The H.A.G.

Looking for the H.A.G Caches

Susan and I decided to make our way over to Vancouver Island and the Victoria area to grab some H.A.G. caches. The H.A.G. is a yearly event that takes place the first weekend of February. Hundreds of caches are hidden starting in November and are all published on the first Saturday in February. This year there was roughly 400 new caches published for the HAG up and down Vancouver Island.

On the Friday after we got to the island we went and grabbed a few cool local caches. We started with a Virtual downtown Victoria in Chinatown called "Fan Tan Alley"

Welcome to Fan Tan Alley - the narrowest street in North America and a portal into Canada's oldest Chinatown, first settled in 1858! At its narrowest point the street is only 0.9 meters (35 inches) wide, so that a child can place a hand on the brick walls on either side. Fan Tan Alley is 73 meters (240 feet) long, running between Fisgard Street and Pandora Avenue. This street is so unique that it's been featured in Hollywood movies and children's books.

Although today Fan Tan Alley is a tourist destination, it wasn't always the kind of place you would want to go for a casual stroll with the family. Back in the mid-1800's the street was a popular place for a variety of less-than-legal activities, with gambling and opium dens common. In fact, the street drew its name from the Chinese gambling game "Fan-Tan". In the late 1970's a revitalization project turned the alley into the popular tourist spot that is it today. It may be so busy on the day you visit that you'll be forced to turn sideways to squeeze through the route.

Most of the doors here are like this one where the address is a half number like 23 1/2 (This is NOT the one you need for the answer on the cache page)

We then headed across the Johnston Street Bridge. I used to live in Victoria for several years, and the last time I was here it was blue and very ugly looking(See pic)

But not today, this is what the new bridge looks like!!!

We made our way to the "Landsharkz Store" where they sell all things geocaching. It is run by some friends of mine. If you are in town, check them out, or if you need to order some geocaching supplies,  check out their website at the link above. They even have a very cool cache out front called "Geocaching News - Read all about it!'

Susan opening up the cache

We then made our way over to Ogden Point Breakwater, to do a virtual cache.

It was a nice walk out to the end of it and we even saw some seals playing.

 

On Saturday we were up at 4:30am (Maybe from the excitement of knowing a few hundred caches where going to pop up near us. We got ready and headed out by 5:30am. We headed over to East Sooke Park as I had a hunch several would be published there. As we sat and waited, a cache was published a few km's away from us. We took a chance and drove over to the spot. We parked and it was only 100 metres away. We headed into the trail and then we realized it was up a steep hill. We started climbing up, we didn't realize at the time it was not only 100 metres away, but it was about 80 metres up. We got to the spot and also noticed, now caches were being published in the park where we were just 10 minutes ago. We got our first FTF of the day at 8:36AM. A quick sign of the blank log and head back down. Sprint to the car and head back to our spot, still an empty parking lot...YAY!! As we were gearing up to head down the trail, another cacher drove into the parking lot. We decided to all go together. We did the entire loop in the wind and rain, and partway thru the hunt my geocaching app crapped out. Good thing Susan had her phone. We got back to the parking lot after 3 hours of hiking on hilly, rocky, slippery terrain, and we said goodbye to our new caching friend Erniert and then headed down the road. We were heading towards the Ferry terminal, when I noticed there was a couple of new caches near Langford Lake that had not been logged yet. Yup...you guessed it, off we went.

We got there and started looking when all of a sudden another cacher was coming up the trail....It was Erniert again. lol

We finally spotted it and realized it was up the tree about 30 feet above us.

Can you see it???

 

Ernie said his partner was on her way there with an extending pole with a hook. We waited a short time and then she arrived as well as other cachers. By now there was about 8-10 of us that would share the FTF!!! We looked for another one nearby but with about 13 people looking and spending a good 30 mins, we decided to head out. 

 Here is a closer look!! Of the 20 caches we did today, this was the coolest for sure as all the others were just micro's or smalls with a basic hide.

Not a bad day after all that, About 5-6 km's of walking and getting soaked, but fun was had.

I got a total of 5 caches on Friday evening, and 20 caches on Saturday, 18 of which were FTF's, 1 STF(Second to Find) and one older existing cache. And we also DNF'd 5 caches

The cool thing is the 18 FTF's in one day is a new record for me!! YAY!!!

 

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!!!

Locationless Cache

A new Locationless cache was published by Groundspeak. Its here for the rest of the year, but get it soon!! Check it out at: "Lets improve the outdoors-Locationless Cache"

At the time of writing this, there has been over 4000 logs so far and its only been live for 6 days

Join geocachers around the world to improve the outdoors, celebrate 20 years of geocaching, and log a rare cache type in 2021! This HQ-owned cache provides a unique opportunity to contribute to environmental improvement and protection efforts in a way that’s most meaningful and safe for you.

How to participate:

Participate individually or with a small group (after checking the current guidance from public health authorities). The possibilities are endless, but could include:

• Clean up garbage in your neighborhood or favorite walking path.
• Join an existing community effort to remove invasive species, plant trees, and improve parks.

YouTube channel

So for a little while now, Oliver and I have been doing videos while caching and I have loaded a few up onto our NEW YouTube channel so far. He wanted to start a YouTube channel of his own for caching videos, so I have set one up for us. If you want to check out our progress so far and give us some feedback that would greatly be appreciated. Here are links to 2 of the videos:

"December Geochallenge of the Month"(I wrote about this challenge in last months blog)

"Magicman65 finds his 5000th cache"

Please check these out and our new YouTube channel, and comment on the videos, and subscribe to our channel. As I get better with editing, they will look a little nicer. lol

Wanna get lots of FTF's???

Many people have been asking the question how to set up to receive notifications of newly published caches via text. The information from Geocaching blog and myself below will help you do this. 

How do I set up instant notifications to let me know when a new geocache is published (only applicable to Premium Members)?

You can custom build notifications under Premium Member features.

1. Go to the Add Instant Notification page
2. Name the notification
3. Choose a cache type to monitor (e.g. Traditionals, Events, etc.)
4. Choose the types of logs you want to see (if you are just looking for newly published caches, choose “Publish Listing”)
5. Set the location (central point) and distance (around that point) you want to watch. This is the area you want to cache, I have found New caches in other city's and provinces, and places like Las Vegas. (I make notifications whenever I travel) 
6. Check the email listed in the “Send to” drop-down menu. (If you would like to send Instant Notifications to an alternate email, you will need to manage your email addresses first.) (You can also send the notification to you via a text (SMS) message. See below how to set this up)
7. Check “Enable Notifications”.
8. Select “Create Notification” and you are set!

Text message Notification: To find the email address associated with your phone number:

1. Go to your text messages app and click on new message.

2. Type in your email address as the person you wish to text.

3. Type "Test" or literally anything into the text message.

4. Hit send.

5. Check your email address and you will have the email address associated with your phone number.

 The address will typically include your phone number and the name of your provider: ##########@MobileCarrierName.com

6. Set up a notification exactly like above but instead of your normal email address, use this new one you have.

7. Go get all the FTF's!!! PS...Save some for Me!!!

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!!!

The day after getting back from the Island and HAG Caching, Susan and I went out to grab a few caches, We did 5 caches and all were different types. We did a Traditional, a Multi, A Letterbox, A Locationless cache(1st one I've ever done) and a Cool Earthcache about an Erratic. I have always wanted to create an Erratic Earthcache. I will write more about this in next months blog. Until then, Stay Safe, Wear your Mask, and Wash your Hands!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65