Cruising for caches

Trip to Kamloops and Salmon Arm

I booked a Walkaround gig in Salmon Arm, BC so Sansue and I headed to Kamloops the evening before to spend the night and then headed to Salmon arm the next day.

I took Susan to a few caches in Kamloops and Salmon Arm that I had already found as I thought she would enjoy them as they had lots of Favorite points on them. One was called "Locks of Hope"

As you can see it was a very cleverly made lock that opened up and there was a small bison tube inside of it.

I got a total of 14 Traditional Caches, 1 puzzle cache and 11 stages from 4 different Adventure Lab's

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!!!

Magical Cruise Trip (PCAM)

Went on a short 5 day cruise as part of the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians Convention. This was my second time enjoying the convention on a Cruise Ship

The Cruise was from Vancouver to San Diego, with a stop over in Santa Barbera

The ship we got to go on was Holland America's Eurodam. A beautiful ship, that is 936 feet in length, 106 feet wide, and takes 2104 Guests

Santa Barbara

On the 3rd day of the cruise, I was able to get off the ship for a few hours while in port.

I only wanted to go on shore, so I could grab a few caches, and grab a couple of souvenirs to take home. 

When we came into Santa Barbera, we had to get off the ship in these little boats called tenders.

This picture was taken from the pier. I hung out in Santa Barbera, with another magician friend of mine that was at the convention at sea, who lived in the states.

We had a nice chat over coffee, and he went for a walk with me so I could grab some caches!! He even helped look for them.

 

This was a cool Virtual Cache in Santa Barbera, at a massive Fig Tree.

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!!!

Besides the Virtual, I was also able to grab 4 traditional caches and 2 stages of 2 different Adventure Lab's

On our way back to the ship in the tender, we got to see a bunch of pelicans.

The last night on the ship, I wandered around a bit, and it was so quiet. Not a lot of people out enjoying the evening. This is the pool on the ship and the retractable roof was open as it was so calm out.

San Diego Airport Adventure Labs

We got to the airport early, for our flight back into Canada, which was good, as I was able to complete 26 different Adventure Labs for a total of 130 Adventure Lab stages(AKA Finds) 

As you can see by the picture, these Adventure Labs were placed to celebrate geocaching being 25 years old and they were placed to look like the number 25. But if you count how many AL's are in the number 25, there is actually 26 AL's. lol

The one lower in the picture, I already did on a previous trip from San Diego a few years back when PCAM was in Carlsbad, California.

On October 18th it is Adventure Lab day and I will grab an Adventure Lab to get the souvenir 

Next month, I have shows in Squamish, Sunshine Coast, and Prince George, so I will be doing some caches and Adventure labs while traveling. Also Next month I am going to an event where they will be showing the GIFF winners:

(Unfamiliar with GIFF?  Each year geocachers from all over the world are invited to submit their own short films about geocaching.  HQ selects the winners and creates a film reel of 45 - 60 min in length that can be shown at Official GIFF Events. Last GIFF season, over 16,000 geocachers attended 425 Events hosted across 40 countries!)

But more about that in Next Month's Blog......

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Travel is fun!!

McLeod Lake

 Booked a show in McLeod Lake which is about 2 hours north of Prince George. Flew into PG and rented a car, and then headed up the highway towards McLeod Lake. 

My show was in a small community by the lake. I only found 4 caches while here.

I felt there should have been a cache at this location.

But there was not!!

On the way back to the airport the next day, I stopped for a visit with Mr. PG

I visited him on one of my last trips up here but it was in December and minus 20. BRRRRRRRRRR

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!!!

Edmonton Trip

Went to Edmonton, Alberta the day after I got home from Prince George, for a visit with family, and was able to grab several caches while in town. 

Also did a Free show for the Senior Centre that my Mom lives at.

Got a total of 9 Traditional caches, 5 Wherigo caches, and 1 puzzle cache.

Got 25 stages of AL's also,

got 13 of those stages while the plane was coming into the gate still. lol

 

This was a cool cache hide I found in Edmonton

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!!!

Penticton Trip

Booked a show in Penticton, and went there the night before and stayed in Summerland, so we could do some caching on the way there as well as during the day before my show

Did a bunch of caches in and around Summerland

Then we also went to Peachland for just one cache that had 128 favorite points on it.

