Caching with friends and Cool sights

I love caching not only for the finds and the people that you meet, but also for the cool places it takes you to, or even the travels to the cache. I happened to see some very cool things while out caching in the past little while.

PS Don't forget to click on any of the colored text within the blog as they are links to other pages with info or websites, that you may find interesting!!



Iron Man

Happy Man

 These are some of the interesting things you get to see when you are out grabbing some geocaches.




There was nothing on the other side of this gate.

Private Entrance??

 Does this look like the Canadians on South Park

 Blue Heron

 

 Not quite sure what this is, it's not a nest, it is the tree!!

 This was the stop for water back in the 20's(see plaque below)

Cool rock formations

The ocean is quite close as well!!

                                                                 Homemade Wind Chimes

 Last time I saw this many gnomes was up north!!

                                                                         I learned something!!

                 Centipede on the move

 Fuzzy Tree

  

                Crooked Tree

 Cabin in the woods

 

Holly likes to be risky as can be seen in these two pics!!! LOL

Can you see the cache? She is good at caching

 

 

 

Recently, besides continuing our cache a day challenge, we (Jenna and I) also completed the tasks for the  "All seasons caching challenge" so we made a trip out to Goldstream park to find and log it. We ended up going in the long route and our first obstacle was the set of stairs we had to go up. There was at least 200 stairs leading to the top.

 

 There was a lot of stairs!!!

 

 

 

 

Caching with a friend

 

This month I got to go caching with a good friend and fellow blogger, ShadowcasterCDN of The GO! Team. We did a big loop of caches in East Sooke Park with some pretty hilly terrain(terrain 3 caches)

 

 

The Dead End

 

The majority of the caches on this trail were micros with some regular sized caches spread in as well. Although I am not a big fan of micros in the woods, most were right on the trail and well marked and easy to find.

We found many caches(26 in total) and had several topics of conversation, while out on the trail from caching to his upcoming wedding. We traveled around 10-12km and it took us about 5 ½ hrs.

We (Angelcheeks, ShadowcasterCDN, and I) went out the next day also for several caches and then ended up back at our place for a BBQ.

It was an awesome couple days of caching. I have always liked caching with others or group hikes.

Also this month in 2011 was our 200 cache day that Jenna and I did in 12 1/2hrs. Hmmm, I think its soon time to beat that record. I'm sure she will be game. lol

 

Next month we are helping organize and run the geo booth at the Courtenay Fish and Game. Should be a lot of fun as I will also see some of the people I used to cache with when we lived up that way.

Also the BCGA AGM is this coming weekend, I will not be attending but I will be maintaining my position as Vice President for another term.

 

Until next blog

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

 

 

 

Challenges, Geocaching's Bday, and Flash Mob mania!!

We are still doing at least a cache a day which we started on January 1st and decided to do it for all of 2013, as of this day writing this, we are at 125 consecutive days of caching( 1/3 of the year) for our 2013 challenge. I have also been doing other caching challenges such as the "60 Vancouver Island cachers challenge", "Virtual Victory Challenge", and I have been needing to get a 13 cache day for awhile, so I could complete the "Bakers Dozen Challenge" One day I decided to head out to Sooke to do a few virtual caches(A Virtual Cache is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary—you may be required to answer a question about the location, take a picture, complete a task, etc.) I grabed a few other caches and was soon getting ready to head back home. I counted how many I had done and realized without even trying I was at 11. Well, plans just changed, time to search out 2 more quick caches to top it up to 13 caches. All done, just need to log the challenge cache!! Some good friends of mine, Chris and Helen, who run a Geocaching store (which I highly recommend)went to San Antonio, Texas, and while they were there, they decided to get a webcam cache(we just did one a couple of weeks ago, if you read my last blog) They put it out on FB that they needed someone to capture the picture of them when they got to it. I said I would be glad to help them. When they arrived at the location, we chatted on the phone to get them to the right spot and I was able to get the pic they needed. Thousands of miles apart and I was still able to take their photo...isn't technology cool!!! Speaking of technology, May 3rd was the day, 13 years ago that geocaching was born!! A man named Dave Ulmer went out into the backwoods of Beaver Creek, Oregon and Hid a 5 gallon pail full of stuff including a note book. He then posted the coordinates on a usernet website, and waited for someone to go and find it. At this location is now the "Original Stash Tribute Plaque" Video of first ever geocache May 6th 2000, the first ever FTF(First to find) happened...boy I would have loved to been there!!! We visited this plaque a few years back when we(Jenna and I) went to Geowoodstock with some great friends. Original Stash                 May the Fourth Be with You!!   WWFM – World Wide Flash Mobs – A fun and friendly way to promote geocaching around the world. Thousands of geocachers at dozens of coordinated events spanning the globe, gathering at the same time. Sonny and Sandy of the PodCacher podcast came up with the WWFM idea in 2007 after attending a mega-event. It was meant to be a fun “opposite” of a mega-event: all the cool aspects of a geocaching event, crammed into 15 minutes of excitement. An added dimension is represented by the letters "WW" - World Wide - these events occur across the planet on the same day at (mostly) the same time! These caching events are intended to bring geocachers together in a creative way, as well as introduce others (newbies) to the hobby.

