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

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

Hiding and finding, and a Magic trip!!

  Cache Hiding

I hid a cache this past week. I have been hauling this cache around for weeks looking for a spot to hide it. Every time I look and see some spot on the map, another small or micro cache appears. This is one of the reasons for my cache called "Too Many Micro's!?

It seems that a lot of micro's are being hidden, and it would be nice to see some regular or large caches being placed. I also got this cool souvenir for placing a hide this year. I haven't been placing as many as I did when I was over on the island, but I would like to change that, and get some more out there. 

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!!!

I love FTF's

Got 3 FTF's today, one of which was not even published yet. A cache got published nearby, but I did not have time to head for it as we were getting ready to go to Soccer. As I was taking Oliver to soccer and as  we were driving I noticed a bike laying on the grass at the side of the road. I pointed it out to him, and then he said isn't that "Bobthegoalie?"

Bob is a local cacher that places out quite a few caches in this area. He had just placed one and was coming out of the spot when we saw him. I got Oliver to soccer and as I did another cache got published, another Bobthegoalie cache, so I headed for it. As I was walking up to the spot Bob pulled up. We chatted and he stayed to watch me get it to make sure the co-ords were correct. I mentioned to him that we saw him coming out of the bush along the road earlier, and asked if he had placed a cache. He said yes. After signing the log, I headed to that spot. I quickly found what I was looking for, signed it, and then headed to the one that had come out an hour earlier. To my surprise I found an empty logbook. 3 First to Finds with one being unpublished. When it gets published, I do not have to chase after it, I just need to log it online. lol

Edit Note: Cache was published 3 days after and I signed as FTF!!

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!!!

PCAM Magic trip

I went to Carlsbad, California for a Magic Convention this past week. During the trip we went thru LA, Carlsbad, and San Diego, I was able to get several Adventure Lab's at the airports I went thru. I got 2 caches in San Diego. One of the caches took a bit of looking as it was a difficult cache to find with lots of Favorite points, and DNF's. 

This is where the GPS brought me to the cache named "Got Gas?" My god, It could be anywhere!!!

Can you see the cache?

Looked for about 20 minutes, touching and feeling everything. Finally I spotted it!!

When a cache has lots of Favorite points, and lots of DNF's,

you know its not gonna be easy, and you can bet it's not going to be a magnetic nano or key box. It will most likely be hidden in plain site!!

It's gonna blend in!!

There was just so much stuff that it could have been.

Also grabbed a Virtual cache at San Diego airport, before our flight home. Love getting Virtuals when I travel.

Victoria Trip

I went to Victoria on Vancouver Island for a day as I had a show over there. Was able to grab a couple of Virtual caches, 3 Traditional caches and an Adventure Lab before the show.

I am heading off for a corporate event to a small town called Bella Bella which is on Campbell Island at

the end of the month to perform some Magic. As you can see from the screen shot from the caching app there is NO caches where I am going!!! Yikes!! But hopefully I can get some awesome photo's from up there. Anyway, More about that in Next Months blog!!

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

"X Men", Bicycles, and an Ammo Can!!

 South of the Border

Susan and I headed across the border to spend the night, and of course we were able to grab several caches. We got one Adventure Lab in Ferndale, as well as the bonus cache.  

We also found 14 more of the 25 X Men puzzle series. I only have 2 more to solve and go find. We ended up DNFing one of them, and we believe its not there. Once replaced we will be back. 

NOTE: The cache was checked by the owner and he found it was missing and it has since been replaced.

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!!!

Barnston Island Bicycle Trip

There is a route around Barnston Island that is flat and paved. You start at Surrey Bend Park and then bike onto the ferry and around Barnston Island. The route offers views of the river and farms, and it’s especially fun in the fall during cranberry harvest. 

To get to Barnston island, the Barnston Island ferry runs across Parsons Channel on the south side of the Fraser River between Barnston Island (north bank) and Port Kells (south bank). Port Kells is in the northeast corner of Surrey at the bottom of 104th avenue.

The views from the island are quite spectacular.

Here we are at the end of our ride, and ready to get back on the Ferry.

We biked a total of 11 1/2 km's on the island. 

When we got back across we put the bikes back in the car and did the trails in Surrey Band Regional Park by foot instead. We walked almost 5km thru the different trails. The plan today was to get 1 wherigo, 1 challenge cache, 7 Traditional's, and 2 multi's. We ended up not getting the right coordinates for the multi's, we couldn't find 2 of the traditional's, the Wherigo had new construction fences all around it, so all we did was a total of 5 caches out of 11 we had planned on. LOL

Not a great day of caches, but lots of exercise for sure!!

Fort Langley

The next day we headed down the road to Fort Langley for some caches and Adventure Lab's.

I was hoping it was gonna a better day than the day before. 

It was also International Earthcache day, so I needed to grab an Earthcache.

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!!!

We did an Adventure Lab which started at this building, the BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley and was actually the First AL we ever tried to do. When we tried to do it back in July of 2020, we didn't know how they worked and we thought it was like a wherigo and we were trying to get it to give us the answer instead of clicking the Blue button and answering the questions. lol

We figured it out shortly after that on the same day at Lafarge Lake. Since then I have done over 100 different Adventure Labs.

Today we found 1 Earthcache, 2 Virtual's, 2 Traditional's, and 12 stages of 3 different AL's 

Definitely a much better day than yesterday. lol

I finally got to place my newest cache out in the woods today. I had it all set up and ready to go for a little while, but was looking for a spot. With so many small and micro caches in the woods, It was tough to find a spot. I was lucky enough to grab an early morning FTF, and noticed there was a big gap between this cache and the closest one up the trail. I made a quick trip back to my car and grabbed the container that I have been hauling around for some time, and back into the trail I went. I found a good spot, left it there, got home and submitted the cache, and only about 4 hrs later it was newly Published.

Next month I am heading to Los Angeles, Carlsbad, and San Diego for a Magic convention. I have already been planning what caches I will have time to get while there. 

But more about that in next months Blog!!!

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65