Bike Caching

Virtual Caching

I love Virtual caches, and I recently did a new Virtual cache called "Wait for me Daddy" in New Westminster, It was a recreation of a famous picture of a father going off to war. Excerpt from the cache page:

Wait for Me, Daddy is a sculpture based on a famous World War II era image from The Province newspaper. On October 1, 1940, photographer Claude P. Dettloff was setting up to capture a column of Canadian soldiers marching down Eighth Street, at the intersection of Columbia Street (present-day Hyack Square), as they headed to war. While Dettloff was getting ready to take the picture, five-year-old Warren "Whitey" Bernard ran from his mother's grasp to reach his father Private Jack Bernard's outstretched hand. The poignant image Dettloff captured was picked up all over the world.

While I was there I also completed another stage of the Adventure Lab that I had started last month. Another cool reason for AL's and Virtual's is they can be in the same spot as other caches. It's like a "2 for 1" deal. lol

There is actually the starting point of a Multi cache nearby as well, but I didn't have time to start it.

Caching in White Rock, Richmond, and U.B.C.

I decided I needed to get a couple puzzles off my map of "Completed Puzzles" I seem to work on a lot of puzzles, but then when I complete them, I don't always get them right away. So I end up with a map full of completed puzzles as you can see in the pic. A lot of times by the time I go to get the puzzle cache I have solved some time back the cache has been archived. lol. Too many times that has happened to me. 

As you can see, I have several I need to go get to complete them and get them off my list. So today I decided I need to knock some of my map.

Speaking of puzzle caches I have solved, I found on one of my geocaching apps another list of puzzle finals I started a long time ago as seen in this picture:

 As I went thru some of them, I noticed several are already archived and not around anymore. Lol. I guess I need to start getting some off my list soon, before they all magically disappear!! 

We started the day by heading to White Rock to do one puzzle cache. While there we decided to also do an Adventure Lab about Murals.

This Whale mural was part of the AL we did while in White Rock, and it was also part of a 25 stage Multi cache called "Battleships in White Rock" that I had completed back in 2017.

This Mural is on the side of the Theatre

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 was an alley called  "Mural Alley"

We then headed to Richmond to grab a couple caches from one of  the Richmond Geotour's that I needed. From there we headed all the way out to U.B.C. for a cool cache that I saw a friend post a video of on Face Book called "M m m my Corona! where you use a typewriter to log your find. Then we found another completed puzzle cache called "UBC Virtual Tour" where you had to go on a street view tour thru google maps to find clues to get the co-ordinates to the final, which I completed some time back.

This is the box that the typewriter was in. I shot a video of Susan logging the cache but for some reason I can not download it here.

A total of 108km round trip for 5 caches and 1 AL. But now I have 2 less puzzles on my large completed list. 

Bike caching

Susan and I recently purchased folding bikes. They are easy to carry and I can get both of them into my car. We took them out last weekend for a test drive and got 14 caches down a trail, but was able to get back to the car without the big long walk. They will come in handy on trails for caching. We are planning several more bike trips for caching.

A nice day for a bike ride along the waterfront!!

Susan and her New Bike!!

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!!!

Trans Canada Adventure lab series

As you can see by this map, the TCALS is starting to take shape across Canada. These are all the live ones right now and more are being added. I am almost ready to get mine live which is from Golden, BC to the Alberta border. This has been a fun project to work on and has changed since I started it, but still lots of fun. I was originally going to do from Revelstoke to the Alta. Border, but then another caching team was wanting to do from Revelstoke to Golden. I had only 6 locations set up from Golden to the border, so I had to replace the 4 that I gave up. Then I found out one of my spots was no longer accessible so that changed it to only 5 spots I had. I was able to find five more very cool spots to get all 10 locations for my AL. My original area was 216 km and then I changed it to 71km and gave away 145km. Quite a difference in area.

I hope to have more on that soon, so stay tuned!!

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

Caching into the New Year!!!

 Adventure Labs

I started an Adventure Lab in New Westminster as I needed some points towards the "Reach the Summit" souvenir. It was an interesting one about some older buildings. I am looking forward to finishing it.

That is one of the reasons I have started enjoying Adventure Labs. You don't have to finish them 100% to receive finds like a multi cache or a Wherigo. Plus some of them take you to some cool spots, that may not have been able to have a cache hidden.

