The H.A.G.

Looking for the H.A.G Caches

Susan and I decided to make our way over to Vancouver Island and the Victoria area to grab some H.A.G. caches. The H.A.G. is a yearly event that takes place the first weekend of February. Hundreds of caches are hidden starting in November and are all published on the first Saturday in February. This year there was roughly 400 new caches published for the HAG up and down Vancouver Island.

On the Friday after we got to the island we went and grabbed a few cool local caches. We started with a Virtual downtown Victoria in Chinatown called "Fan Tan Alley"

Welcome to Fan Tan Alley - the narrowest street in North America and a portal into Canada's oldest Chinatown, first settled in 1858! At its narrowest point the street is only 0.9 meters (35 inches) wide, so that a child can place a hand on the brick walls on either side. Fan Tan Alley is 73 meters (240 feet) long, running between Fisgard Street and Pandora Avenue. This street is so unique that it's been featured in Hollywood movies and children's books.

Although today Fan Tan Alley is a tourist destination, it wasn't always the kind of place you would want to go for a casual stroll with the family. Back in the mid-1800's the street was a popular place for a variety of less-than-legal activities, with gambling and opium dens common. In fact, the street drew its name from the Chinese gambling game "Fan-Tan". In the late 1970's a revitalization project turned the alley into the popular tourist spot that is it today. It may be so busy on the day you visit that you'll be forced to turn sideways to squeeze through the route.

Most of the doors here are like this one where the address is a half number like 23 1/2 (This is NOT the one you need for the answer on the cache page)

We then headed across the Johnston Street Bridge. I used to live in Victoria for several years, and the last time I was here it was blue and very ugly looking(See pic)

But not today, this is what the new bridge looks like!!!

We made our way to the "Landsharkz Store" where they sell all things geocaching. It is run by some friends of mine. If you are in town, check them out, or if you need to order some geocaching supplies,  check out their website at the link above. They even have a very cool cache out front called "Geocaching News - Read all about it!'

Susan opening up the cache

We then made our way over to Ogden Point Breakwater, to do a virtual cache.

It was a nice walk out to the end of it and we even saw some seals playing.

 

On Saturday we were up at 4:30am (Maybe from the excitement of knowing a few hundred caches where going to pop up near us. We got ready and headed out by 5:30am. We headed over to East Sooke Park as I had a hunch several would be published there. As we sat and waited, a cache was published a few km's away from us. We took a chance and drove over to the spot. We parked and it was only 100 metres away. We headed into the trail and then we realized it was up a steep hill. We started climbing up, we didn't realize at the time it was not only 100 metres away, but it was about 80 metres up. We got to the spot and also noticed, now caches were being published in the park where we were just 10 minutes ago. We got our first FTF of the day at 8:36AM. A quick sign of the blank log and head back down. Sprint to the car and head back to our spot, still an empty parking lot...YAY!! As we were gearing up to head down the trail, another cacher drove into the parking lot. We decided to all go together. We did the entire loop in the wind and rain, and partway thru the hunt my geocaching app crapped out. Good thing Susan had her phone. We got back to the parking lot after 3 hours of hiking on hilly, rocky, slippery terrain, and we said goodbye to our new caching friend Erniert and then headed down the road. We were heading towards the Ferry terminal, when I noticed there was a couple of new caches near Langford Lake that had not been logged yet. Yup...you guessed it, off we went.

We got there and started looking when all of a sudden another cacher was coming up the trail....It was Erniert again. lol

We finally spotted it and realized it was up the tree about 30 feet above us.

Can you see it???

 

Ernie said his partner was on her way there with an extending pole with a hook. We waited a short time and then she arrived as well as other cachers. By now there was about 8-10 of us that would share the FTF!!! We looked for another one nearby but with about 13 people looking and spending a good 30 mins, we decided to head out. 

 Here is a closer look!! Of the 20 caches we did today, this was the coolest for sure as all the others were just micro's or smalls with a basic hide.

Not a bad day after all that, About 5-6 km's of walking and getting soaked, but fun was had.

I got a total of 5 caches on Friday evening, and 20 caches on Saturday, 18 of which were FTF's, 1 STF(Second to Find) and one older existing cache. And we also DNF'd 5 caches

The cool thing is the 18 FTF's in one day is a new record for me!! YAY!!!

 

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!!!

