Friday 27 October 2017

Seattle trip

I headed to Seattle a couple weekends ago. Planned on doing some more unusual caches plus was gonna try to get 8 different icons. (Beating my previous record of 7 different icons in a day) Took a friend of mine with me.(Non cacher) But he enjoyed helping me find caches and was interested in it. He also went to a cache with me in Las Vegas a couple months ago, while we were there for the Magic Live Convention.



The morning looked good, as I quickly got the Webcam Cache, and the puzzle cache out of the way in Bellingham. I wanted to get a Multi while here but it was in a building so it was too early. Got into Seattle, and quickly grabbed a Letterbox, which was HQGT: Geo Post Office part of Groundspeaks geo tour. We then grabbed a challenge cache(puzzle) and a Multi. We then stopped for a bite to eat and went to try a nearby Wherigo. I was not having much luck as I was unsure as to how to play this one. We moved on.

Kerry Veiwpoint Park
We then swung by a couple of Virtual caches, the first one was at a park, and we could see the Space Needle in the distance (photo below) which is where we headed next.
At the Seattle Space Needle, I got the second Virtual which was at the base of it, and also one of the New virtual's which I talked about in last months blog.
We browsed the gift shop and then on our way.



"Those are some big Nuts!!"
We made a stop at Leroy's Suit store which is why I was coming down here in the first place, got what I wanted and then some, and then we headed off to Pikes Place Market.
MMMMM Yummy!!
No visit to Seattle is complete until you visit the famous Seattle Gum Wall. Since Glen had never seen it, I had to take him there. There used to be a cache there, which I have already found, but I believe, It has been removed until more gum accumulates as they just cleaned the walls a few months back. But as you can see by my pic above, it will get filled in no time!!

NOTE: The highlighted words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!!
Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!
PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Plus links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

On the way home I got another challenge cache which you needed to have at least 100 months filled on your jasmer calendar.

(The Jasmer Challenge requires you to find at least one cache placed every month since Geocaching was invented, in May 2000. This is difficult, as some geographic areas are missing some of the earliest caching months; the full Jasmer challenge may require you to travel significantly from your home location, Therefore, many cachers have created "mini Jasmer challenges" which require you to only find one cache placed during each month of a specific year, i.e. you must find a cache placed during each month of the year 2002.)

As you can see by my Jasmer calendar I have found caches placed on 197 out of 210 months since caching started.



On route home we stopped by this river to get an earthcache. An Erratic!! We then stopped at a rest area to grab one last cache which was a traditional.

I only got 7 different icons this day instead of the 8, possibly 9 (There was an event in Seattle) I was trying for, but still a fun day and had some great company for the trip as well!! The 8 or 9 icon day will have to happen down the road. (#Roadtrip)


Also got an earthcache on International Earthcache day back on October 8th, called mcmillan/brae the evolution of an island, it was out in Fort Langley.


I love doing challenge caches, as you can see by my recent trip to Seattle, I even made sure to get a couple, while there. This is the map of all the nearby challenge caches in my area

I think my next challenge will be to find a cache I need to fill in my Alphanumeric Cache Names, and Alphanumeric Cacher Names.








Just getting packed and ready to head to Victoria on the island for the weekend for a small Magic convention. Will grab a few challenge caches while over there. Well that's it for this month!!

Signal the Frog and I at an event years ago!!

Keep on caching
Chris Yuill
Magicman65


Thursday 5 October 2017

Virtuals and upcoming geotrip!!

Early Morning caching

Started working on another series, that I have been doing on the way to work in the morning. The final is called AC13: End of the Line (AC stands for Arbutus Corridor)
The Arbutus Corridor was created in 1901 when CP Rail began construction of their rail line known as the Marpole Spur, which ran from False Creek to Port Coquitlam.  BC Electric Railway (which became BC Hydro) used the Marpole Spur for passenger service (1905—1954) and for freight service until 1985. Then CP took over the line until June 2001, when its final freight customer, Molson Brewery, started receiving malt and barley ingredients by truck rather than by rail.
There is 12 caches with clues inside the lid or on the log book. Once you have all the clues you can calculate where the 13th and final cache of the series is. I only found 10 of the 12 but had enough info to work out the puzzle.

Recently I also finished another series called FSS - Fraser Street Series. I only found 6 of the nine caches to gain enough info to find the final 10th cache. Not quite sure why I don't complete the whole series, I guess I just like a bit of a challenge in itself to find as few as possible, and still able to solve the puzzle. lol

NOTE: The highlighted words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!!
Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!
PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Plus links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!


Just recently upgrade my GPS'r. I have used my Garmin Oregon 450 for some time, but just bought the Garmin Oregon 700

So far I am quite happy with it, the only drawback is it does not have the wherigo capability as did my other GPS'r. The good thing is I can do wherigo's from an app on my phone.

VIRTUAL CACHES
Geocaching HQ recently announced the release of Virtual Rewards, a project to reward some of geocaching’s great contributors, while also introducing a limited number of new Virtual Caches for the enjoyment of the entire geocaching community.

From Groundspeak:
Starting August 24th, approximately 4,000 geocachers in 63 countries around the world will receive emails with information about their Virtual Reward. This group is made up largely of top quality cache hiders from countries with at least 100 hiders. We created an algorithm to identify these people based on overall cache quality and cache health. Active community volunteers are also receiving a Virtual Reward as a thank you for giving their time and talent to support the geocaching community.

I love virtual caches and like many am sad to not see more of them. As you can see from some of my previous blogs, when I travel I always go for the virtuals. Just last month I found another 3 while in Vegas. So far I have only seen two new ones published in BC and one of them is over on Vancouver Island near Courtenay. I have a show in Campbell River in December, so you can be sure I will be going to see it.

Earthcache Day

They have named October 8th as Earthcache day, which is this upcoming weekend, so I have to see which one I will go get.


Seattle trip

On this upcoming trip, I am gonna try and do a 8 Icon day, getting a Traditional, a Multi, a Puzzle, a Wherigo, an Earthcache, a Virtual, a Letterbox, and a Webcam cache. I have done a 7 icon day twice now, so time to do more. lol
One of the puzzles I plan on getting was a maze puzzle that had to be done to obtain the coordinates to the final, as you can see in the pic it was not a very easy maze to do. Lots of dead ends. I hope there is no dead ends in finding the cache!!
 Hope my plans work out for my 8 Icon day. Wish me luck!!
I will let you know how things go in my next months blog. 







Well that's it for this month

Keep on caching

Chris Yuill


Magicman65




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