Adventure Labs, and Fizzy grids

 Adventure Labs

I wrote about Adventure Labs (AL's) in the past and I am still curious why they count for 5 finds if you finish all 5 locations when you just have to answer a question at each stage. I understand some have said its like 5 little virtuals all in one package, but then why is it with a virtual cache, you may have to fulfill multiple questions or put a photo online, and with a wherigo, you may have to go to 3, 4, 5, 6, or upwards of 10 or more spots to complete it but only get 1 (one) find?? 

So as I wrote last month, when we were in Hope, we found 1 and 80% Adventure labs, let me explain. When you do an AL you go to normally 5 locations, and answer questions based on where you are and what you see. After you complete all 5 it gives you a chance to rate the AL out of 5 stars, and post a comment on the AL, just like you post when you find a regular cache. So in Hope one of the stages of  the 5 locations, we could not find the info for the question. We went to the other 4 locations and found those no problem. So what happens is we got credited for 4 finds, but the AL owner did not get a rating from us or a nice comment on his AL. There is a couple other AL's that I only completed 2 locations of the 5 because I didn't have the time to complete them. Again same thing, I received 2 finds very easily, but the owner of the Lab, got nothing in return. It just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I also just found out from another cacher at the last event I went to, that if you go to the location for 1 stage of the AL, and it opens to a question, that it will stay open. So if I am at home in Vancouver area, I can still answer the question in Hope 200km away. Now I just have to find the answer...lol

Although I still don't understand why they are set up like that, I do enjoy doing them as they take you to some cool places, that normally you would not be able to place a cache box, just like a virtual cache. Here are some pics of one we recently did that took us to some cool art installations.

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A cool bronze statue, so life like!!

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!!!

Speaking of Virtual caches, got this cool one in Abbottsford called "International Friendship Garden and Golden Tree" when I was there to show some Magic close up to some people from a company that are having me do close up for their event in October. Even had a chance to show my new trackable keychain. One of the requirements to log the virtual.

Katzie Marsh Caching

Today(Aug. 2nd) Oliver and I hiked over to a Puzzle cache called "Katzie Marsh". It was an interesting Puzzle cache and the final was a container 8 meters up in a tree!! This was a must find for me as it is a 1.5 Difficulty and a 4.5 Terrain.

As you can see after almost 13 years of caching, this was the only space on my Fizzy grid that I needed to fill. 

It has never been about the numbers for me, it has been about the fun, the adventure, and the people. On the way to this cache besides some nesting stations with young birds, we saw a boat carrying 1 car across the lake(small private ferry??)

Once we found the tree which was easier than I thought it was gonna be. I thought there was gonna be a whole bunch of trees, and I would have to figure out which one. The co-ords I got were within 30 meters of the cache site, and not specific.

Then we spotted the cache container, both Oliver and I headed up the tree. It was a fairly easy climb.

Oliver and I in the tree

Up in the tree, we made quick work of signing the log and headed back down.

S.W.A.G. (Stuff We All Get)

I recently received some geocoins and pins in the mail.

I traded pathtags with a cacher in Texas, and because my logo on my caching account is Mickey Mouse as the sorcerers apprentice, she mentioned she had  worked at Disneyland.  She ended up sending me her pathtag along with some cool Disney pins from her collection. Thanx again Cewhite43!!

These 2 Gold Country coins were a gift from "Explore Gold Country". For every 24 Gold Country caches you find and send in the stickers, you receive a geocoin that looks like a gold bar. I had enough stickers from our recent trip to get 2 coins, so now I have 4 of them. The Mars Rover coin, I bought from Geocacing.com store, and the 20th anniversary of the A.P.E. cache coin, I purchased from Cache Advance. (shipping was more than the coin, so will not be purchasing from there again)

Trans Canada Highway Adventure Lab Series

So as I had mentioned in last months blog, I will be taking part in placing 1 of the Adventure labs on the Trans Canada Highway that will be stitched together with many others to make a series that spans across Canada. This is a very exciting project and I am super happy to be a part of it. I have already started working on my AL as I have traveled the part of the highway I chose several times, and know the cool places on it. A lot of the people in this area were picking locations close to home, but I chose a section of the Trans Canada that is the last section in BC, before it crosses the border to Alberta. Right now it is from Golden to the border, but may get expanded to Revelstoke. This AL can be up to 10 locations close to the highway. I already have 7 spots of interest picked out, and have written about them. Looking forward to visiting the area to add a few more locations. Plus I will grab a few caches while there of course. 

Look for that story in a future blog.

Weekend Caching

We went out caching on the weekend as Susan was only 15 finds away from her 1000th cache. I planned out the day with a few neat caches and just some simple ones as well to add up to 999, and then I had a gadget cache picked out for her 1000th find.

Susan felt what it was like to "Ride the Lightning"

This cache was in a spot that we have been before but it was not there at that time. I did one like this a few years back in Agassiz, which you can watch the video "Here".

We were driving down 0 ave at the very bottom of BC, right at the border of Canada and U.S.

I noticed they have markers at the border, so I got a quick pic at one. You can decide if I am in Canada or the U.S. in this pic. lol

This is a cache called "Project Ape: Tribute" I recently bought a geocoin for the 20th anniversary of one of the Original Project A.P.E. caches called "Mission 9: Tunnel of Light" which is one of the 2 Project A.P.E. caches left. There was a total of 14 of these caches place 20 years ago as a publicity stunt for the movie "Planet of the Apes." I had already found this cache but wanted to have my new coin visit here before moving around with me, or putting it into my collection at home. You can read more about the project "HERE"

R2-D2

This was the cache I picked out to be Susan's 1000th cache. It won the Fraser Valley Cache Bash this year as "Best Gadget Cache." It is called "R2-D2 Gadget Cache FVCB4"

A very cool cache that you need to bring a 9Volt with you to get it to work.

I also had bought a 1000 finds pin for her when she hit this Milestone and presented it to her at the cache!!

The following day we went out and grabbed a few nearby caches. This one had us climbing up a tree. Well, I climbed while she watched. lol

 

Found the little guy, now how do I get down??

Oliver and I are headed to Edmonton In September to visit family, and of course I have already started making a list of some cool caches to grab.

I will write more about this in my next blog. Until then, Stay Safe, Get Vaccinated, Wear your Mask, and Wash your Hands!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65