99th BLOG!!!

Magicman65's 99th BLOG!!!!!!

That's right guys and gal's, we are only 1 blog away from my 100th Blog, and as promised there will be a contest, where someone will win some cool swag!!!! What kind of swag you may ask?? Check out the picture below. One cool person who is the first to answer my question/s will receive all of this.

As you can see there is a few unactivated Travel bug tags, 3 unactivated Geocoins, several different pins, a few different cache containers of various sizes, a few of my FTF trading cards, a couple of my Pathtags, some cache labels, a couple of books to stock caches, and a Log roller for those Nano's and Bison tubes. Plus I may throw some other stuff in there before its out the door!!!


PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!


Since my 5000th cache last month on March 17th, which I wrote about in last months blog, I have in just one month up until April 18th found1 Letterbox cache, 45 Traditional caches, 6 of which were FTF's, 21 puzzle caches, and discovered 34 Trackables.

One of the FTF's I found!!

A couple different puzzle caches and the cool containers

Luckily we here in BC are still able to cache. Here is a map from April 19th, of where caches can and can not be published at this time. I am sure it may change more than once.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined 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!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Recently on April 26th, I have started a challenge cache called "It's my Birthday - Let's Party!!"
It reads as:
Your challenge is to find a cache celebrating it's birthday from 1 to 6
ON THE DAY OF ITS BIRTHDAY.
These must be done in order from 1 to 6.
Use the date it was placed, not the date it was published as its birth day.

There is a website called Project GC, that has different Challenge checkers, that lets you know if you have completed the challenge. (Much better than going thru all your old caches to find this info)
I checked and found these:
GC1GVNJ - Juni's Cache, hidden 2008-10-02, found 2011-10-02 (age 3 years old)
GC1Y5ZW - Cassiar Cemetery 9 Yrs Old, hidden 2009-09-03, found 2012-09-03 (age 3 years old)
GC1Y5Z2 - Jade City 8 Yrs Old, hidden 2009-09-03, found 2012-09-03 (age 3 years old)
GCPM2F - Columbia Views -- That's No Mock'ery!, hidden 2005-07-07, found 2013-07-07 (age 8 years old)
GC1Z2AV - Island Oasis, hidden 2009-09-24, found 2013-09-24 (age 4 years old)
GC3YWFN - TPT06, hidden 2012-10-17, found 2013-10-17 (age 1 years old)
GC50F3E - Oak Park, hidden 2014-03-16, found 2015-03-16 (age 1 years old)
GC56CFM - Fort Saskatchewan History, hidden 2014-06-05, found 2015-06-05 (age 1 years old)
GC5NQJG - Heavy Metal, hidden 2015-03-05, found 2016-03-05 (age 1 years old)
GC3GNJ9 - A's 3rd Birthday, hidden 2012-04-09, found 2016-04-09 (age 4 years old)

As you can see from my list, I have a few that would qualify, but they need to be done in order from 1 to 6. So the only previous cache I can use is one of the 1 year old caches. So I have been searching for caches in my area that where placed 2, 3, and 4 years ago. I will hopefully grab these shortly and then look for caches that where placed 5 and 6 years ago. Keep watching to see how I do.

Speaking of birthdays, Geocaching is about to celebrate its 20th Birthday. That's right, 20 years ago on May 3rd 2000, the first ever Geocache was born. This is where it all began. On May 3, 2000, a 5 Gallon bucket was placed in the backwoods near Beaver Creek, Oregon by Dave Ulmer. In the bucket Dave placed a Delorme Topo USA, 2 CD Roms, a cassette recorder, a "George of the Jungle" VHS tape, a Ross Perot book, four $1 bills, a slingshot handle and the now notorious, original can of beans (now the O.C.B. trackable). The coordinates were then listed on the internet and modern-day geocaching was born. The first one to find the cache was Mike Teague who took the money and left some cigarettes, a cassette tape and a pen.
That original bucket was severely damaged by an Oregon road crew mower and no longer exists. TEAM 360 and other concerned geocachers recognized the importance of this spot and created the Original Stash Tribute Plaque, dedicated to geocachers everywhere. Check out the video of that historic day in geocaching here: "Dave Ulmer's Geostash"

On July 1st, 2010 I was heading to Geowoodstock VIII in Carnation, Washington, with 3 other cachers and we made a side trip to go find the Plaque that is now there!!

