The Shortest Caching Month!!

 More Traveling!!

Went to Semiahmoo Resort and Spa just past Blaine, Wash. on Jan. 27th for a Walkaround Gig. I did some walkaround for this same company 2 years ago. I love weekday gigs and repeat clients.

Went down early of course so I could grab a few caches.

Susan and I were here back in 2022 so most of the caches here, I have already found.

From several of the caches in the area you could see Canada. Here is a picture of White Rock from one of the caches I got.

This was a cool cache. Took me a little bit to find it. I eventually picked it up to see if the caches was hidden under it and saw that it was inside the piece of driftwood

You can see the underside in the next picture.

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!!!

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!!!

Ucluelet Trip

Booked a gig over on the island in Ucluelet on the west side of the island. 

Went out there early to do some caching and meet up with a couple other magicians in Nanaimo on my way thru for a chat.

Was able to find 8 Traditionals, 1 Puzzle Cache, and 1 Virtual cache

Kamloops Trip

Booked 2 shows in Kamloops on Saturday Feb. 21st

Headed out early of course so I could grab a few caches. 

This was a Gadget Cache in Merritt. There is a old road in Merritt that has several Gadget Caches along it.

If you are ever in the area, I suggest checking it out!!

This one was called "It's a Flush"

Inside the tiny Outhouse was the toilet, and gameboard to figure out the code to the lock.

Took me a bit longer to do this than I wanted to as there was snow in the area and a bit chilly in the shade

Also on the way home Sunday morning I swung thru Hope to grab several.

While looking for this one a couple of muggles walked up and showed me where it was. They said they were gonna get into caching, they just have to download the app.

This one is called "The Watcher of Hope"

He is staring at the cache, but the funny thing about this statue is the other side as you can see in the next picture

Found only a total of 7 caches only on the 2 day trip, but they were all cool caches. I am about the quality, not the quantity!!!

Next month, I will be heading to the States for a few shows.....But more about that in Next months Blog....

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

April Road Trip!!!

Comedy Magic Road Trip

I booked a bunch of shows in the interior of BC, so it made for a nice road trip. The trip was from home to Kamloops, to Salmon Arm, to Vernon, to Kelowna, to Hope, and then back home. A nice 5 day trip and I was able to grab several caches each day. The weather was perfect the whole trip, which made for some nice traveling and caching.

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 1 (April 15)

Today I left home in the morning and headed to Kamloops where I would be performing this evening.

Headed down the highway towards my first show of 5. 

I stopped into Britton Creek Rest area and was able to grab three full adventure labs and a couple of nearby whereigo caches

One of them I had to stomp through some snow to get to it. Lol

Along the way further up the Coquihalla there were several Challenge caches I would be able to get as I had qualified for all of them. 

Got a puzzle cache in Kamloops upon arrival. I solved it a long time ago when I was there but couldn't find it as there was snow on the ground, but was able to grab it today. 

Grabbed a quick Virtual about "Billy Miner" and the Great Train Robbery where he stopped the wrong train and only found $15 and after a 50 mile horse chase he was caught and sent to jail for life!!!

Day 2 (April 16)

Today I would grab a couple of caches while heading from Kamloops to Salmon Arm, as well as several in Salmon Arm. 

One of the caches I went to get was a letterbox cache that Susan and I started to do on our trip thru here towards Edmonton back in 2020.  

We started getting all the information and then realized the final was in a nearby Library but because we were coming thru here on a Sunday, it was closed, so we headed onto the next cache and stopped trying to solve it.

Was able to grab it this trip except I had to go back to the mural for the info about 3 or 4 times as I kept missing something when I looked for it in the library. 

I went to downtown Salmon Arm for a nice little walk.

I did a couple of Adventure Labs in Downtown Salmon Arm, and there are a lot of cool buildings in the downtown area.

Check out the roof on this building.

Day 3 (April 17)

Today I headed from Salmon Arm to Vernon for this evenings show. 

Did an interesting AL about houses that were over 100 years old in Enderby

Went thru Enderby and Armstrong on the way to Vernon. Grabbed several caches as the trip was only 45 minutes, so I had lots of time for caching today.

Did several Adventure Labs and caches when I got to Vernon as well including several "Free Library's"

This one even had a smile!!!

Day 4 (April 18) 

Today I went from Vernon to Kelowna which was also only 45 minutes away

Was able to do an Earthcache about Hoodoo's while in Kelowna. 

