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

VEGAS BABY!!!

Missing TB???

Got a Message from a cacher that one of my Travel Bugs that was Marked missing back in 2022 was actually found in a geocache. My TB was started in Panama when I was there in 2011.

Here is the TB description:

This TB started in a little roadside store in Farallon, Panama near the resort we were staying at, he is a keychain.
I built a cache for others coming to the resort to find as the nearest cache was some distance away. This is where he started his Journey from, and then he flew back to Canada with me.

He traveled from Panama to BC, then across Canada to New Brunswick and then back to BC. He then dropped down into the states where he went to California. From there he then went to Australia, Germany, and is now in Sweden where he was lost for a couple of years, but has now been found and on the move again. YAY!!!

Trip to Chase, BC

So I had a show in Chase for the Lions Club, so I headed there early, and was able to check out the Village and grab some caches. 

I found 7 caches, did 2 full Adventure Labs, plus 2 stages of a Trans Canada Adventure Lab.

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!!!

OMG I Love Vegas!!!

Had a nice Vegas trip with Susan for four days. 

The first thing we did when we got there, picked up our rental car, which was a convertible Mustang, very sharp, looking car. We headed down to Fremont Street, Got to see this cool metal monster of a praying mantis with flames shooting out of his antennas and we were able to grab one virtual cache nearby.

The next day, we are awoke early and headed out to grab some GeoCaches before heading towards the strip.

We went to the north part of the city and grabbed some Puzzle caches, one was a challenge cache, a couple were cool phone caches where you needed your phone to scan a QR code to be able to get more information as to where to find them. One of them lead you to a phone number and when you called it, you got a recording telling you how to find the cache.

 

Headed back towards the strip, and we went and checked into our hotel for the next couple of days, which was the Luxor. 
We went out and grab a couple more caches before heading off to see a show. We were also able to grab a couple of adventure labs.

We ended the night by going to watch the sphere do its thing. We were able to find a cache nearby and complete the AL, as well as got the "Amazing Las Vegas Sphere" Virtual.



The next day we went out and grabbed a bunch more caches. Some puzzles that I have had solved for some time.

In total we found 2 Virtual caches, 5 Traditional caches, and 7 puzzles with one being a challenge cache for a total of 15 caches and 2 full AL'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!!!

Alberta Bound

Had a quick 4 day trip to Edmonton, Alberta to visit some family. Had a bit of time to also grab several caches. 

This was a cool one, I thought it was gonna be the switch plate, but it was the big steel block instead.

Found a total of 11 traditional caches and 2 puzzles, one of which was a challenge 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!!!

Heading to the Island for some theatre shows, and will grab some caches as well,

but more about that Next Month......

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Caching From Vancouver Island to Alberta

Courtenay Trip

I Booked a show over in Courtenay on Vancouver Island this month. I used to live there, and that is where I got my start into Geocaching back in September of 2008. Susan and I grabbed several caches from Nanaimo to Courtenay on the way to my show, including some that I had already got when I lived there and from other trips up that way. We took the old Island Highway on the way there. If you have the time, I suggest this route as it is very scenic and more accessible caches.

 

This spot had a virtual cache called "Royston Wrecks", Beginning in the late 1930s a total of fifteen old vessels were brought in and sunk just to the south of the booming grounds. These ships are known as the Royston Wrecks.

Today the breakwater is a dangerous place to visit due to the advanced stage of deterioration of these ships. It is also home to many forms of wildlife and has been designated off limits.

I also planned on stopping at a cache I own in Rosewall Creek Provincial Park which I placed in June 2011 as a promotion for BC Parks in conjunction with the BCGA which I was the Vice president at the time. It was to Celebrate 100 Years of BC Parks. The following is part of the writeup on the cache page:

BC Parks is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The first BC Park was Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island which was officially created on March 1, 1911.

Today, the parks system in British Columbia is one of our greatest resources. Currently 14.26% (13.5 million hectares) of British Columbia's land base is protected.

There are more than 340 campgrounds, 6000 km of hiking trails, 118 boat launches and 263 day-use areas in B.C.'s provincial park system.

BC Parks and the BC Geocaching Association are partnered along with the Year of Science to invite you to explore BC Parks.

I had actually planned on picking it up and Archiving it, as It doesn't get logged much anymore. Weirdly, Susan and I looked for about 30 minutes and couldn't find it. lol 

I am hoping it is still there, so I have left the cache page active for now. Maybe on my next trip over I will look again.

On the day after my show, we headed down Island to visit some friends in Cobble Hill area. Of course we grabbed some caches along the way.

This old tug boat has a lot of history and miles on it.

It was part of an Adventure Lab placed in Ladysmith area by my caching friend Paulboy.

All 5 stages where fairly close to each other so it made a nice walk.

This opening in the bottom of a floating building is used to watch the sealife below.

A very well built Little Free library with a geocache in the top section, in Comox.

This Snowbird plane sits prominently in front of the Comox Valley Visitors center and holds a clue to the lock for a nearby geocache.

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!!!


In total in the day and a half we spent on the Island I got 

4 Virtual caches, 1 Multi cache, 2 puzzle caches, 1 Adventure Lab, and 17 Traditional caches. 

Not to bad for a quick trip out to Vancouver Island.

Edmonton Trip

I flew to Edmonton for 5 days, and I ended up getting more Adventure labs than actual caches. When I arrived in the Edmonton Airport I was able to get 2 different AL's without having to move all over the terminal. They were all questions about Edmonton and some of the different locations and attractions around Edmonton such as Elk Island park and the Edmonton Oilers . I was able to answer them all on the way to outside of the Airport. 

While in town, I went to West Edmonton Mall. The last time Oliver and I were here, I did 4 out of 5 stages of an Adventure Lab. Today I was able to finish the AL by visiting the last stage, plus there was a new AL and a Virtual inside the mall for me to do. 

I love it when you can enjoy a place and also get different caches. I didn't even have to go outside, which was good because it was cold and snowy in Edmonton. Lol



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!!!

West Edmonton Mall has so many attractions to enjoy and see. 

They have an exact replica of the Santa Maria which is the vessel that Christopher Columbus used to sail to America in 1492.

There is also the Mindbender which is the largest indoor triple looping roller coaster in the world. But after it being there for 37 years it was shut down in January of this year. It was Fantasyland parks  (Now called Galaxyland) premier thrill ride since the Grand opening of the park in 1985 

When I lived in Edmonton, I used to ride it quite often, when visiting the mall.

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65