Locationless Cache

A new Locationless cache was published by Groundspeak. Its here for the rest of the year, but get it soon!! Check it out at: "Lets improve the outdoors-Locationless Cache"

At the time of writing this, there has been over 4000 logs so far and its only been live for 6 days

Join geocachers around the world to improve the outdoors, celebrate 20 years of geocaching, and log a rare cache type in 2021! This HQ-owned cache provides a unique opportunity to contribute to environmental improvement and protection efforts in a way that’s most meaningful and safe for you.

How to participate:

Participate individually or with a small group (after checking the current guidance from public health authorities). The possibilities are endless, but could include:

• Clean up garbage in your neighborhood or favorite walking path.
• Join an existing community effort to remove invasive species, plant trees, and improve parks.

YouTube channel

So for a little while now, Oliver and I have been doing videos while caching and I have loaded a few up onto our NEW YouTube channel so far. He wanted to start a YouTube channel of his own for caching videos, so I have set one up for us. If you want to check out our progress so far and give us some feedback that would greatly be appreciated. Here are links to 2 of the videos:

"December Geochallenge of the Month"(I wrote about this challenge in last months blog)

"Magicman65 finds his 5000th cache"

Please check these out and our new YouTube channel, and comment on the videos, and subscribe to our channel. As I get better with editing, they will look a little nicer. lol

Wanna get lots of FTF's???

Many people have been asking the question how to set up to receive notifications of newly published caches via text. The information from Geocaching blog and myself below will help you do this. 

How do I set up instant notifications to let me know when a new geocache is published (only applicable to Premium Members)?

You can custom build notifications under Premium Member features.

1. Go to the Add Instant Notification page
2. Name the notification
3. Choose a cache type to monitor (e.g. Traditionals, Events, etc.)
4. Choose the types of logs you want to see (if you are just looking for newly published caches, choose “Publish Listing”)
5. Set the location (central point) and distance (around that point) you want to watch. This is the area you want to cache, I have found New caches in other city's and provinces, and places like Las Vegas. (I make notifications whenever I travel) 
6. Check the email listed in the “Send to” drop-down menu. (If you would like to send Instant Notifications to an alternate email, you will need to manage your email addresses first.) (You can also send the notification to you via a text (SMS) message. See below how to set this up)
7. Check “Enable Notifications”.
8. Select “Create Notification” and you are set!

Text message Notification: To find the email address associated with your phone number:

1. Go to your text messages app and click on new message.

2. Type in your email address as the person you wish to text.

3. Type "Test" or literally anything into the text message.

4. Hit send.

5. Check your email address and you will have the email address associated with your phone number.

 The address will typically include your phone number and the name of your provider: ##########@MobileCarrierName.com

6. Set up a notification exactly like above but instead of your normal email address, use this new one you have.

7. Go get all the FTF's!!! PS...Save some for Me!!!

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!!!

The day after getting back from the Island and HAG Caching, Susan and I went out to grab a few caches, We did 5 caches and all were different types. We did a Traditional, a Multi, A Letterbox, A Locationless cache(1st one I've ever done) and a Cool Earthcache about an Erratic. I have always wanted to create an Erratic Earthcache. I will write more about this in next months blog. Until then, Stay Safe, Wear your Mask, and Wash your Hands!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Happy New Year

 Christmas caching

Went and grabbed a couple of caches on Christmas day. One was a puzzle cache called Choo! Choo! All Aboard!! and the other was a traditional with the word Christmas in the title. (Why Not, seemed appropriate!!) We got our last souvenir of the year also.

On Boxing day we also got out for a couple along the river near the River Rock casino. The weather was cool but nice.

We also got out caching the day after boxing day. I took Susan to a few cool caches I have already found as well as a few I had not found.

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!!!

Looking for 10,000 finds

Actually my amount of finds is only 5448 but today (Jan 2/21) We went to find a "Team Challenge" which was a Challenge puzzle cache called "10,000 finds: Team Challenge"

The idea of this challenge is to team up with other cachers so the total of all your finds is over 10,000 finds. In total there was 8 teams totaling 10 cachers with a cumulative total of caches adding up to 22,163. There was myself, Sansue, Magicboy2012(my son), Greenest, GBandBob, BadBunnyBiteYou, Berlin96, and Jimw67.

 We all got to GZ and looked for the cache. After 30 minutes in the wind and rain, someone came up with the find. YAY!! I also got a new souvenir for finding a cache in the new year.

Sansue gets her 500th cache

Today (Jan 9th) we went caching in Mundy park. Susan needed 5 more to reach 500 and she wanted to find a cool cache as her 500th cache. I made her a sign and we headed out to the trails.

