adventure Lab published while I was going through the tunnel, but I decided to do it on the way back to the event when I was done.

I followed the trail past the event and to another trailhead lot or overflow lot. I saw I was getting closer to Lake Keechelus Trailhead (GC5B5G0). I grabbed a couple pictures of the trailhead marker and then ventured over to where the phone was telling me to go.

The only place it could be was hanging on the metal sign on the edge of the parking lot. Bam, there it was. I unscrewed it, signed my name and the date and put it back where I found it. I knew this one was going to be found a bunch of times today.

I got back on my bike and made my way down the trail to my last one, Alpine Lakes: Lake Keechelus (GC4JRQ2). I read the trail map wrong and ended up going off roading to get down to the road. It was quite a journey, and I am glad I didn't fall and hurt myself. Looking back, I probably should have but got lucky. I got onto the road and followed it out to the boat launch. I didn't need to quite go to the boat launch but the bluffs overlooking the boat launch. There was a vehicle nearby, they ignored me, and I ignored them. I put my bike down near some bushes and walked up to the tree at the top of the bluff. It took me a while to figure out where and what I was looking for, but I did find it. The view was pretty amazing from up there.

I got my bike and rode back to the event. I hung out and caught up with Dick and Annette some more, talked to a lot more cachers from that refreshment tent. We spoke to a guy from Moldova who was here visiting friends and geocaching. He said he did a bunch of caches in Seattle and decided to come to the ape event. I briefly talked to Ben and Jayme. They said they would have been here sooner, but they got rear ended on the 405 trying to get to the event. He said they're fine, but it was annoying to deal with. While I was there, I decided to do the other Adventure Lab but couldn't get the phone to cooperate, so I went back to do it later. I talked to Brian and Vickie again for a bit about my trip to New England and our visit to Salem. She said it's a pretty amazing place. I was excited.

As it approached mid-afternoon, around 2ish, I said my goodbyes, loaded up my bike and got onto I-90 west. I was regretting not making myself a sandwich before I left that morning. All I brought was snacks and I needed something with more sustenance to eat. I saw there was a Jersey Mike's at the North Bend exit, so I pulled off I-90 and managed to find where it was in town. I found a place to park and went inside. There were a bunch of 20-somethings in line ordering a bunch of food. They were all dressed in swimming attire and must have been out on a lake somewhere. It eventually got to me, and I ordered my usual, turkey and cheese.

I walked over to the Bartel's in the same lot and got a couple Milky Ways, a small bag of chips and some Pepsi Zero's for the road. I ate a few bites of my sandwich and got back onto I-90. I got off at the Hwy 18 exit and had to wait for a bunch of people to figure out how to merge. It took a while, but we eventually got going. I went the length of Hwy 18 until it merged into Federal Way on I-5 because my WSDOT told me to so I could avoid backups on 167.

I saw I was getting low on gas and saw Fife was coming up. It was easy to get in and out of. I called Mom to let her know I survived and that I was almost home. I filled up the tank at the 76 Station and got back onto I-5. I called Ben to let him know I was almost home. He said he was at the racetrack getting ready. I decided to stop by Costco on the way home to pick up a few things. I got home, unloaded the Escape and decided to get rid of Erika's green beans and other stuff I was storing of hers in the garage. I talked Doug into going with me over to her house to drop those items off. He brought Charlie so we could stop at PetSmart on the way home.

We drove out to Erika's house; she wasn't home but told us to leave it in front of her garage. I took a picture and sent it to her so she could see the stuff and knew where it was. I took Doug and Charlie to PetSmart to get a dog toothbrush and paste, some treats, a dog toy (picked out by Charlie--"Octofox") and a large dog water bowl for the bedroom. We went home after that. It was super smoky outside.

I vacuumed out the Escape, washed clothes, showered, did laundry, Doug ordered pizza and didn't realize he did takeout instead of delivery, so our stuff didn't come. Doug called and changed it to delivery, and we eventually got it and ate cold pizza, but that was his fault, not theirs. I made dirt cups, folded laundry, watched football, worked on my blog for a while, logged caches, did dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned the cat fountain, made bird water. Ben came home just before midnight from the track.