Gold Country.....Finally!!!

 Jehovah's wetness

I was contacted by Bob of GBandBob, and he was setting up a group hike to get a cache called "Jehovah's Wetness"

It is a difficulty 3 cache, because you need 2 things...A TOTT(Ladder) and a Low Tide. As you can see in the pictures it is only reachable during a low tide, as it is in the top of a large pipe, that is normally half underwater.

                                                                                This is the location of the cache

We need someone to climb the TOTT (Ladder)

 Yup that's me up there taking a selfie of the group!!!

We found it!!!

We were fortunate to also have the CO (Cache Owner) at the cache site also,

and he(MrGigabyte) was celebrating his 20th year geocaching to the day!!!.

How awesome is that! Especially since Geocaching is only 21 years old.

 The group after the find. Almost like an unofficial event. A lot of people wanted to be there, as most would not have a way to get it without the Ladder and someone brave to climb it. It was a fun find!!!

GOLD Country Caching

So as you may have noticed, the last few blogs I have been talking about a trip up to Gold Country area with Susan (Sansue). The first time we planned this trip several months ago, the weather turned and we decided to postpone the trip. Then about 10 days before we were planning to go the second time, the Province ended up getting travel restrictions. So we set a new date for the 3rd time. And now we have gone....YAY!!!

I have been this way several times before and have gotten quite a few of the caches up here, but this was Susan's first trip up this way.

Day 1:

Historic Yale:

 After a quick Multi cache in Hope, we made our way north. First few caches led up to and thru Yale. We were able to get an Earthcache and a couple other local caches before moving on further North. Just before Alexandra Provincial Park, we grabbed a cache called "Her Majesty's Royal Engineer's" which was a Large Rock Cairn with a plaque. 

The plaque reads:

1859-1927
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE WORK OF
HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL ENGINERS
AND IN RESPECTFUL ADMIRATION OF THE
SKILL AND ENERGY DISPLAYED BY THEM
FROM 1859 TO 1863 IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
THE ORIGINAL CARIOO HIGHWAY
THROUGH THE FRASER CANYON

Alexandra Bridge (The Bridge to Nowhere) Virtual Cache

When arriving at Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park in the Fraser Canyon, take a short walk to the Alexandra Bridge perched over the spectacular Fraser River. Originally, constructed in 1863, the bridge was part of the Cariboo Wagon Road that connected Fort Yale and the south to the Cariboo Gold Fields. I had already got the 4 caches in this Park, but wanted Susan to see the Historic Bridge and river.

As we walked down the trail to the Bridge we noticed Wooden Orange Hearts had been placed thru the trail on the trees. They were placed here to remember the 215 unmarked graves found in Kamloops. So sad to think about it.

Most of them had something written on by other children.

One of the caches we stopped at in the Park was a BCGA Project Bluesky cache. I love the fact that this cache was placed in 2009 and is still the same container. Good quality caches were made by the BCGA. I am proud to have been the VP of the BCGA from 2011 to 2014

We then arrived at the bridge and headed across to grab the cache on the other side, as well as get the necessary picture of Susan on the Bridge to log the virtual. (I had already logged it in 2018)

The 8th Tunnel

Just before Hell's Gate Canyon a cache has been placed at a cool abandoned tunnel, called the 8th Tunnel. This is one of the reasons I love caching. Most people will never see this, but because someone placed a cache there, cachers will experience things like this!!

I did this one already also back in 2018!!

The Fraser Canyon Highway Tunnels were constructed in the late 1950s to about the mid 1960's as part of a Trans-Canada Highway project. There are 7 tunnels in total, the shortest being about 57 metres (190 ft); the longest, is about 610 metres (2,000 ft) and is one of North America's longest. They are situated between Yale and Boston Bar.
In order from south to north, they are:
Yale Tunnel,
Saddle Rock Tunnel,
Sailor Bar Tunnel,
Alexandra Tunnel,
Hell's Gate Tunnel,
Ferrabee Tunnel and,
China Bar Tunnel.
The 8th Tunnel was part of the old Trans-Canada highway that included the Alexandra bridge used in the 1950's before the new highway and tunnels were built.

  

Just before Kanaka Bar we stopped for a cache called "Welcome to Gold Country! South Side" 

There was a huge boulder balanced on another boulder at the cache site. Very Cool. I kept telling Susan to not touch it, as I thought it could fall over. lol

Lytton

Coming into Lytton, Susan got a taste of her first of several Gold Country Caches called :Gold Country-Lytton Chinese History Museum" which was just before town.

Susan finding her first Gold Country Cache. We ended up visiting 44 Gold Country caches during our 3 day trip. There is a total of 148 GC caches.