Original stash tribute plaque

Magicman65 at the Plaque!!

The BIG Blue Switch

The above actions were all made possible by the events that took place on May 2, 2000, or as geocachers call it, Big Blue Switch Day. 

Before this day, accurate GPS technology was only selectively available. On May 2, 2000 the U.S. government flipped the switch and Selective Availability was turned off, suddenly making accurate GPS technology available to all. We’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of this day with a brand new Blue Switch Day souvenir! 

GEOWOODSTOCK XVIII

Important Message:
Breaking news!😃📢⁠
GeoWoodstock XVIII, Canada's largest geocaching event is moving to August 28, 2021.⁠
Visit GeoWoodstock.com to find out more!
Check out the website at "Geowoodstock" for all upcoming info on the event as well as events leading up to it, and make sure you log your "will attend" at "Event" and register online!!
They are going to have some amazing things, including a really cool Magician doing a couple of shows.....Hmmmm, wonder who that could be??? Make sure you get logged in!!!
PLUS: A-Maze-ing News in the form of a GPS MAZE!
They will have a new Canada themed GPS Adventure Maze in the Fraser Valley as part of GeoWoodstock XVIII and the Pacific Northwest Geocaching Celebration!! 
Your Registration is a HUGE Support!
A HUGE thank you to the folks who already purchased a Registration level and to those who purchase one by May 17th!  We want to make our 'early adopters' feel special and so we're coming up with cool names and super perks for you! Register by May 17th, to be part of this elite group. 
All event registrations received to date will be honoured for the new date and those participants will be bestowed with the title Charter Member of GeoWoodstock XVIII. The event geocoin you receive in your package will be EXCLUSIVE to Charter Members of GWXVIII. 

Puzzles, Puzzles, and more Puzzles

 Last week Lookout Lisa from Cache Advance had Cully Long (Author of "How to Puzzle Cache") on as a special guest on a webinar on how to do puzzle caches. Since I have been doing a lot of Puzzle caches lately, I signed up to watch. If you wish to learn about puzzle caches, here is the link: https://www.cachingleague.com/puzzle-league

Check it out, there is lots of great info on solving puzzles!!

Speaking of Puzzles
For the last month, I have been working on a lot of Puzzle caches and getting out from time to time to find them. Check out Oliver(My little boy) and my YouTube page for some fun videos while we are out caching.
"Geocaching with Oliver and Chris"

FTF Magazine

I was in FTF Magazine again. If you do not already subscribe to this magazine, here is the link to subscribe. "FTF Magazine"

Travel Bug and Geocoin etiquette 

Recently I was going thru my geocoin list to see where my coins and TB's were in the world. Some I have as a collection but many I have let out into the world to travel from cache to cache and cacher to cacher. One in particular I looked at had 635 logs of visits to various caches all across Germany. A cacher picked it up out of a cache and had it with him for almost a year and a half, dipping it into all the caches he went to. (I do that as well with a couple different TB's and coins, but they are MINE!!!)
I thought his original log when he pick it up was a bit on the weird side also. It was in German, but translated to: "What kind of a sweetheart are you? Come with us to accompany us a little on our way. Let's see where we let you go again"
Accompany us a little??? Ummmm 1 1/2 years is more than a little. lol

I did send him an email and politely asked him to move MY coin on.
What are your thoughts on geocoin's and TB's and their travel?? Should others keep them for long periods of time, or move them as quickly as they can??
Here is some of my collection:

This is a little less than half my collection. These ones are registered to me, and I have some others that are not activated yet, as I use them for prizes and giveaways like I will next month on my 100th blog.

Here is my Pathtag collection:

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

5000 finds and FTF's

FTF's are fun!!!

I got a notification for 3 new caches today(March 15) and took off to go grab. When I got to the first one, I realized my app did not download all the info or hints. All I had to go on was the map and the ability to navigate.

 Good thing I have great geo senses!! Lol
All the cache pages that I saved had no info whatsoever. Very weird!!

I was still able to find them all and claim the FTF!!! YAY!!!
I left some of my Pathtags and trading cards in them all for others to enjoy!!




PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

Finding these 3 FTF's has put me at 4998 Finds, only 2 away from 5000. I was planning to get #5000 in Las Vegas, but that trip has been postponed for now. Need to look and see what cache I want to do for my 5000th find somewhere local.