This was the cache box on the back of the Peachland sign, but to open it, you needed a special tool that was nearby.

Here it was open, very cool. We added 2 more Favorite points to this cache!!

Found a total of 18 Traditional's, 1 multi, 1 wherigo, and 1 Puzzle that was really cool and more like a multi, and at every stage there was a different method to figure out, to get you to the next stage. 

This was at the first stage of "NOT Just Another Pile of Geo-Sticks"

You had to count the knots in the strings to get the co-ord's to the next stage.

The second Stage was just info but if you don't know how to project a waypoint or have the appropriate app to do so, you would be very confused. 

To get to the Last Stage you needed to convert the coordinates from UTM format to GPS also known as WGS84 format

We also did 5 Adventure labs with a total of 24 stages.

At the end of September I am going to Salmon Arm again for a corporate gig. I was thru there back in May and Susan and I were thru there a few years back. Gonna get several caches on the way there and in town, also in the beginning of October, I will be boarding the Holland America's Eurodam and heading south to Santa Barbera and San Diego of but more about that in Next Month's Blog.........

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

International Geocaching Day!!!

International Geocaching Day!!!

August 16th is International Geocaching Day. If you find a cache, Adventure Lab, or attend an Event you get this souvenir  

All you had to do is log a cache between Aug.15th to the 17th

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!!!

 

I got a second Souvenir on the 16th called the Memory Maker

Seems like we sometimes get these for no real reason. lol

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

I got a couple more First to Find's this past month, bringing my FTF total up to 493 FTF's. Who knew when I got my first FTF in 2009, that I would be continuing today in looking for them.

Looking forward to FTF number 500!!!

Myra Canyon Trip

I am making a list of caches for an upcoming trip to Kelowna and Penticton. Hoping to bike ride the Myra Canyon Trestle trail just outside of Kelowna, and grab the caches there in September. Plus we will grab several caches on the way to the trail and then more on the way to Penticton, where I have a show the next day.

Myra Canyon is a section of the historic Kettle Valley Railway near Kelowna, British Columbia, now a 24 km round-trip recreational trail featuring 18 wooden trestles and two tunnels, known for its engineering heritage and scenic views. The trail is a popular destination for hiking and cycling, accessible to most fitness levels, though safety precautions are needed due to steep drops and rough surfaces. The area was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995 for its outstanding engineering achievement in railway construction through mountainous terrain.

Heading to McLeod Lake thru Prince George in a couple of days, and then back home and then off to Edmonton, Alberta the next day. Gonna be there for about a week to visit, and hope to grab a cache or two, but more about these adventures and more in next months blog......

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Magically yours,

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Trips are fun!!

Stats for 2025

Here is a picture of some of my stats for halfway thru the year;

As you can see by the stats I found 40 caches on my Birthday!!!

It was during a trip to Leavenworth and Wenatchee, Washington

Some cool caches were found that day!!

Caching before my show!!

I had a show in Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, and since I got there early I was able to grab a few caches. One was a Multi, and I noticed some others were having issues with how to find the Coordinates. The fist part of the cache was a sign on a pole about Vancouver and area. The cache page said you need to find the numbers for the letters A-F as this:

A:  1 - 2 - 7

B : 3 - 1 - 6

C:  2 - 5 -1

D: 4 - 6 - 2

E: 1 - 2 - 1

F: 5 - 6 -1

N49 12.ABC W122 25.DEF

As I said some cachers are not familiar with this method of finding info. I have came across this method before and the first time I saw it, I was also confused. Basically the way this numbering system works is broken down like this: A; 1-2-7 Means to find "A" look on the (1)first line of the story, find the (2)second word in that line and then use the (7)seventh letter of that word, to be "A"

Then take that letter and change it to a number such as A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.

Once you have all the numbers, plug them into the formula for the Co-ords and you are good to go!!

PS: Don't ever hesitate to message the Cache Owner for some help or hints to finding the solution to puzzles or multis. Or you can always message a previous finder for info. I would help out in a heartbeat if you ever messaged me!! I have even gone to my cache sites to help cachers find my cache.