 

We attended WWFM X-May the Fourth be with you in Victoria, and as you can see by the official event photo(Courtesy of Kathryn Dunphy AKA Cameracowgirl) that it was a huge success!! We even had two mini Darth Vaders complete with Light Sabers.

Let the event begin!!! Minutes before this pic was taken this spot was empty!!

 

It was really cool to see an empty field one minute, and within the next minute seeing a mob of people gather together.

The official tally is in, and the log sheet contained a whopping 85 signatures! And the photo shows 101 people(some caching teams or couples have one account) A great big thanks to Andrew and Gayle Lester(A-Team and G-Force) for putting this event on!!

 

We even got a cool souvenir posted to our geocaching profile. 

This souvenir commemorates the tenth World Wide Flash Mob event on May 4, 2013. More than 15,000 geocachers attended one of more than 350 geocaching flash mob events spanning the globe. From a small beginning, the WWFM has grown astronomically, spreading around the globe to include more geocachers and more events every year. The WWFM events are 15 minutes of fun and excitement, packed with “typical” geocaching event activities like group photos, prize giveaways and trackable trading. You can check out all the Event pics from around the world!!

PS Don't forget to click on any of the colored text within the blog as they are links to other pages with info or websites, that you may find interesting!!
 

Until next blog

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

 



More Challenges and FTF's

Making the climb

Caching for a terrain 4 FTF

So a new cache was published only 4km away from home. Upon looking we noticed it was up on Malcolm mountain and was a terrain 4 (5 is the highest rating)

No one found it The day it first came out, so the next day we decided to go for it. We packed up our 8 month old and our little puppy and headed out.  It started out as a nice little walk up a gravel road, and then we had to walk along a pipeline.

Walking the Sooke pipe line

Then we arrived at an old overgrown vehicle path. After awhile the trail became a creek which became a wee bit of a bushwhack trail and then appeared before us...a climb almost straight up. Well time to put our new baby backpack carrier to the test.

6km round trip and 3 1/2 hrs later we were back at the car.

Who would travel up a mountain with a baby just to find a nano container(about the size of your fingernail) I guess we would!!!

 

 

 

The cache is up there??

Rest stop before heading back down                                    

 

 

 

 

Not sure how helpful these ladders would be??

 

 That's a pretty small log book!!!

 

 

 

7 icons day challenge

Upon searching out some Geocaching challenges we came across one called Lucky number 7 challenge

The rules of this challenge were:

To log this cache, You must first find at least 7 different cache types in 7 days.
You are not required to find this cache container on the same day you fulfilled the challenge requirements. You DO need to include in your log the date that you began the challenge and the date you fulfilled the challenge requirements.

 

We(more me than Jenna) decided that we would do it in one day(all 7 caches plus the challenge cache)

Since the challenge cache was up past Duncan and one of the icons we would need(webcam cache) to accomplish the 7 different icons was down here in Victoria (there is another up in Parksville but we have already done that one) we planned a route that would start us down this way and head up island. We started out just after 10am and by 10:40am we already had 5 different icons in hand. (Traditional, earthcache, virtual, letterbox, and webcam)

Cool Earthcache

Tolombo in Oak Bay

The webcam took us a bit as I was trying to find the right spot to stand.
I walked past the spot a couple of times before my pic was finally on the screen of my phone. We made sure we had a clear pic of us.

 Time to start heading up island.  We came into Mill Bay which is where we were gonna grab a puzzle cache and decided to stop for a quick coffee and snack. We ran into the Geo-knights(another caching team) then off to the puzzle and out of town. We tried to grab a multi at the whipletree junction but could not get our hands on the first stage. (Muggled maybe?)

Then it started to rain hard. There was no way I was going to give up now with already 6 different icons and only 2 more caches to go to reach our goal. We headed into Duncan and searched out a new multi for us to grab. Then it was off to the challenge cache itself.

After 116km, 7 needed caches, 1 extra cache and the challenge cache, just shy of 3hours our goal was complete.  Hmmmm what adventure shall we do next month???

Until next blog

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Challenges, Magic, and Birthday FUN!!!