As of writing this I have several AL's I have not completed. I have one in Banff, Alberta that we did 2/5 spots. 2 more in Edmonton, Alta that are 2/5 and 4/5 locations complete.

2 in Kamloops that are both 2/5 locations complete. One in Delta area that is 3/5.

Two in New Westminster, with 4/5 and 2/5 locations completed. And one in Port Moody that is 4/5 complete. One day I will complete some of these, but not too worried if I don't. LOL

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!!!

Reaching the Peak for a Geochallenge 

The newest "Reach the Peak" which started on December 6th will also get you entered into the Geocaching Vloggers "Geochallenge of the Month" if you get enough points to get the souvenir.  You need 6190 points to receive the souvenir. The biggest one yet!! 

I earned the souvenir on December 19th and got an entry in for the Geochallenge of the Month.

Next Months "Reach the Peak" starts Jan.3rd

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!!!

More Adventure Lab Caching

It seems like lately I have been doing more AL's than actual caches. lol

Susan and I went out one sunny afternoon to do one in Richmond. Honestly, this one was quite mundane. Nothing of interest in this one at all. But it was a nice walk on a sunny day.

Did a cool Multi cache recently called "Sea Island Connector Bridge Multi"

To get the final Coordinates, you could either walk across the bridge and stop at 4 different locations, or you could go on Google Maps and go to the locations virtually. I chose to work them out using Google maps and Susan and I drove over to the cache to make the find.

Richmond Nature Park Hut Adventure Lab

Susan, Oliver and I grabbed another AL on Jan 2nd, but this one was made up of 10 Locations (Like my Trans Canada Highway Adventure Lab I am working on) 

This was a cool one as 8 of the locations were inside the Richmond Nature House in the park.

The morning of the 3rd, a few new caches popped up. I quickly worked out the nearest puzzle cache called "Moray Bridge Mystery Cache" but I misread one of the clues and used a 7 instead of a 5. If it would have been the last number, there would not have been a problem, but it was the 3rd last number which meant a difference of over 500 metres away. Weird thing was, the location had the same type of trees that was in the hint. lol

We also did a couple more AL's and some caches on the 3rd. One was about art installations near Olympic Village, and the other took us to some cool houses with some very cool history. 

Not a real slug, part of the art nearby.

This guy was a lot larger. lol

Very cool stainless steel art.

Oliver hanging with the birds. PS that's snow not bird poop. lol

I finished off the day by grabbing a new Virtual on the way home, to complete my "Reach the Peak" souvenir on the very first day of the newest one with 7100 points when I only needed 6960.

Next month on February 5th the annual H.A.G. happens over on Vancouver Island and area. H.A.G. stands for Hide and Go!! It is in its 18th year of events. About 400 caches get published on the first Saturday of February. Lots of fun and many FTF's to be had.

Last year Susan and I went over for the HAG, and we got 18 FTF's that day. This year we are planning on going over and hopefully beating that number.  Wish us Luck!!

But more about that next month!!!

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

Reach the summit

 "Reach the Summit" Souvenirs 

Kilimanjaro Summit is 5895 Meters tall.

Elbrus Summit is 5642 Meters tall

Vinson Summit is 4892 Meters tall

Puncak Jaya is 4884 Meters tall.

The newest "Reach the Peak" which started on December 6th will also get you entered into the Geocaching Vloggers "Geochallenge of the Month" if you get enough points to get the souvenir.  You need 6190 points to receive the souvenir. The biggest one yet!! More on this next month. 

I have already won the geochallenge of the month twice in the past, getting me two different colored geocoins. (I got 1st place and 3rd place)

Trans Canada Highway Adventure Lab Series

So in my last blog, I said I would write more about this, as I was planning to journey over toward Golden to do some research on the locations of my AL. But since last months blog, British Columbia was hit with some nasty rain storms and a large chunk of road infrastructure has been destroyed. Bridges have been knocked down, roads washed out, mudslides across the roads. Many travelers stranded for days. 311 people had to be rescued off the Coquihalla Hwy by helicopter. Several lives were lost, many properties and vehicles were destroyed. Lots of animals and Livestock were lost. The damage is devastating and may take months to repair. The lower mainland has been literally cut off from the rest of BC. Gas sales are being restricted, and travel is being restricted to essential only.

Here are some pics from just days after the flooding.

