Cool Stats and Statues

 Statues of Interest

A recent "BLOG" from groundspeak caught my eye as it talked about some cool statues, that have caches nearby. One of the statues they showcased was called "Cloud Gate aka The Bean"

It is a virtual cache in Chicago. I was there back in November 2014, and went to visit it of course.

Cloud Gate(The Bean in Chicago)

 It is lovingly known as the Bean in Chicago and is one of the main attractions at Millennium Park. It's a monumental public sculpture by Anish Kapoor which weighs in at 110 tons. (WOW!!!) 

Named Cloud Gate by the artist, it's a seamless stainless steel sculpture is designed to reflect the Chicago skyline, the new park and everything around it. You can check out my original Blog and story on this cool statue by clicking the link here: "The BEAN"

The "Bean" and I

Reading the geocaching blog got me thinking about other statues that I have visited and found a cache nearby. Most of the time I go there for the cache and it is the reason I get to see the cool statue, or else I would not have seen it. That is the only reason I visited "The Bean" when I went to Chicago on Business. I would not have even known it was there otherwise, and neither would the 3 other guys that were with me. (They thought it was very cool)

Here are some lesser known cool statues I have seen while caching

           Sasquatch on the move

                                                                        Giant Octopus Carving

Canadian Penny

             Gassy Jack 

That's Oliver (My 8 yr old) standing between the legs of this Tin Soldier.

This is a Tree statue, but it is actually a cell tower in Las Vegas

A statue of Siegfried and Roy (Very famous Vegas Magicians) with a virtual cache at it. Sadly the Virtual was archived some time back, I even contacted Groundspeak and asked if I could adopt it. Unfortunately I was not allowed. Since that time, just recently Roy passed away due to Covid-19. He will be missed by many!!!

This is a large letter "W" made out of Sea cans on the pier in New Westminster, BC. Sadly just recently (Sept. 13) there was a large fire on the pier, which burnt up the whole pier. It burned for over a week. These were removed and taken across the river. 

This one was really cool, not so much a statue but an airplane on top of a pole that acts as a weathervane. It is at the airport in Whitehorse, Yukon.

This shot was taken from the same spot as the above picture, to show the movement. It only takes a 5 knot (9.1km/h) wind to move it. I was there in the summer of 2012, and was surprised it was not a Virtual cache, but there was a cache nearby. 

The Great One....and Wayne Gretzky

Seattle Troll

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!!!

Stats and stuff

So in case you have not noticed by now, I enjoy seeing stats about my caching experiences. Here are some basic stats about caches and the distances from where I am.

Oldest caches I have found

I would love to find some more Old Caches, and will plan a trip someday. 

Need them to fill my Fizzy chart.

Favorite caches

Theses are not my Favorite cache choices, but they are caches with the most

favorite points that I have found so far.

Some cool stats on caches that I own

Some other facts that don't show up on stat pages:

I have to this date found 404 First to Finds(FTF) meaning I was the first to find the cache after it was published. Groundspeak does not recognize FTF's but cachers do!!

"Other Important stats about my caching"

**Most FTF's in one Day Feb.23/12 "13 FTF's"

**Most finds in one Day May 21/11 "200 caches" Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni (71 was previous record)

**Most Icons in one Day April 21/13 and April 15/18 I found 7 different icons on both those days

**I was Groundspeaks "Geocacher of the Month" Feb. 2012 (Nominated twice, Oct./11 and Jan/12)

**Longest caching streak was Jan.1st/13 to Feb. 4th/14 (400 days)

**I was the B.C.G.A. Vice President 2011-2014

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!!!

Steveston Greenways

Had a day off work, so Sansue and I went to Steveston area for a few caches. We did several caches along the Greenway.

It was a nice level walk with awesome paths, and some great views on the waterway. I got 6 caches and she found 2 others that I had already found. She planned an adventure lab while there for the Greenway.

This shows the skeletal structure of a boat while also simulating a backbone of a salmon

We also passed thru a cool dog off leash park with 14 painted steel dog sculptures that range in size, pose, and color.

AbbyPD Caching

 Oliver and I went to 3 of the six caches on our way thru to Kelowna during the Canada Day weekend. They were all supposed to have some cool AbbyPD coins in them. We wanted to get all six. We did not find any, so after 3 caches, we headed back to the highway and off to Kelowna. A post was made on the BCGA Facebook page about the caches that the AbbyPD placed out for summer. I made a comment about not finding any, and AbbyPD contacted me for my address. They then sent me 2 sets (One for Oliver and one for Me) plus all the  you swag see in this picture. That was so awesome of them to do that!!! Thanx again AbbyPD!!!

