Adventure Labs and Uncommon Cache types

 My Newest Adventure Lab

As I said in last month's blog, I was gonna build an Adventure Lab in the Las Vegas Dessert!! I have been there enough times and have enough pictures and info, that I was able to set it up without having to go there to build it. It is now live and I am looking forward to the reviews, and doing a test run when we go there in June. If you are in the Vegas area, go check it out!!

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!!!

This picture shows the most Uncommon and Rare types of caches.

Some of these above Icons are not available anymore. Webcam caches are no longer allowed to be made, but the ones that are out there are still active.

Virtuals are still being made from time to time as Groundspeak gives them to cachers to place on a limited amount. (I am hoping to receive one someday)

Locationless caches come up once and awhile when Groundspeak publishes them.

(Groundspeak is the Geocaching head company, who runs Geocaching.com and all the rules for caching)

 GPS Mazes comes around once and awhile still, but usually only at Mega or Giga Events.

A.P.E. Caches where hidden back in 2001, and only 2 of the 14 are still active to this day. (1 in the Snoqualmie pass, WASH., and 1 in Brazil)

 -I have found all of these types of caches:

 -I have been to the APE cache called "Mission 9: Tunnel of Light" in Snoqualmie pass 2 times for the original and also visited there when they had the replacement tribute cache, when the Cache got stolen.

(the original cache was found years later and replaced back in its original spot)  I have been there during the "Going Ape" events. Will probably go again this year. (To get to it, you have to walk thru a 3.625Km long tunnel)

-I did a GPS adventure maze 3 times, although, 1 of them I was not able to log as the date had past for the event. Of the 2 I was able to log, one was in Edmonton at the Space sciences building, and once just recently at the Geowoodstock XVIII Mega event.

-I have done 5 webcam caches. (2 in BC, and 3 in Washington)

-Got 3 locationless caches, and 160 virtual caches.

I hunt after these type of caches (Virtual and Webcam) whenever I travel somewhere.

I am interested in seeing who has also found all of these Rare Icons. Please feel free to comment on here, would like to know who also goes for these rare and uncommon cache icons.

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!!!

Bike trip to Kettle Valley Rail trail and Myra Canyon

As I noted in last months blog, I have been planning a bike trip to Myra Canyon just East of Kelowna, for Susan and I. As of right now I have 37 caches on the Trail that we will go to. (I have already found 3 of them)
The section we will do is about 30-40km round trip depending on how far we decide to go. We will cache along the way, but then on the return trip there will be no caches to get unless we miss some.

First to Find

Was able to grab a couple of FTF's this month. 

One of them was a Puzzle cache where you had to complete 2 Jigsaw puzzles to get the Coordinates. The cache was up in a tree, so an extendable pole was needed to retrieve it. Can you see it? How about in the next pic?? 

I have a 16 foot extendable pole, which made easy work of it.

Once I had it hooked, I brought it down and was FTF!!!

San Juan Island Trip

I booked a corporate show in Roche Harbor, Wash. on San Juan Island, so I planned out some cool caches for my trip.
I went down and spent the night in Oak Harbor. I have cached there a couple times in the past, but still lots of others to get. I started caching in Burlington where I got a Geochallenge cache, a Multi, a traditional, as well as several puzzle caches, and an Adventure Lab. 

I then made my way to Oak Harbor and grabbed some cool caches. 

One of the caches I grabbed was inside the local Library. Susan and I tried to get this one back in July when we did a weekend trip down to the bottom of  Whidbey Island, but the clue was missing at the first stage. It was replaced so I was able to make the grab before the library closed.

The cache was inside a book. I then headed out for some more caching.

I grabbed a couple of cool caches near the water, one was near a cool Flintstone car. 

I went for a quick ride and made the find!! 

I then started searching for a cache called "Adrift". It was down on the beach and I was having trouble locating it, until someone from a nearby apartment building yelled and asked if I was a geocacher. She gave me a hint and then the cache was in hand. 

