I slept okay but then the alarm went off around 6:30 but we didn't get out of bed until 6:45. We both go ready and started packing up our stuff. Ben ate his muffin and I had some yogurt I packed up with me. We took stuff down to the Escape; Ben made one last sweep and checked us out. Ben wanted some coffee so we went to the nearest Top Pot and got a coffee and, me, a maple bar - I couldn't help myself.
We got onto I-90 and headed east. I was so glad we decided to stay the night in Issaquah instead of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to drive up to the Pass from Lacey. It would have been a long, tiresome day. It was slow around North Bend for some reason but soon thinned out. We were able to make up some time as we climbed in elevation. We arrived in Hyak a little bit after 8 a.m. I wasn't sure where they wanted the volunteers to park but we figured that out quickly. We grabbed what we would need, checked in, got organized and helped out where we were needed.
We were given green volunteer Ape shirts, a lanyard and walkie talkies. Antoine and a few others connected with me to let me know what I was responsible for as the assistant director, logistics. Ben met up with Margaret to find out his duties in the medical tent for that day. I spent most of my time running around checking on the parking volunteers, the gate and the two portals. I also made sure they had everything they needed so their stations were running smoothly.
I had several conversations throughout the day with fellow geocachers, other WSGA volunteers, my directors and leads. I know not everything is perfect when you have a large event. We had a parking lot snafu. Apparently, the person who was supposed to ask permission for the overflow lot actually didn't and assumed we had permission to use it based on past events. That parking lot we did not have permission for. We found out that it was privately sold years ago and is owned by another group of people. We had to let people know since that's where the parking lot crew was telling people to go. The people who had already parked there...well, we would just hope for the best and that no one received a parking ticket or was towed. If they did, we determined that, the WSGA would pay for it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon running back and forth from my stations and checking up on my volunteers. There were a few times we had to have Gene in the 4x4 come pick up cachers who wanted to go get the Ape cache, but their mobility was hindered. I did a lot of running around. The wind did pick up that early afternoon and thrashed the first aid sign in Ben and Margaret's station. They had joked that the sign being repaired with tape was the most action they got that entire day. Which was good to hear because that meant that none of our attendees were injured or needed first aid during the event. I did have time to pick up a few of the Adventure Labs in the area I didn't have yet, but we were not able to do the tunnel this year.
As the Block Party - Return of the Ape (GCAWAYJ) came to a close, we helped out the stations who needed help breaking down their pop ups, tables, chairs, cones, etc. We made sure we found the place better than we found it...or at least we tried, since there were other people there besides the people who came for our event. We had several conversations with people on how it went and thanked everyone for a fun time in the mountains. Ben and I said our goodbyes and left the state park around 3ish.
Luckily, the traffic wasn't bad, and we got home around 5. We unloaded the Escape, put stuff away, got cleaned up, ate dinner, washed a load of laundry, went to Lowe's for some paint supplies for our rental visit the next day, logged caches and wrote notes for my blog.
I wrote this in my geocaching log:
"It really does take a village to run an event especially a Block Party in the mountains.
What makes this event so successful are the volunteers. The time, dedication and the ability to bring everyone together to get excited about the community we are serving. In this case, we are a geocaching community who serves the people of our extended geocaching communities. Obviously, nothing is perfect, but we at least try to be perfect.
Individually, we have a unique set of skills, such as - a collaborative mindset to get people rallied to reach the successful outcome, those who are technologically savvy, people who are knowledgeable about a particular part of the event, the right education, experience and those who are able to share what worked and what didn't work. With that being said, I was put in the role of an assistant director, specifically logistics.
I was not sure what that was going to look like, but I had an open mind about it and was excited to see what was going to happen. I've been to several Ape events over the years and have had different roles as a volunteer. Being an assistant director, to be honest, did intimidate me a first. With several conversations over the course of a few months and asking the right questions, I was excited for the opportunity to help out where I was needed. Thank you, for trusting me to get my job done.
I heard attendees throughout the day say that they had fun, it was organized and many of their questions were answered by the WSGA running around in green shirt with walkie talkies.
A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered at the Ape event this afternoon up at Snoqualmie Pass. Serious, without you we would not have an event. To everyone I had a conversation with, it was nice to catch up with you again and it was great to meet those people I met for the first time today. Because I was running around most of the day, I wasn't able to connect with some of you, but maybe we can somewhere else down the road."
Next Adventure: International Geocaching Day & The 2025 Tumwater Artesian Brewfest
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