Port Royal Caching

Susan, Oliver and I went out to grab some caches on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I got only 6 of the 9 we visited, as we did not find 1, and the other 2 I had already found a few years back. 

Cool Mosaic tiles

Cute sign on this fence.

Magic and Mystery cache

I set up a cache near my home a few months back. It got a fair bit of hits when it first was published, but has since diminished. A good reason for this, is it's a Puzzle cache, and on average Puzzle caches don't see as many people visiting as a Traditional cache. The sad part, is because of the nature of my cache, it has to be listed as a puzzle, as the coordinates are not just given, but, the cacher has to watch a video to receive the location. So far it has been found only 19 times and has 12 favorites on it. Would love more people to visit it. (hint, hint)

Gold Country

Sansue and I are planning to do some Gold Country caches. The trip will take us through Hope(we just cached there a few weeks back, and I talked about that in my last blog) We will head North of Hope, up through Lytton, Lillooet, and up as far as Clinton. Then we will come back down through Cache Creek, Ashcroft, Logan Lake, Merritt, and then back to Vancouver. I already have 91 caches loaded, but I have already found 39 of them. But because a lot of them are the Gold Country caches, we will be grabbing them for Sansue.

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Beyond Hope!!

Geochallenge of the month

So the Geochallenge for September was an easy one. All you had to do is submit a pic of yourself wearing something geocaching related (a shirt, hat, pin, etc.) while out caching.

Here is my newest geocaching outfit.....Just kidding!!! This was taken in Hope, BC where much of the movie "RAMBO: First Blood" was filmed. I will be chatting about our caching day in Hope, a little later in this Blog.

First Blood is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It co-stars Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy, and is the first installment in the Rambo franchise, followed by Rambo: First Blood Part II.

The film is based on the 1972 novel of the same name by David Morrell. In the film, Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood veteran, must rely on his combat and survival senses against the abusive law enforcement of the small town of Hope, Washington. (Yet it was filmed in Hope, BC) (I assume they had to keep the name Hope, as in several shots you see signage that says Hope)

“In November of 1981, Hollywood film crews began to transform Hope, BC into a rural American town for the filming of the blockbuster hit Rambo First Blood. Over the next several months Hope and the Fraser Canyon experienced gas station explosions, gun fire and stunt men. The Success of Rambo First Blood led into a series of 4 films made from 1981-2007

Rambo fanatics from around the world travel to the small town of Hope, BC to get a glimpse of what people now call Rambo town.” 

Ok, so that is not me on the poster, as you can see below though, I have a shirt that says "The Geocaches are calling, and I must go!!" We were out caching in the Ladner area and I wore it. This is the photo that I used for the Geochallenge of the month. I also have a hat that was awarded to me from Groundspeak when I was voted to be the worldwide "Geocacher of the Month" in February 2012. But I don't normally wear hats...lol

We did several caches in Ladner including 2 Adventure Labs. We even ran into another cacher while doing one of the Adventure Labs (AL) 

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!!!

A cool boat for Search and Rescue for the City of Delta that was part of one of the Adventure Labs.

Caching in and around Hope, BC 

Bridal Veil Falls

Our first stop on Labour Day was at Bridal Veil Falls. After enjoying the beauty of the falls and getting several photo's, as well as info for the Earthcache, we headed down the road towards the town of Hope. We did a series of caches that had 13 in the series called the "PTA Caches". PTA stood for Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Surprisingly enough we saw all 3 of those including a plane taking off with a Glider in tow. Then once we had completed the series, we headed towards the Hope Slide about 10 minutes past Hope.

Beyond Hope

We were Beyond Hope, No, literally we were beyond Hope!! We went out to check out the Hope Slide which is about 10 minutes past Hope. Some history on the slide from the cache page:
Early Saturday morning, January 9, 1965, an enormous landslide descended into this valley of the Nicolum Creek, destroying about 3 km of the Hope-Princeton Highway.