I grabbed 2 stages of an Adventure Lab that Susan and I started when we were here, so I could get the bonus cache. I also grabbed a total of 8 Traditional caches and 2 Multi caches before heading back to my hotel for the night. The next morning I was up at 4:30am to head to the Anacortes Ferry to get over to the island for some caching before my show. At the Terminal I was able to do an Earthcache. Always nice to have a cache handy when you happen to be somewhere that you have to wait.

Friday Harbor

After the hour and 20 minute ferry ride, I arrived in a cute little historic town called Friday Harbor. 

 

When I arrived I did 3 Virtual caches all in the same little park, and also started one of the 2 Adventure labs that I would eventually complete. 

There was a cache at the end of the pier that was under a bench but it was a regular size not a micro. I then cruised thru the town completing the AL's and grabbing several caches, before heading across the Island to my final destination for the night.

This Little Piggy was made of Bricks...wait, that's not how the story goes, I thought his house was made of bricks??

On the way to Roche Harbor I got a Letter box cache that was a TB hotel. Can you see the cache in the next picture?

How about now?

English Camp

Stopped on the way at "English Camp" to do a Adventure Lab. This is where in 1859 the killing of a pig on San Juan Island brought England and the United States to the brink of War over the issue of territorial rights here. The "Blockhouse" that you see in the picture above here at Garrison Bay is built with the upper part of the structure turned 45 degrees on the lower half of the building. This was so the soldiers could be protected from all angles as they aimed their rifles out of the loopholes, including down. 

Roche Harbor

I am Here!!!I arrived in Roche Harbor, and was able to do 3 more caches and 4 stages of an Adventure Lab.

I then went and looked at some of the sculptures in "San Juan Island Sculpture Park" Some very cool sculptures within this park.

These were among my favorites.

A whale made from auto parts.

There is no town here in Roche Harbor, It is just the Marine resort.

I did my show on the Dock for a private group of boaters, of 120 people from all over. Even some fellow Canadians. How cool is that!!

The show was in the tent down on the dock. After my show I headed back to Friday Harbor to get the last ferry back to Anacortes, and headed home back to Canada!! All in all an awesome quick trip where I got to perform my comedy and magic for some great people, and I found 4 complete AL's plus 6 stages of 2 different AL's, 44 caches made up of 1 Earthcache, 4 virtuals, 1 Letterbox, 8 puzzle caches, 3 multi's, and 27 Traditional's.

I look forward to coming this way again on another caching adventure!!

 

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island Day Trip

Went to Whidbey Island this past weekend for a full day of caching. As you recall, I made this trip several years back in 2019 to get some very specific caches to complete challenges, and several Earthcaches, which you can read in a previous "BLOG"

We headed down on Friday afternoon and planned to cache all the way to Burlington. Our first stop was in Ferndale to avenge my DNF I got there when I was thru last month on the way to fly out to Vegas for a magic convention. It was a cool Multi cache called "Stamp Panorama". It was at a post office with artwork on the wall. You needed to search the art for clues to get the co-ords.

I could not find it last month as I believe it was missing. We found it this time and it was a brand new container with only about 4 names so far. Still a cool place to visit. We then headed down the road and grabbed several more caches on the way to our hotel.

We found a few Guardrail caches (Common in the States) but this was by far the best of them.

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 cached until just after sunset, which is now about 9:30pm.

We then headed to the hotel to rest up for the next day as we knew it was gonna be a full day!!

 I found a total of 17 caches, with 3 of them being challenge caches and 2 multi's. The rest were traditional caches. 

Not bad for leaving Vancouver at 4:30ish

The next morning we arose early and got ready to head out.

The first cache we grabbed was in plain view on the side of a community hall. 

Almost like a bird house cache.

We then headed down the road and grabbed 1 part of an Adventure Lab. We had 7 AL's that we were also working on between caches, but wasn't sure if we would complete them and just get some of the stages. But we can always make that another trip to complete them. lol

Deception Pass

 Welcome to the Deception Pass Bridge! This iconic structure was built in just under one year, from August 1934 to July 31, 1935, and depending on the tide sits about 18 stories above the water. It is comprised of two sections--a 511-foot structure from Fidalgo to Pass Island and a 975-foot structure from Pass Island to Whidbey Island. It is now the crown jewel of the park and receives over two million visitors annually. 