 We grabbed several Gold Country Caches in Lytton and also a puzzle cache called "Nlaka'pamux, which I had no Idea how to solve it, but had it on the list. Once we got to Town I was still unsure, until something caught my eye!! We then headed up the highway towards Lillooet, grabbing some caches along the road, and even replaced a cache for another cacher. I contacted him before we left for the trip.

 

Note: (5 days after passing through Lytton, they recorded the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada at 49.5 C. and a day later the town burnt to the ground due to a wildfire that ripped thru the town because of the high winds. Very Sad to hear that!!!)

Lillooet 

In Lillooet, we grabbed a couple of GC caches, including the "Old Bridge"

Known today as The Old Bridge, this span was built circa 1911. It is a suspension bridge of steel cables and wood with “dead-men” (cable ends) embedded in the rocky banks of the Fraser. The middle section of the bridge is held up by cables. The bridge replaced a truss bridge, which in turn replaced a winch ferry that was powered by the river’s current and was in use from the 1860s to 1888.

 

This was a very cool cache container. It looked like something you should definitely NOT Touch!! It had cables coming out of it, and it looked as if it was part of the antenna on the other side of the fence. I guess that's why it had 62 fave points.

We then headed up towards Clinton where we grabbed a few more GC caches before stopping for the night, and we got the last hotel room in town...Whew!!! 14 hours of caching and driving and only 41 caches found. But still lots of fun and adventure.

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!!!

Day 2:

Clinton

After a good rest in Clinton, we awoke and headed back southbound. We grabbed a few GC caches that we didn't get the night before on the way into town, and then we headed towards Cache Creek.

Not quite sure how it happened but there was another GC cache in town that was NOT on my list. DOHH! Guess we will have to plan on going there again.

Cache Creek

Grabbed several caches in town and even went to a small nearby community called Walhachin
to grab one. It was a nice drive and some awesome scenery.

Susan caching at the Cache Creek sign!! Yes there is one there!!!

"Howdy cachers, there's a cache behind me!!!"

Ashcroft

After lunch we made our way over to Ashcroft, where besides several caches, we also did 2 Adventure Labs and a bonus cache for each, before heading to Logan Lake.

Logan Lake

In Logan lake we grabbed 4 more GC caches and several cool gadget caches.

Critter Catcher

That Screwy cache

The series of the Logan Lake Gadget Caches (LLGC) were very nicely done, and you really had to think to get into them. One of them called "The Key to Success", the logbook was already in open, but we didn't notice and it wasn't until we had it open and realized it. LOL. We made sure to put it back together correctly for the next finder.

Susan in the Logan Lake Shovel

We then made our way to Merritt, and grabbed another GC cache and then headed out to the old Merritt-Princeton highway which is now called Hamilton Hill road, but should be called Gadget cache alley. There are 7 gadget caches along this road.

Heart of the Lion

The Labyrinth

We only did 4 of them, as we had already done the others on different trips. Some very cool gadget caches out there. One of them was also Susan's 900th cache.

Susan getting her 900th cache while "walking the dog"!!

After that, as it was getting darker, we went back into town, and we went to 9 different hotels until we found one with Vacancy. Yikes. Normally I book hotels in advance from home, but we were not sure how far we would end up each day. 

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!!!

Day 3:

Merritt

We awoke and got out into the early morning heat. It was in the mid 40's while we were there. Yikes. We got several more caches including 6 GC caches and a cool Multi puzzle type cache called "Unlock the Fox" and another puzzle cache before heading down the highway towards Hope. 

"I am Groot"

Hope

 We got into Hope on our way back home, and the first caches we wanted to do was the 4 other multi's to complete the "Bearly Hidden" series of caches. I needed a Multi cache on our first day as I am working on a challenge cache, that is why we only grabbed one on the way thru. We also got all the information at the first stages of them when we came thru town on Day 1 of our trip.

We figured out all the finals while we were in Clinton. The city of Hope has several wood carvings including the Bear carvings that were used for info on this series.      

Rambo and I hanging out!!! The Movie "Rambo-First Blood" was filmed in and around Hope and the Othello Tunnels.

Hard to believe this is all wood!!

Othello Tunnels

The tunnels are on an old rail line and part of the Kettle valley trail.

We only did 2 caches here, 1 traditional, and 1 Earthcache, but we went thru all 5 tunnels.

Our 3 day total was 97 caches, 44 which were Gold Country caches, 7 Multi's, 3 Earthcaches, 4 Puzzles, and 2 Adventure Labs. We traveled a total of 1180km. We didn't get all 150ish that were on the list, but we had lots of fun and adventure.

We are planning another trip to grab a few more GC caches, but it will just be a day trip just past Hope toward Merritt.

I will write more about this in my next 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