Apparently triggered by a minor earthquake, the slide, consisting of more than 46 million cubic metres of earth, rock and snow, crashed down in seconds from the 2000 metre high mountain ridge forming the north side of the valley. It filled the valley bottom with debris 70 metres thick in places and completely buried Outram Lake at the foot of the slide.  Luckily, the slide occurred in an unpopulated area in the early morning hours and the disaster only resulted in four deaths, all of which were buried under the rubble. All four were stuck on Highway #3 at the time, waiting for a smaller initial slide to be cleared from the highway. Two of the bodies were never recovered by search crews and remain wherever they lie.

Hope Slide

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!!!

Susan with the cache "Hope Landslide"

I found it back in 2013 while passing thru on tour. I had also already found the other one in the parking lot as well as the Earthcahe, but wanted to show them to Susan. Realize where she is right now, was once a Lake.

Sign Board Info on the slide

Picture from January 1965

Happy Anniversary

I was answering a questionnaire on a FB geocaching page, which asked when did you find your first Geocache, so I looked on GSAK and noticed that 11 years ago on Sept 7th, 2009 I found my first geocache and I was hooked. So Happy Anniversary to me. Thank you Geocaching!!

Earthcache rises up like a phoenix!!

Recently I had archived one of my Earthcaches, as I talked about a couple of blogs ago as can be seen "Here"

I was a bit sad as this was the second Earthcache of the 4 I have created, that I had to archive, but then a caching friend contacted me after I had archived it and asked if he could go there and log it as it was a part of a loop of earthcaches. I said sure no problem. When they got there he took some photos and got some info and messaged me and suggested I resubmit the Earthcache. I took his info and was able to resubmit it as a new Eartchcache. It was published only a few short hours after submission. YAY, I now have 3 earthcaches again!! Looking for my next one to create!!

Ladner Waterway caching at Brunswick Point

Deva Vue!!!

A beautiful Sunday afternoon out caching with Susan. The Round trip of  6.6km, We got a total of 21 caches, and 16 of them we had found already....wait, what?? Yup, we did this series of caches just a few short months ago. Seems as if the caches were adopted by a different cacher as the original owner was going to archive them. The new cache owner archived them and resubmitted them as new caches. One that we found even still had some of my FTF trading cards in it, that I left the last time we did these. Here is their exact quote from one of the cache pages:

"It was exciting to adopt the PB series from mcwilli, but we noticed most of the regular cachers had found the caches and the number of finders was dropping. Add to that some of the locations were suffering from overgrowth. So we felt it was time to refresh the series. Some caches have moved slightly and a few have remained in place because the hide was too good to let go." 

I'm not sure I understand the value of archiving someones cache and resubmitting it with a different name?? Not much creativity or thought put into it. The only one that looked as if it changed was one that was inside a log. 

My thought is if you can make a cool cache like this, you should be able to make a bunch of quality caches, not just resubmit the same old micros. Just my opinion!!

Caching on Mars

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is on the way to the Red Planet. Perseverance, or "Percy," is one of three craft traveling to Mars and is slated to land in February of 2021. The Rover has a Geocaching Tracking number etched on it somewhere and that number will be revealed when it lands on Mars. Geocaching is a worldwide hobby that will officially  be out of this world in February of 2021.

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Road Trip!!!

Geochallenge of the month

I talked about Adventure Labs in last months blog, and then found out that the geochallenge of the month for August, was to find an AL. Of course, I easily went and found one with my little boy. Plus I am planning on getting 2 of them in Banff near the end of the month.

This Adventure Lab had a few cool places to visit. My little boy enjoyed the train and other stuff at the museum 

These locations were nice and close to each other (3 in the same location) making it easy to complete.

Plus since being awarded one last month, I have set mine up and it is already seeing some action.

It is about Port Moody, which is also known as "The City of the Arts" And it takes you to a few different types of art commissions in Port Moody. If you are in the area, please check it out!!

Adventure in White rock

 Went out one Saturday to White Rock, BC for some caching, on the way there it was a steady rain, even when we got there it was still lightly raining but we decided to venture out. Before long we were carrying our jackets and umbrella, as the sun came out and it became a beautiful day for caching and checking out the town.

Susan and her new friend!!

The Pier in White Rock is Canada's Longest Pier. Parts of it were recently rebuilt, as it was damaged during a storm in December of 2018. The cost to rebuild it was $16.2 Million.

Record winds caused the collapse of the middle section of the White Rock Pier in 2018. One man had to be rescued from the far end of the pier by Helicopter.