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!!!

Kelowna Bound

So I headed to Kelowna again for another show. In the last couple of Months, I have been there 3 times for shows. Each time, I try to grab several caches and this trip was no exception!!

A couple of weeks ago I was at an event and was telling one of the Cachers there, that I have been making trips to Kelowna and have been getting a bunch of his Caches on the way. He mentioned about a specific cache on the highway between Hope and Merritt that was very difficult to find, a lot of people weren’t finding it. Lots of DNF’s. He said it is a difficult find . I decided to give it a try so I added it to my list.

Here’s a picture of where it’s hidden as you can see. It’s just an empty field with lots of rocks and little bushes.

I could only assume it was a fake rock, and after about 10 minutes of looking in the scorching heat, I spotted what I thought to be it, reached down, picked it up and behold it was the cache. YAY!!

I can see how this would be a tough one, and the reason for lots of DNF's

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!!!

Cruising!!

I am making a list of caches that I wanna get when I go on the cruise ship in October. I am going on Holland America’s Eurodam.

This is the large cruise ship that we are having a Magic Convention aboard. We board in Vancouver, and will stop in Santa Barbara as one of the stops, and there’s 3 caches right on the Cruise pier and a few nearby that I am hoping to get, depending on time in port. Plus there is a few Adventure labs that I might be able to do. 

 We will then be heading to our final destination of the Cruise which is San Diego where we will be flying home from. I have set up a list of caches and there are several caches on the cruise pier(13 to be exact) and then the airport is right there which we will be flying home from and I noticed there’s 28 adventure labs at the airport. WOW!!

Actually 2 of them I have already completed when I was flying home from PCAM a couple years ago when it was held in Carlsbad, California. 

What I find strange is it takes 26 Adventure Lab's to form the number 25!! LOL

These ones were not there on my last time at this airport, so it should be fun to do them in October. Will let you know if I get them all.

sth

Next month I am heading to Edmonton, Alberta to Visit with my Sister and Mom. I have started making a cache list, as I hope to get a few at least while there.....But, more about that in Next Month's Blog!!

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Trippin!!!

Kelowna Trip

Was able to get some caches I didn't get last time thru here as there was snow on the ground. Got a bunch of Whereigo caches and a couple more Challenge caches, while on route to Kelowna for a show.

Also did a cool Gadget Cache called "Key's to the Castle"

You can watch the video of me doing it, "HERE"

The strip of road where this cache is located is loaded with gadget caches all built and placed by a cacher named BeRiddled. The road is I believe the old highway and now called Hamilton Hill Road. It has been dubbed "Gadget Alley" or "BeRiddled Alley"

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!!!

This is the map of all the Gadget caches along this road. 

As you can see there is some space for more, and it seems almost every time I come thru here, there is a new one placed.

Also you can see how popular they are by the number of Favorite points each one has.

I am headed to Kelowna again for a show in early July and hoping a new one will appear!! LOL

A quick trip across the border

Susan and I popped across the border for the day and we were able to grab some caches of course.

Back in February I completed an online Jigidi Puzzle before heading across the border to be able to get a Wherigo Cache called "TS-Spare Parts" 

To get the codes for the Wherigo, I had to do a 396 piece online Jigsaw puzzle, which would give me the codes needed to input into the Wherigo. A few days before the trip, I started the puzzle and It took me 4 hours and 50 minutes total to finish it. Yikes!!!

I wasn't able to grab it back in February as we did not have enough time, so this trip we made the find. Here is the cool Jigsaw puzzle I had to do.

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!!!

Grabbed a cool bolt cache on June 20th to receive the souvenir for Summer solstice.

There are two bolts in the pole that come out but only one is the cache. I pulled out the first one and didn't see the other one right away and thought, maybe its not a Bolt cache.

But as you can see by the pics, I got it!!

Did another quick trip to Sechelt and was able to grab one cache since I missed a ferry and had to wait for another one. This one was down a trail to the ocean and there was a large erratic on the trail.

Next month I am off to Kelowna again for another show, I think there is still some caches I need to get. lol.......but that can wait until next months blog.

g  

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Magically yours,

Chris Yuill

Magicman65