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 5 (April 19)

Last day of the tour. Headed out from Kelowna towards Hope, and after the show in Hope I will head back home as I will only be a couple hours away.

In Hope, and I was able to do several caches as well as 2 Adventure Labs about the movie “Rambo”

The movie was mostly filmed here in Hope in 1982, and the AL’s take you to different spots that were used in the movie.

In the Fall of 1981, for 6 weeks, the town of Hope, BC was the site of the filming of the action movie Rambo: First Blood. The movie tells the story of Vietnam War veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), who travels to the fictional town of Hope, Washington. While there, Rambo is arrested by the town’s sheriff, played by Brian Dennehy. Rambo escapes, and a bloody manhunt begins, and culminates into almost leveling the small town.

Very interesting to see all the spots and feel like you were there in the movie. Here I am at the "H Tree"

I also saw the building they used as the Sheriff's office and the Outpost Gun shop, as well as the bridge where he was arrested at, after dropping him off to leave town.

If you are ever in Hope, BC and have seen the movie 

"Rambo-First Blood" I highly suggest you do these 2 Adventure Labs

Here is the scene in the movie at the "H Tree"

Two trees planted long ago, whose young trunks became entwined to form the distinctive letter "H", still stands at the junction of Hudson Bay street and 5th Avenue.

Usually there are two wood carving statues in this spot. One is "Sheriff Will Teasle" and the other is "Rambo"

Unfortunately the "Rambo" carving was not here as some of the carvings are removed over the winter to preserve the nice finish on them. 

I even saw a forklift driving down the street carrying another carving as the city was putting them out since the nicer weather is upon us.

Here is a picture of me with "Rambo" from a previous trip to Hope with Sansue

These 2 "Rambo" Adventure Labs where not there during that trip.

Saw a bear in Hope while waiting for the train to pass by, but he seemed friendly so I wasn't worried!!

The second library cache I did this trip was in Hope. Much quicker to find than the Salmon Arm one. lol

Can you see the Hidden Treasures??

This was the cover of the book, that the cache was in. Very creative to build your own book to reflect the cache itself.

This was the last cache I would do during this trip, as after my show this evening I would be heading home.

In total on my five day road trip I found 60 stages of 18 different Adventure Labs, and 52 caches, which included 23 Traditional's, 1 Multi, 1 Earthcache, 3 Wherigo's, 3 Letterbox caches, 4 Virtual's, and 9 puzzles of which 8 of them were Challenge caches.

Not a bad total for 5 days of caching.

Next month will be a busy month as I will be moving, but I will also be heading over to the Sunshine Coast for some shows, and will be taking Sansue with me, and we will grab several caches while there.....But, more about that in Next Months Blog!!!

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Magically yours,

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

More Gold Country caches and Events!!!

 To Hope and Beyond!!!

Susan and I headed back towards Merritt, in search of a few more Gold Country caches at the beginning of July, after our 3 day adventure in the Gold Country a couple of weeks ago. We just did a quick day trip on a Sunday.

We only got 9 caches, 5 of which were Gold Country caches, plus 1 and 80% adventure labs(Will talk more about this next month in my blog)

Some fun in Hope. 

A cool structure in Brookmere. The tracks are long gone, but this coal chute, or water chute for the trains still remains.

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!!!

These are my lists from our last trip up to the Gold Country that I wrote about in last months Blog. (click the link to read)

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 am curious if anyone else does this. I make the lists so I know the order of the caches we will go to and I check them off as we get them, so I don't forget to log any. Also I highlight roads or exits that need to be turned at and other directions.

Event caches are Back!!!

So this month on July 15th, I went to my first of two event caches since over a year of no Events. It was a great event called "A geo-gathering of Friends Old and New"

It was hosted by KevMCD on behalf of the B.C.G.A. 

There was over 50 people at the event. I guess being the first Event cache to be published in the area after 16 plus months of no events being allowed because of restrictions in BC, lots of cachers wanted to be there. I arrived early and grabbed some nearby caches, with some other cachers who were doing the same thing. 

There was a cool TB at the event, It was a 1973 Ontario License Plate. Big Travel Bugs like this always end up at events as its hard to find large enough caches to put them into. 