Is this boulder the reason the town got it's name or did they paint it to reflect the name of the town?? Hmmm, not quite sure, but it is an Earthcache!!

It was a busy day on the pier and in White Rock once the sun came out, but we were still able to do some caching and stay safe while social distancing.

Hollywood North

Went out caching on the following day after our White Rock adventure, to Langley area to get the Hollywood North Adventure Lab, and the Bonus Adventure Lab cache, but of course got some other caches as well while in the area.

The ammo can looked like a movie marker. The AL(Adventure Lab) had us go to several movie locations including places for scenes from "Riverdale", "Bates Motel", "Smallville", "Van Helsing", and a Hallmark Movie called "The Perfect Catch"

This was a fun cache and it scared Sansue when she went to open it, so that made it funner......for me!! LOL

Trip to Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper, and Edmonton

Day 1 (Aug 19): Home to Revelstoke
Headed out on the road, and our first stop was Merritt to let Sansue grab a couple of cool gadget caches that I have already got but thought she would enjoy them. After that is was down the road to Kamloops, and then towards Revelstoke. We only found 6 more on the way there, but one was an FTF!!! Yay, Susan's first FTF and my 401st!!! lol 

The Last Spike Monument

Day 2 (Aug 20): Revelstoke to Banff
After a good rest, we woke up early and headed out for the day, we got several caches during the drive as well as in and around Banff and Canmore. A total of 12 caches for me and 13 for Susan as 1 of them was an earthcache that I own in Glacier National Park, called "The Rock Garden Trail" 

Rock Garden Trail

Can you guess where we are??

The Great Divide, depending what side of this concrete monument you are, you are either in BC, or Alberta.

Lake Louise

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!!!

Onward to Edmonton

Day 3 (Aug 21): Banff to Edmonton

We headed off to Edmonton after a night in Banff, and along the way we got several caches, including doing a drive-by Earthcache. 

We got only 5 in total today but one of them we got was this cool TB Barn cache.

We also stopped to check out the worlds largest fishing hook.

"I once caught a fish this BIG!!"

Day 4 (Aug 22): Edmonton
7 caches today in and around the city, including a tricky one at West Edmonton Mall


Day 5 (Aug 23): Edmonton to Fort Saskatchewan
Found 9 caches, and Susan found 10 as I took her to Alberta's First ever cache which was also Canada's 2nd ever cache called "Strathcona Wilderness 1".

I had already found it in 2011. One of the caches we grabbed today was a Multi cache and we were the First to find!!!
We also were just heading into the woods on a dead end road to do a cool cache called Keys, keys, keys, when a patrol car rolled up on us and checked my license and registration. Not the first time I have been questioned by the police while caching. 

After he left we proceeded to the cache and as you can guess by the name there was a lock and about 50 keys and only 1 would open up the lock. 

We ended up going thru them about 2 and a half times before getting lucky. lol

On the same dead end road we found one that needed a 9 volt battery to get the code to the lock. An $8.77 investment to grab a cache!!

We then headed thru Elk Island Park and saw 1 Buffalo and grabbed a few caches.

OOOOPS, Wrong Bison!!!

Day 6 (Aug 24): Fort Saskatchewan to Edmonton

I only found 3 today on route to the city, but they had some high fave counts and were out in the country. I took Susan to one that I had already found out that way also.

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!!!

Heading for Jasper and Home!

Day 7 (Aug 25): Edmonton to Jasper
16 caches today on the trip from Edmonton, and in Jasper, including a Multi and 2 Virtuals, and one of the traditionals was a FTF!!!, plus we saw a fair bit of wildlife. We also completed an Adventure Lab that was pretty much the same locations as the Multi cache we did, just different questions to be answered.

Spotted this cool looking free library while caching in Jasper. No cache at it, but pretty cool!!

Day 8 (Aug 26): Jasper to Home
We found 11 caches today while traveling home from Jasper, as it was a nice day to travel.

Bear in the area, but we still went for the cache. lol

Mount Robson Park

An awesome trip with my sweetheart, and I found a total of 58 traditional's, 2 Multi's, 1 Earthcache, 1 Puzzle cache, 7 Virtual's, 3 FTF's, and one Adventure lab. Weather was great and had a few nice visit's with family. Not too bad!!!

In Jasper, Alberta with Jasper the Bear

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65