5000 Finds!!!

YAY, I Just hit a milestone of 5000 finds since I started caching!!!!! I was planning to get it in Las Vegas this coming weekend, but since our trip was postponed, I decided to find a high Favorited cache here to grab. I was sitting at 4998, and called Susan to see if she wanted to go grab a couple of caches with Oliver and I. I looked at my list of most favorite caches in the area, and found 2 very close to each other, like on the same trail, 200 metres away from each other. Lol.

We went to Richmond and grabbed them both. We went to "RichmondC150#06-Sticky Situation which was in plain site, and then headed down the trail to grab my 5000th cache called "Ensconcement Interchange" which was also in plain site but locked so muggles could not access it.  Between the 2 caches, they had over 300 favorite points.

Here is the "Video" of my 4999th and 5000th cache that I got with Sansue and my little boy on March 17th/20
Also within the next couple of months, I will be posting my 100th Blog, and as promised, I will have some sort of contest to win some cool swag!! Keep watching and following my adventures!! This is my 98th blog since I started blogging in 2012

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined 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!!!

Puzzle cache solving

So lately Oliver and I have been hanging out at home because of the ever changing world we are living in right now. This was posted on the British Columbia Geocachers Association (B.C.G.A.) page;
People are still permitted outside if feeling healthy. Take your current Health condition into account.

There are no restrictions on geocaching, however standard and extra precautions can be taken. Wear gloves, wash your hands, bring hand sanitizer, don’t touch your face.

The BC review team is monitoring the situation as well.

BC Government's news roundup from Friday includes this:

"Henry clarifies direction on physical distancing relating to going outside: It is safe to go outside to get fresh air, walk pets, ride a bike and exercise while maintaining safe physical distances."

As you can see by the following pics, I have several solved (The Dark Blue Question Mark turns into a Light Blue puzzle shaped piece)

Update on Puzzle caches:
The Geocaching Vlogger introduced the Geochallenge of the Month for April, and it was to solve a puzzle cache online. lol. Well, I have already been doing that for the last several weeks, so the challenge was easy. Here is the video submission that I sent to him. "April Geochallenge"

YAY!!! More FTF's

April 8th, I was just picking up Oliver, when a few new caches got published. We went to 2 of them and, Yup, both FTF's!!!


Important Message:
Geowoodstock XVIII (Fingers crossed) is just around the corner, have you signed up and logged your will attend yet??
Check out the website at "Geowoodstock" for all upcoming info on the event as well as events leading up to it, and make sure you log your "will attend" at "Event" and register online!!
They are going to have some amazing things, including a really cool Magician doing a couple of shows.....Hmmmm, wonder who that could be??? Make sure you get logged in!!!
EDIT NOTE: Geowoodstock has been Postponed until August 27th 2021

April Caching

So as I have stated above, we have been getting some puzzle caches and while we were out grabbing several today in south Surrey some new caches got published near my place. Obviously not enough time to get back there to get the FTF. We did a cool cache called "Rubik's Cache" where the first stage, there was a Rubik's Cube in the container. It was mixed up and it had Numbers etched into all the faces.

You had to solve the Cube first, to figure out the Co-ordinates for the cache. As you can see by the pics, I was able to solve the cache. I have been doing the Rubik's cube since high school, and I can solve it. My best time is 55 seconds. The world record for solving a 3 by 3 cube is just 4.22 seconds and is held by Feliks Zemdegs.
Here is the Video of me solving the cube at this cache, as well as some other caches we did.

We also found several painted rocks along the trails, got some pictures of them as well.

 After solving the cube we headed up the trail to look for the cache. We couldn't find it, so I thought maybe I read the co-ords wrong. We went back to the cube and had to solve it again. lol. After checking some different numbers, we still ended up at the same place. After a quick message to another caching friend, we came up with the find. We were at the right spot the first time, I just did not look good enough. Doh!!!
Right after we made the find and signed the logbook, I got a notification of another new cache. This one was only about 5 km away from where we were. Yay, lets go!!! We headed there, and headed down the trail to a cool little lake in the middle of a residential area and got the FTF!!!!

After signing the newly published cache we headed out for one more puzzle cache that would fill in one more spot on my Difficulty/Terrain grid. All in all, a fun day caching finding a total of 6 caches, including 5 puzzles and one First To Find on a traditional cache.

With this crazy Virus out in the world right now, you need more than some cool swag and a pair of tweezers in your backpack. Keep safe everyone!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65