This cache I was the FTF on March 20, 2016.  It is an awesome huge replica of a bison tube, that's about 3 feet tall.

We stopped by the pond to see if we could see some of the turtles that live here, but they must have been hiding on the other side of the pond

We did see a shark though....painted on this rock. lol

Later on we stopped by this cache location that I drive by often and have wanted to stop to get it and have not...until today!! The cache name is "Night Caching: Floralume"

Floralume is an interactive sculpture, which responds to touch with changing colors and melodious music. The sculpture, which is meant to transform an infamous and expensive emergency staircase into a lively and organic structure with intertwining vines and floral light blooms. Simply place your fingers on the sensors within the pedals to transform the area.

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!!!

Lab Caches

So, I am still uncertain why lab caches are set up the way they are. You go to typically 5 locations and gather info and answer questions, just like a wherigo or a multi cache. But, unlike a Multi or a Wherigo when you are done and get 1 find added to your find count, you actually get 5 finds or a find for every right answer at each location. To date I have gone to only 13 different Lab Caches, but have gotten 62 finds for doing them. My number is a bit weird because when we(Sansue and I) were in Banff we started to do a lab cache but only ended up going to 2 locations out of the 5, so we really did not finish the cache, but we got rewarded 2 finds anyway. I just don't quite understand why they are set up like that. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing them, just like I love Virtual caches. 

It has never been about finding a box in the woods, it has always been about the location, the people you meet, or the adventure along the way. And I have met many interesting people thru geocaching at events and on the trail, I have been to many awesome locations that I may have not gone to had it not been for a geocache, and I have had many awesome adventures along the way!!! Thank you Geocaching!!!

H.A.G. Caching

The HAG is an event that happens every year on the first weekend of February and stands for "Hide and Go." Caches are placed starting in early November, but are not published until the first Saturday in February. This year is the 17th annual HAG. One year (2013) I was able to find 12 FTF's on that day. That's not a lot considering that year there was about 100 to 200 caches published that day. As you can see each year different amounts of caches are placed and published for the H.A.G.

Not sure if they have the stats from past years before 2015 written somewhere, but would like to know.

Below are the stats from 2015 to date:

2015 = 642 caches hidden 2016 = 149 caches hidden 2017 = 112 caches hidden 2018 = 288 caches hidden 2019 = 405 caches hidden 2020 = 192 caches hidden

This year I am hoping that Sansue and I can participate in finding lots of the new ones, and hoping to beat my FTF record of 13 which was set doing a series in Bowser, BC in Feb/2012. I will write more about this in next months blog. Until then, Stay Safe, Wear your Mask, and Wash your Hands!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

End of 2020 is near!!!

 Geochallenge of the Month

So the challenge this month (December) was to leave something like a small gift in a cache for the next finder. Just a token of appreciation for them. Oliver and I went out on Dec. 5th, just 1 day after the Geocaching Vlogger announced the Challenge, and we found a large enough cache to put in a bag of swag for the next finder. It was a nearby cache called, "Coquitlam River TB Hotel"

Here is my log on the cache:

Nice Quick find with magicboy12
Needed to complete the Geochallenge of the Month. Left a cool bag of swag including some pins, an unactivated geocoin, my pathtag, my FTF Trading card that is also trackable and some other stuff for the next cacher that comes along.

Chris
Magicman65

Check out our video at "Dec. Geochallenge", and while you are there, please subscribe to our geocaching YouTube channel.

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!!!

Caching Aldergrove Regional Park

Aldergrove Regional Park is located on the border of Aldergrove and Langley and just a short distance from the US Border. The park is very popular with families for its easy trails, scenic landscape, and multiple picnic areas. The area also has a number of horse trails and the wide open section of Aldergrove Bowl is popular with horseback riders.We even saw a few horses on the trail, that we had to move off to let them by.

The "historic" lake in the park was formerly located on the west side but had to be removed due to needing major repairs. The lake was actually a man-made cement pool but was filled in and is now a grassy picnic area.

Susan on one of the well maintained boardwalks in the park.

Can you see it? This one took a little bit of looking as it wasn't were the hint suggested.

The hint on one of the caches was "X marks the spot" This was near the cache, but was not the "X" we needed to find. We finally figured it out after searching here for about 15 minutes. Lol. Hint, look at pics on the logs!!

