Bothell and Edmonton Trips

Quick trip to Bothell, Washington

Booked a show down in the states in Bothell, Washington. Headed down early so I could grab some caches along the way.

Stopped at a rest area and grabbed an Adventure Lab to begin with. I thought I had all the caches and adventure labs at all these rest areas on the way down here, but obviously I did not see this one until this trip. 
Headed further down the road and swung into Mount Vernon to grab a virtual and a library cache. 

Didn't have to look to hard as this book was in plain view when I got to the right section of the library.

Just remember if you are looking for a cache in a library, the Dewey Decimal for Geocaching is 796.587

This is the fake book opened, lots of swag!!

Right across the road from the Library was the virtual cache, so I got that as well.

Did a super cool Gadget cache in Arlington called "The Switchboard" 

This was such a cool cache, with over 250 Favorite Points, check out my video I did of it on Youtube, at:

"The Switchboard"

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!!!

Once you got all five plugs in the right spot, the cache door would open. (Check out the pic above)

Found a total of 9 Traditional's, 1 Multicache, 1 Adventure Lab, and 1 Virtual cache while across the border.

Caching in Edmonton

Went to Edmonton, Alberta for 5 days to visit some family. Decided to grab a few caches while here. I like looking for a different cache type other than a traditional cache when I travel.

Did a cool AL while there called "Canada Packers Chimney Stack"

It is now all thats left standing from the packing plant that has quite a history here in Edmonton including :

The Gainers Strike (1986): One of the longest and most infamous strikes in Alberta history. Over 1,000 workers at the Gainers meatpacking plant (located on Yellowhead Trail and 66th Street) walked out on June 1, 1986, protesting wage rollbacks and pension cuts. The six-and-a-half-month standoff included massive picketing and clashes with replacement workers.

June 9, 1986 a battle rages on the Gainers picket line:Thirty years ago, one of the most violent labour disputes in Edmonton's history occured. It was sparked in the summer of 1986 when the unionized workers of the Gainers meat-packing plant in Edmonton walked off the job. Plant managers hired replacement workers to keep the operation going, but were met with violent opposition. As tensions mounted Edmonton police, in full riot gear, acted as security guards trying to keep the peace but failed. Steve Andrusiak captured graphic footage of the clash in this Newsday report from June 9, 1986. It remains in the minds of many long-time Edmontonians as they drive by what was then the Gainers meatpacking plant on 66th street.

After doing the five stages of the Adventure Lab, you got coordinates to search for the bonus cache.

Check out the wall of rocks where there was a hidden Fake Rock which held the caches. I am glad I found it quite quick.

Ended up finding 1 Traditional Cache, 5 Wherigo caches, 8 stages of Adventure Labs, and 3 Puzzle caches, and one of them was a challenge cache. I also found my "8888th Cache" during this trip!! It was "#6-pigpen cipher puzzle geocache" which I solved before coming on the trip.

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!!!

Next month, I have shows and trips all over, Including heading to Harrison Lake for a magical picnic, Whistler and down to Edmonds Washington for shows, so will be grabbing some select caches.....But more about that in Next months 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

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

Alberta Trip, and caching with my new TOTT!!

Caching with a TOTT

I always carry some simple TOTT's (Tools Of The Trade) such as tweezers, magnets, string, pens, paper, flashlights, knife, and even some specialty items like UV lights, and mirrors.

For this puzzle cache (Conway Conundrum) near my place, the TOTT needed was a telescoping pole (Painters pole) with a hook on the end of it.

The pole fully extended is about 10 feet, and as you can see we just made the reach. Since I noticed there are more and more caches like this, I went to a golfing store and bought a 16' pole. I will also be able to use this pole in a magic trick....shhhhhh

Weekend Caching with Sansue

This is one of the oldest bridges in BC. It goes over to Westham Island and is a one lane bridge, and they have workers stopping traffic when others are coming across from the other side.

The Westham Island Bridge is a partially single-lane, wood-deck truss bridge located in Ladner, British Columbia. The bridge passes over Canoe Pass in the Fraser River Estuary and connects Ladner with Westham Island. The bridge's length is approximately 325 m (1066 feet). The bridge was constructed between 1909 and 1912 and has undergone extensive refitting over the years.

We did a Adventure Lab over there that was basically a driving lab as we didn't have to get out of the car to get the info. We only got 1 cache on the island, as the other 8 we planned to do were in the Alaksen National Wildlife area. We found out, it is only open during the week and not on weekends. Those will have to wait for another trip over there. 

The Iron Cow

This was a cool structure in Tsawwassen with a hidden in plain sight cache called, "Disguise is Crying (2.0)"

The rusty parts were all welded together to make up the cow.

I milked the cow, but there was too much iron in the milk. lol

International Geocaching Day

This year is the 10th Anniversary of International Geocaching Day. Starting in 2011, every year on the third Saturday of August is our day to celebrate geocaching and geocachers worldwide!!

Of course, I made sure to get a cache on that day to receive my souvenir!!!

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!!!

Grabbing a couple more caches that are up in a tree, and a pole is needed. One we found today, I even had to attach my 10 foot pole to the base of my new 16 foot pole to reach it as you can see in the pic below. 

Sansue wanted to give this one a try!! Took her a little bit as it was up there quite high, but she got it!

Alberta Trip

Oliver and I flew to Alberta for 5 days, to visit with Family. Of course, I searched out some cool caches to grab while there of course. The first cache we got on the way to our destination for the evening on route from the Airport was a library cache. It was for the Geochalllenge of the month. Back at home I have got all the library caches in my area, so it was important that we grab one while here. We actually ended up getting 2 while here.

The first one we grabbed was inside a book, and very nicely made, while the other one we got was just a nano cache inside the free library.

 

We also got some really cool gadget caches that were all in a row along a rural country road. Most of them were in birdhouses attached to a fence, and out in plain view.

The toughest one to do that's pictured above, was a cache called 

"Lock picking 101 Birdhouse"

They had it padlocked with a see thru lock and the picks available to pick the lock. Being a magician, when I was the President of the Fraser Valley Magic Circle, I arranged a lecture about lock picking, and had a locksmith come in to teach us how to do that. I even purchased the same see thru lock and picks that were in this cache. Even with the training it took me a little bit to get into this cache. But persistence prevailed. 

The Heart Lock had the key with it, but you had to make sure it wasn't all the way in to open the lock. Another one had blocks to add up to the code for the lock.

This cache had a sealed tube full of small beads, and you had to shake it to find the 4 discs with numbers on them for the lock code to get at the Logbook.

Lots of fun and creativity went into these caches. I prefer these type of caches that make you think instead of a bunch of pill bottles or bison tubes on a trail.

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 also had two Challenge caches targeted that I needed to get. The challenge for these caches, was a harder challenge to complete. The owner had 100 geocoins made for prizes to the first 99 cachers to complete this challenge. I looked at my stats, and was glad to see that I met the requirements. One of the challenges was called "XXXTREME Challenge-Triple Crown of Geocaching"

This cache was Extremely well hidden, we even had to bushwack to get to it. On our way to this cache we saw a structure that someone built, that looks like someone lives in it from time to time. 

I contacted the CO to set up a day and time to pick up my geocoin, and headed downtown to meet up with him. Here is a pic of my new coin....

Thanx again Scavengermonkeys.

On the way to the airport on our last day there, we stopped and grabbed 4 caches, one was a puzzle called "K is for Kids"
I did the puzzle before coming to Alberta, and it was a Dot to Dot puzzle, so I wanted to make sure I got it before heading home.
We only got 18 caches while there, but we did stay busy doing other things also.

International Earthcache day is coming up in October........

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