Wednesday 22 May 2013

Caching with friends and Cool sights


I love caching not only for the finds and the people that you meet, but also for the cool places it takes you to, or even the travels to the cache. I happened to see some very cool things while out caching in the past little while.

PS Don't forget to click on any of the colored text within the blog as they are links to other pages with info or websites, that you may find interesting!!



Iron Man

Happy Man
 These are some of the interesting things you get to see when you are out grabbing some geocaches.




There was nothing on the other side of this gate.
Private Entrance??
 Does this look like the Canadians on South Park


 Blue Heron
 
 Not quite sure what this is, it's not a nest, it is the tree!!
 This was the stop for water back in the 20's(see plaque below)

Cool rock formations

The ocean is quite close as well!!

                                                                 Homemade Wind Chimes
 Last time I saw this many gnomes was up north!!

                                                                         I learned something!!

                 Centipede on the move
 Fuzzy Tree
  

                Crooked Tree

 Cabin in the woods
 

Holly likes to be risky as can be seen in these two pics!!! LOL

Can you see the cache? She is good at caching

 

 
 
Recently, besides continuing our cache a day challenge, we (Jenna and I) also completed the tasks for the  "All seasons caching challenge" so we made a trip out to Goldstream park to find and log it. We ended up going in the long route and our first obstacle was the set of stairs we had to go up. There was at least 200 stairs leading to the top.
 
 There was a lot of stairs!!!
 
 
 
 

Caching with a friend

 
This month I got to go caching with a good friend and fellow blogger, ShadowcasterCDN of The GO! Team. We did a big loop of caches in East Sooke Park with some pretty hilly terrain(terrain 3 caches)
 
 
The Dead End
 
The majority of the caches on this trail were micros with some regular sized caches spread in as well. Although I am not a big fan of micros in the woods, most were right on the trail and well marked and easy to find.
We found many caches(26 in total) and had several topics of conversation, while out on the trail from caching to his upcoming wedding. We traveled around 10-12km and it took us about 5 ½ hrs.
We (Angelcheeks, ShadowcasterCDN, and I) went out the next day also for several caches and then ended up back at our place for a BBQ.
It was an awesome couple days of caching. I have always liked caching with others or group hikes.

Also this month in 2011 was our 200 cache day that Jenna and I did in 12 1/2hrs. Hmmm, I think its soon time to beat that record. I'm sure she will be game. lol
 
Next month we are helping organize and run the geo booth at the Courtenay Fish and Game. Should be a lot of fun as I will also see some of the people I used to cache with when we lived up that way.
Also the BCGA AGM is this coming weekend, I will not be attending but I will be maintaining my position as Vice President for another term.
 
Until next blog
Keep on caching!!!
Chris Yuill
Magicman65
 
 

 

Monday 6 May 2013

Challenges, Geocaching's Bday, and Flash Mob mania!!


We are still doing at least a cache a day which we started on January 1st and decided to do it for all of 2013, as of this day writing this, we are at 125 consecutive days of caching( 1/3 of the year) for our 2013 challenge.
I have also been doing other caching challenges such as the "60 Vancouver Island cachers challenge", "Virtual Victory Challenge", and I have been needing to get a 13 cache day for awhile, so I could complete the "Bakers Dozen Challenge"
One day I decided to head out to Sooke to do a few virtual caches(A Virtual Cache is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary—you may be required to answer a question about the location, take a picture, complete a task, etc.) I grabed a few other caches and was soon getting ready to head back home. I counted how many I had done and realized without even trying I was at 11. Well, plans just changed, time to search out 2 more quick caches to top it up to 13 caches. All done, just need to log the challenge cache!!

Some good friends of mine, Chris and Helen, who run a Geocaching store (which I highly recommend)went to San Antonio, Texas, and while they were there, they decided to get a webcam cache(we just did one a couple of weeks ago, if you read my last blog) They put it out on FB that they needed someone to capture the picture of them when they got to it. I said I would be glad to help them. When they arrived at the location, we chatted on the phone to get them to the right spot and I was able to get the pic they needed. Thousands of miles apart and I was still able to take their photo...isn't technology cool!!!

Speaking of technology, May 3rd was the day, 13 years ago that geocaching was born!! A man named Dave Ulmer went out into the backwoods of Beaver Creek, Oregon and Hid a 5 gallon pail full of stuff including a note book. He then posted the coordinates on a usernet website, and waited for someone to go and find it. At this location is now the "Original Stash Tribute Plaque"
Video of first ever geocache
May 6th 2000, the first ever FTF(First to find) happened...boy I would have loved to been there!!!

We visited this plaque a few years back when we(Jenna and I) went to Geowoodstock with some great friends.
Original Stash




 
 

         

 

May the Fourth Be with You!!

 
WWFM – World Wide Flash Mobs – A fun and friendly way to promote geocaching around the world. Thousands of geocachers at dozens of coordinated events spanning the globe, gathering at the same time. Sonny and Sandy of the PodCacher podcast came up with the WWFM idea in 2007 after attending a mega-event. It was meant to be a fun “opposite” of a mega-event: all the cool aspects of a geocaching event, crammed into 15 minutes of excitement. An added dimension is represented by the letters "WW" - World Wide - these events occur across the planet on the same day at (mostly) the same time! These caching events are intended to bring geocachers together in a creative way, as well as introduce others (newbies) to the hobby.


 

We attended WWFM X-May the Fourth be with you in Victoria, and as you can see by the official event photo(Courtesy of Kathryn Dunphy AKA Cameracowgirl) that it was a huge success!! We even had two mini Darth Vaders complete with Light Sabers.

Let the event begin!!! Minutes before this pic was taken this spot was empty!!
 
It was really cool to see an empty field one minute, and within the next minute seeing a mob of people gather together.
The official tally is in, and the log sheet contained a whopping 85 signatures! And the photo shows 101 people(some caching teams or couples have one account) A great big thanks to Andrew and Gayle Lester(A-Team and G-Force) for putting this event on!!     
 
We even got a cool souvenir posted to our geocaching profile. 

This souvenir commemorates the tenth World Wide Flash Mob event on May 4, 2013. More than 15,000 geocachers attended one of more than 350 geocaching flash mob events spanning the globe. From a small beginning, the WWFM has grown astronomically, spreading around the globe to include more geocachers and more events every year. The WWFM events are 15 minutes of fun and excitement, packed with “typical” geocaching event activities like group photos, prize giveaways and trackable trading. You can check out all the Event pics from around the world!!

PS Don't forget to click on any of the colored text within the blog as they are links to other pages with info or websites, that you may find interesting!!
 
Until next blog
Keep on caching!!!
Chris Yuill
Magicman65
 


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