The water thru here is very forceful

 Although Deception Pass may be famous for its natural beauty, it is also well known for its powerful and sometimes deadly currents. Capable of reaching speeds between 8-12 knots, the tidal current that runs through the pass forces nearly two million gallons of water flow through the pass per second. That’s more than 50 times the average flow of all the rivers emptying into Puget Sound.

Oak Harbour 

Murals and statues are everywhere.

The town is full of history and art. The next picture isn't art. lol

This was out on the dock. It is an area for dogs to go do their business. Be aware, the next pic is a spoiler as to where the cache was.

Very cool container, hiding the container.

These metal people were welcoming you to Whidbey Bluffs, which we stopped at to get 2 caches in the nearby cemetery. .

At the bottom of Whidbey Island, there is a webcam cache, so we made sure to grab it as we were trying to get as many cache icon's in a day as possible. After we got the webcam cache we headed back up the island grabbing more caches. 

Whidbey Spit

There is a cache on this sign, but we could not find it. We were running out of daylight so we gave in and headed down the road. As we still had lots of other caches to find. We will be back

We grabbed a few more on the way to Coupeville, including one that is a difficulty 4 and had 225 finds and 109 DNF's on it. Always nice to grab one that is tricky for so many others. Especially after our DNF at the Whidbey Spit sign.

Underneath all this greenery is a huge boulder known as the "Coupeville Erratic". This huge boulder is about 25-30 feet tall and 35-40 feet wide. A glacial erratic, as defined by Wikipedia, is a piece of rock that deviates from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests; the name "erratic" is based on the errant location of these boulders. These rocks were carried to their current locations by glacial ice, often over hundreds of kilometres. Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders.

Day 2 had me finding 29 caches, 21 Adventure lab spots from 7 Different AL's, 1 DNF, 1 webcam cache, 3 Multi's, 1 puzzle, 1 Earthcache, 1 Letterbox, 1 Virtual, and 1 Wherigo.

A total of 566.7 KM in a day and a half and I got a total of 46 caches, with 9 different Icons in one day, we also started 7 different Adventure Labs but only completed 1. lol...we will be back

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!!!

This past BC Day long weekend we went out to get Susan's 1500th cache. She wanted to do a cool cache, so I searched out a cool one for her. It was a cache I did back in 2018 called CacheDuino.

Usually you have to find the TB tag that is associated with the cache to go find the cache box at a secret location. Then you have to bring the locked box with you and find the spot where it will open for you.

We picked up the box, as you can see in the picture above,  and then we worked our way towards the secret spot after finding 4 other caches first, so this would be her 1500th find!!!

We decided to go get the 2 multi caches that where at the Golden Ears bridge and we had to walk across the bridge both ways. Probably not the best idea when it was so hot out. Plus we forgot to pack any water with us. Yikes!!

But we made it across and back again, traveling over 6km by foot, and we got both caches. 

Some very cool info on the bridge, but a long walk to get it. lol. Should have done it by bike.

The reward was finding two very cleverly hidden caches.

Can you see it??

How about now??

After our 6 km, 2 hour hike across the bridge and back in 35 degree heat, we decided to make our way towards the spot to open the cache box. We grabbed 2 quick caches to bring her total to 1499. Susan pressed the button, to get info from the box and we were on our way!!!

After pressing it several times and deciding which direction to head to, she got the "Puzzle Solved" message and the box unlocked!!

Here is the reward, you get to open the box and log the cache!! YAY 1500!!!

 Next week just days before Geowoodstock, I will be heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a couple of shows, and of course I will grab a few caches while there. But more about that next month, and the BIG event, that has been delayed since 2020 called GEOWOODSTOCK!!!! I am also hoping to get 12 different Icon's on that day. Wish me luck!!

 

Geowoodstock is Coming This Month!!

Where will you be on August 11th to the 13th??  All the cool cachers will be at Canada's First Geowoodstock!!! If you have not registered yet for this event....what are you waiting for??? Go to "Geowoodstock XVIII" to register NOW!!! Also log your will attend at "GC86VDF"

Well that's it for this month,

See you all at Geowoodstock XVIII

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65