Cool social distancing signs on the trails

Some cool fungus we saw in our travels

Up in a tree grabbing the cache.

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!!!

And remember to get the two newest geocaching souvenirs.

How do you earn both souvenirs?

1. Earn the Last 2020 souvenir by finding any geocache from December 24-31.
2. Earn the First 2021 souvenir by finding another geocache from January 1-8.

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching and have a very Merry Christmas and an awesome New Year!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Island Caching

Island caching

So we postponed our trip to the Gold Country due to the weather on October 18th, and headed out caching on the islands.
Tilbury Island and Deas Island that is. Both of these areas are called Islands but they are joined to the main land mass by bridges as there is a part of the Fraser River that separate's them.

Tilbury Island (I have Highlighted the River, which is more like a Slough that separate's the island from the land mass)

 Deas Island

As you can see in the picture below, I have circled the Massey Tunnel and the Highlighted portion is the trail where you walk above this tunnel. To think while you are walking on land and there are 100's of cars zooming below you is a weird feeling.

It is the only road tunnel below sea level in Canada, making its roadway the lowest road surface in Canada. The Massey Tunnel was the first to use immersed tube technology in North America. The tunnel forms part of Highway 99.

We found several caches on both islands and even 1 Adventure Lab.

The Massey Tunnel was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on July 15th, 1959

This trail sometimes floods due to high tides. Today it was dry so we were able to get the Puzzle cache Tip o' the Island to Ya! 

The cache for the puzzle was up in the tree, way above the tide line.

Found a cool log cache also.

As you can see we found more on Tilsbury

than we did on Deas Island over the 2 days

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!!!

Sunday Caching

Sansue and I went out on a sunny Sunday November 1st and did a bunch of caching near the Coquitlam River and the Oxbow Sidechannel

Most of the caches we did were part of cacher Buggirl1975's series called "Insect series" with a total of 8 caches to find and gather clues, then finding the final cache.

We couldn't find one and one was missing the log book so we were not able to get the final coordinates. We will have to come back another time.

We also found a puzzle cache about Wooly Mammoths.

The Oxbow sidechannel runs thru this area off the Coquitlam river and is a habitat for spawning salmon. We were able to see lots of Salmon coming upstream to lay there eggs at the end of their life cycle.

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!!!

Caching the Fraser-Foreshore Trail

 Oliver, Susan, and I went out caching during a day off down  the Fraser-Foreshore Trail. We saw this cool looking splash of paint on some rock beside the trail as we were walking.

 

 

 

This is the area we went caching. It has a lot of cool trails and little bridges, you even go under a train bridge.

Lots of wildlife in the area. We didn't see anything more than bird, but we did here a noise in the bush's on the way to one of the caches.

This was near a cache called "Rockin' Weather Station"

It was a rock hanging from a tree on a string. How the Rock weather station predicts the weather:

1. If rock is wet: it is raining!
2. If rock is white: it is snowing!
3. If rock is dry: no precipitation!
4. If rock is swaying: it is windy!
5. If rock has a shadow: it is sunny!
6. If rock is frosty: it is cold!  (Potentially below 0!)
7. If rock is gone: Hurricane 

We got here just after a train had gone across.

End of the year Souvenirs

From Groundspeaks blog page:

We did it. We made it. This year brought unprecedented change, but we still came together as a geocaching community despite challenges. We adapted by figuring out Zoom to see our friends, geocaching solo, and planning future outings. Even through it all, caches were found, souvenirs were earned, and travel bugs achieved their mileage goals.

Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese art that uses a liquid precious metal to mend the pieces of broken pottery. This art form honors what the pottery has been through and is the perfect metaphor for our souvenir to close out the year.

This year, we invite you to leave 2020 stronger and to welcome 2021 with hope by introducing two new geocaching souvenirs.

How do I earn both souvenirs?

1. Earn the Last 2020 souvenir by finding any geocache from December 24-31.
2. Earn the First 2021 souvenir by finding another geocache from January 1-8.

Geochallenge of the month

Just made the geochallenge of the month requirements with only a couple days before end of month. 

Sometime back I spotted a tweet from a fellow cacher and she posted a pic of the puzzle cache with a big clue. I saved the pic, thinking I would not have to do all the work to find it, I just need the picture. Today I was victorious in finding the cache. No work needed, but A big thank you to the CO and my fellow cacher for the clue!!!  Check out my log on "This cache"

I may have one more blog post before the new year, but in case I don't please stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask and most of all be nice to each other!!

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65