March and April was full of caching, Magic, and FUN!!!
We have been working on a few different caching challenges including the one we set upon ourselves to get at least a cache a day for all of 2013. We also did some cool virtual caches.
(Virtual Cache: A cacher must visit the location of the virtual cache site to log the cache online. Logging a virtual cache requires compliance with the requirements detailed on the cache listing. These logging requirements could include emailing the cache owner to provide the required answers or posting photographs.)
One was published by a friend of ours back in August of 2002 called BC 300(More or Less)-TCDNBC when there was only about 300 caches in all of BC. Today there are over 30,000 caches in BC

Virtual Cache

This structure is the most complete above ground remains of a coal mine on Vancouver Island. It has now been standing for just over 100 years old.

 

 

 

When you visit this cool structure, make sure you go chat with the neighbor(seen in pic) on the other side of the parking lot or he will start making load noises until you do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 19^th I happened to be off and at home when a notification came up for a newly published cache, and out the door I went. Got to GZ and started to search. Searched in the obvious spot as stated by the hint and the GPS said I was right on top of it. After about 5 minutes another cacher appeared and we searched together. After a bit, I widened my search and noticed another tree that could match the hint...bingo, the cache was in hand and the FTF was mine...YAY #300 First to Find!!!

As I said good bye to the other cacher, and was heading back to my vehicle another cache popped up. Got into the truck and was gonna head for it and then thought, I can get it another day. Headed home!!

Was at home for about 45 minutes and we had to head out and thought we would grab another cache as Jenna had not gotten her cache for the day(2013 cache a day challenge) Looked at the map and noticed that the other new cache named “A needle in a haystack” had still not been logged. Head over that way and took the trail in. After a nice walk of about 400 metres we reached GZ to find 3 other cachers looking for the cache(One of them was the cacher I had met earlier at the other cache) They had been looking for and hour without finding it. Started to look and 2 of them had to leave empty handed. About 3 minutes of looking and the cache was in my hand. YAY MAGICMAN65!!!

We headed up island one weekend to Nanaimo to have a BBQ with some friends from Courtenay, who were camping at Living Forest Campground, and we grabbed a few caches along the way. A really cool one was called “Woodbug loose off Smiley road”

   

Can you see the cache??

It was a bit of a tricky one(check out the pic) but it's kind of cool to get a smiley on smiley road. We then stopped at the nearby lake(Chemainus lake A.K.A. Wittles lake) This is where I fished quite often when I lived in Chemainus.

We have a cache here called “Toys Ahoy” so we thought we would check in on it to see if maintenance was needed. It was fine but the cache a little further up the trail was missing a log book so I replaced it for them.

We also set out to finish some other challenges such as "Know your Vancouver Island Cacher Challenge" and I am still needing a 13 cache day for the "Bakers Dozen Challenge cache"

We also still need to go and grab "Challenge 50" which is a cache you can log after caching for 50 consecutive days. As of writing this we are at 90 consecutive days of caching and going strong.

We are also going to do the "Lucky Number 7 Challenge"

To log this cache, You must first find at least 7 different cache types within 7 days.
All cache types present, and future ARE allowed for this Challenge: Traditional, Multi-cache, Unknown (Mystery), Virtual, Letterbox Hybrid, Earthcache, Event, CITO, Webcam, Mega-Event, Wherigo, Maze Adventure Exhibit, etc.
We(probably more Me, than We.lol) have decided to complete all 7 icons plus the Challenge cache(Totalling 8) in one day instead of 7. I will let you know how that adventure goes next blog, after we complete it.

Usually to celebrate my birthday we do something fun, and this year was no different. Besides going to Nanaimo for a birthday BBQ with friends we also went paintballing with a bunch of family from up island and Calgary.

Paintball fun

 

April 2nd was the Victoria Magic Circles Annual General Meeting(AGM) where we vote in the new upcoming executive. The votes are in and I will be moving up from VP to the President of our circle for the upcoming year starting in September. More on that in my next blog!!!

 

Until next blog

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65



 

Challenges, FTF's, and Magic...oh my!!!

 

This months blog has a bit of everything in it. We (Angelcheeks and I) are still on track with the commitment we made at the beginning of the year to get at least a cache a day for 2013. As of writing this we are at day 70!! Some days are harder than others to grab a cache with other things going on, and rainy or windy weather, but so far we have done quite well. I have recently learned there is a challenge cache here in Victoria that we can now go find and log. It is a 50 day challenge, called Challenge 50: Half The Battle!
I also started looking at other cache challenges in case there is some other ones I have completed and found A Baker's Dozen Challenge!
The Challenge is to find one cache on a given day; two caches on another day; three caches on still yet another day and so forth all the way up to finding thirteen caches on a day. They can be done in ANY order and do not need to be on consecutive days.
Checked through my caches on GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to see if I could log this one and found that I still need to find 13 caches on one day, weird that I have a 200 cache day, a 71 cache day, other numerous cache days such as 37, 28, 26, 23 and everything lower than that but NO 13!!!  need to do that soon.