Huge sections of Hwy 5 were washed away, and travel is impossible on this route.

Bridges were knocked down, cutting off highway travel.

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 Hwy 1 at a spot called snake hill

As you can see from the few pics of many that are out there, the damage was massive and they are saying it will take months to repair.

Kamloops caching

I had a show in Kamloops, which when I booked it back in August the plan was to drive there and grab several caches along the way. NOPE....Had to fly there!!

This cool sparkly building caught my eye as I was out caching.

A cool pedestrian bridge to cross when the trains are coming thru town.

Here is that same building from the pedestrian bridge.

Is it a huge log?, Is it a building? or is it part of an Adventure Lab??

Some of the back alley murals around the town.

So hopefully in the next couple of months I will be able to travel towards the Alberta border, to work on my Trans Canada Highway Adventure Lab. Would love to get it published soon. But more about that in the next month or two. 

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

Earthcache Day and Adventure labs

 International Earthcache day

So today, October 9th was International Earthcache Day. Most of the Earthcaches around me, I have already found. But today I had a show over in Surrey, so it worked out that I was able to do one over that way on the way to my show.
This one was about Drumlin's. I found one about Drumlin's a few years back on a trip to Logan Lake. 

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!!!

Got a virtual souvenir for finding an earthcache. 

Adventure Labs 

I had planned to go caching at the Vancouver Wireless Station in Delta with Sansue on the weekend, but the weather decided to say no. lol. Rain all weekend, so we ended up doing 3 Adventure Labs instead. We picked 3 easier ones and most of the spots we barely had to get out of the car. 

These mosaic tiles are all over New Westminster, and part of one of the AL's we did.

  

We also visited "Friendship Gardens in the Royal City" to do another AL.

Cool bridge

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!!!

Looked at "Feedspot", which is a blog listing of the top 45 Geocaching Blogs, and I see I have moved up to the 13th spot.

How exciting is this???

Cemetery caching (6000th cache find)

Needed a spooky cache for the October Geochallenge of the Month. Couldn't find a spooky type cache, so I went to a cemetery instead.

Had to search out a specific tombstone to get info for location of the cache. Took some time to find the right one.

Vancouver Wireless Station

This past weekend we (Susan and I) went to the old site of the Vancouver Wireless Station to do some caches. It was a bit confusing because we were trying to do an Adventure Lab, a Multi that we had to work out each stage location(so we did not know where we had to go) a Wherigo, a Puzzle, and a letterbox cache all at the same time as well as grabbing the occasional Traditional cache. There is such a cool history at this park that was once a small community. You can still see remnants of buildings and gateways to the houses and structures that were here.

This site was Re-established as the Vancouver Wireless Station call sign WVS in 1949, the site operated radio equipment for communication and gathering signals intelligence. The Vancouver Wireless Station had facilities much like other post-war bases, including singles quarters, 150 permanent married quarters, dining halls and messes, a Medical Inspection Room, administration building, gymnasium with a sport field with 2 ball diamonds and tennis courts, a chapel, woodworking and automotive shops, a grocery store (later CANEX), engineering and transport sections and a fire hall. Most of these facilities were located on a property directly north of the airfield.
When the Canadian Forces were unified in 1968, the site was renamed Canadian Forces Station Ladner. The downsizing associated with unification would soon hit CFS Ladner, and in 1971 it was permanently closed. The municipality of Delta maintains the area north of the airport as North 40 Park Reserve, features interpretive historical signs throughout what was formerly the residential quarters area of the base. The station, which at one point housed approximately 500 residents, has long since been torn down, with some buildings being relocated. The location is now a reserve with lots of wildlife including many bald eagles.  It is also an off-leash dog park, and a popular location for film sets. 

 

This walkway entrance to a house or property still remains, as do some other structures. (Spoiler) this is one of the locations to gather info for the Multi cache.

An old foundation from a structure.

Trans Canada Highway Adventure Lab Series

I am still doing some work on my TCHAL. I was contacted by another cacher from Alberta and they wanted to know if they could do the section from Revelstoke to Golden. Originally I was only planning to do from Golden to the BC/Alberta, but when no one else said they would do from Salmon Arm to Golden area, I said I would extend my lab to Revelstoke. I have looked at online maps and I think I should be able to easily do 10 locations from Golden to the Border. I am going to try to get out that way soon.

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