Community Celebration Event

Went to my second Event of the month with Oliver, called "Community Celebration Event-Sunday Sundaes"

It was a well attended event with about 70 people and Ice cream for all. Thanx to Buggirl1975 for hosting such an awesome "Community Celebration"

Island caching

We got the second ferry(Tried for the first) to Vancouver Island on Friday July 23rd, and started caching as soon as we got of the ship. lol. We mainly went for high favorited and cool caches. We started in Nanaimo with a couple of cool pipe caches called "Pipeworks #1- Pinball Wizard" and "Pipeworks #3-Stay Positive"

In case you are unsure what these caches did by their names, you should go and find them. lol

We then started making our way upisland and grabbed a couple on a trail. One was called "10 Feet Up"

Yup, you guessed it, it was 10 feet up in the top of a sign. It gave a few options as to how to grab it:

-Bring a 7 ft. tall team mate
-Bring an agile, pole climber
-Bring a short ladder but have an explanation ready for the muggles’ queries
-Assess the problem then go home and get the solution
-Bring your own weapons
-Bring 2 rods or bolts 3/8 in. by 6 in. long.
-Find the above hidden behind a tree within 8 meters of the GZ

I brought an extendable pole with a hook on it, and we made quick work of the retrieval. 

As you can see in these pics, we had a list to follow so we did not miss any caches we wanted to get. 

We then headed towards Coombs, but grabbed a cache in Rathtrevor Provincial Park first, as I am working on a challenge cache(When am I not working on a challenge cache. lol) We stopped in Coombs to check out "Canadas Largest Ammo Can Cache"

This cache is owned by some caching friends of mine called "Coombs wooden shoe"

I was able to log this cache, even though I have in the past. Their store moved, and they were not allowed to move their cache that far, so they archived it, and made it a New Cache.

We then headed over to Qualicum Beach to a Magician friend of mine, for a visit. While there we chatted about caching and he signed up, thinking it would be something cool to do, and they went out and got 2 caches after we left. Lol. We then went into the woods to do a series of caches called "TOTT-HAG XIV"

There was 9 in the series, and then a final puzzle using clues from some of the nine caches. Some of them, you needed different types of "Tools Of The Trade"(TOTT) to find info to move along. One of the caches, we found needed a mirror to read the co-ords for the next stage. I had 2 mirrors with me, but both were 2 big and would not fit inside the cache. I modified one of them and made it work. We got the info needed and moved on. We DNF'd 2 of them, but luckily had enough info to find the Final, which also had a twist to it. 

On the way out we grabbed a cache with a hint that said Magnetic. Now being right near a large metal gate, you would think that it was somewhere on the gate. Nope........there was a steel plate screwed to the underside of an old dead log and the cache was magnetic. (I've seen one like this before, so knew to look elsewhere, than only the Gate)lol

We then headed to another trail to grab 2 last caches for the day. One was called "The Clever Cache" and upon arriving to the trail, I saw a hiking sign. 

I looked closer and saw the hiker on the sign was carrying something interesting. 

I also looked closer at the bottom of the sign and there was the GC number 

Spoiler Alert!!

Hmmmmm, could it be....YUP!!!

We then headed down the trail to find a cache called "Da Vinci's Cryptex" 

It was a cool Cryptex cache. (I have done cryptex caches before but this one was extremely well made)

It took us a bit to get into it, as I had the right answer, but it had to be lined up just perfectly. Susan had more patience than I did and she was able to open it. We then headed for Nanaimo, where we spent the night.

The next morning we headed out and grabbed an adventure lab, and a bonus cache for the AL also. We then made our way towards Ladysmith, where we grabbed a cache at N49 00.000, right on the 49th parallel.

We grabbed a couple other caches in Ladysmith including a Train cache called "T&W Locomotive 11 Replacement" that cachers said was real hard to find, and I spotted it within 30 seconds of looking. lol. We did a virtual nearby, and then headed down island to go on the Skywalk. Its a new structure that was built to walk up and look out onto the ocean. 

  

It even had a slide in the middle to get down. The wait was about an hour and a half for it, so we decided to walk back down. lol

We grabbed the nearby cache and then headed towards the ferry, where we got one more cache and then got the ferry back home. A fun quick trip with Sansue!!

So I have been awarded a 10 stage Adventure Lab to build in part with about 20 other cachers in B.C. and many more across Canada as we put together a series of AL's that travel across the Trans Canada Highway. Should be a fun project!!

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