Also as of right now I have 299 FTF's. Need to get one more to hit the 300 mark. A cache got published late last night, and I was not paying attention to my email. Only 400 meters from home as well...ooops!!!
 

2010 Tony Eng Award

This past month I was fortunate to be asked to share some magic to a group of other magicians at the Victoria Magic Circles Round table meeting. It was a great night, and I always enjoy hanging out with others that share my passion.  We had a very fun night as we bounced a lot of ideas around of what I was teaching.

I was also asked to help judge the Tony Eng close up competition, which I won a couple of years ago. Although there was a lot of great magic, this year the award went to a great routine by one of the younger members, who truly deserved it for his great routine.

 

The beginning of February meant the release of the HAG(Hide and Go) caches. Over 300 caches were released on Feb 2 on Vancouver Island, and my adventure that day was written about in a previous blog of mine. Then in the beginning of March was the HAG event. At this event cachers are awarded for awesome cache hides and finding the most cache hides and FTF's. Although I had 12 FTF's I did not have enough to take the win...NEXT Year I guess!!! There was a lot of cool prizes, and lots of mingling going on. It was a great event, and I would like to thank Cache Crop and Amandazon for all their hard work putting the HAG together.

Until next blog

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65



 

Caching, Magic, and Snow?

 

This month was an exciting month with lots going on.

We went up to courtenay to visit friends for family day weekend(new holiday in BC) got to head out for a night cache with some new friends(Jester05, and LandCHatch) in caching. While we were up that way we did a trip up to Tofino overnight, where my little guy got to touch snow for the first time. Since we moved back to Victoria we have not seen any snow, so it was nice to let him see it for the first time.

Baby's first encounter with snow.

 

While in Tofino we found several caches including some along this cool trail called

 A walk in the Forest which had a bunch of boardwalks and info boards explaining that it was an old growth coastal temparate rain forest.

 

 

We also found a very cool cache near Tofino that was an old rusty bolt and blended into its surrounding beautifully.

Bolt cache

 

After our awesome caching day in Tofino and spending the night at a resort hotel, we packed up and headed back to Courtenay to spend the rest of the weekend at Ray and Lynn's. It was Ray's birthday and Lynn was planning a surprise party for him. We formulated a plan to get Ray out of the house for the afternoon while the girls were getting things ready at his house for a surprise party. We (Ray, me, and two other caching friends: Jester05 and LandCHatch) went out to get a bunch of new caches in the area. I don't think he knew what was going on. He may have wondered why I would be going with them as we would normally be heading back down island early.

Ray, Jester05, and LandCHatch at "Pop's Toy"

 

 

 We would not miss Rays birthday surprise as they have been great friends and if it meant staying up island longer and getting home later then that's what we would do. After about 10 caches we made our way back to his house that was full with about 15 to 20 of his friends waiting to surprise him. He did not suspect a thing and was very surprised indeed!!!

 

 

I had booked a show recently over on the mainland at the River Rock Casino, so we decided to pop into Point Roberts for a few caches as well while we were over there.

 

After caching for the day we checked into the River Rock for a nice night.

Spent the evening after the show with Jenna and some great friends, Steve Dickson, a fellow magician and his wife Paddy who came down to the resort after my show. Always nice to see them whenever we have a chance and are on the mainland.

Also just recently I received an email from a fellow cacher in Essex, England asking about some info as to an event I held in the past. It is so awesome that the caching community touches you worldwide. Glad I was able to help him with some ideas for his event!!

Until next month

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

A cache a day, keeps you on your toes!!!

This months blog is about two of the things I enjoy. Magic and Geocaching.

Jan 1st rolled around and we decided to go out and grab some caches. (12 in total) As we were logging them back home on the computer I looked at my stats and told Jenna I want to fill in some of the zeros on my caching calendar.

She suggested we should get at least a cache a day for all of 2013.

I said sure and we made it official by posting it to FB. (That's the place to make things official isn't it??)(That's how we announced we were married from Panama)

So far(as of writing this blog)it has been 42 days and we are still going strong with at least a cache a day.

Since moving to Victoria and looking at caches nearby, I spotted a cache that looked as if it was familiar, not far from where we live. Anytime we drive by the spot, I keep saying i'm sure I got that cache when I was past this way years back to do a show out in Sooke. But on my map it says I have not found it yet. Jan 19 we were out doing some caches and on the way back home, we thought we would stop and grab this cache that I thought I had found years before called Road Apples. As we approached the tree, I knew I had been here before. Upon retrieval of the cache from within the tree, we opened up the logbook to find I had signed it on Sept. 10 2010(pic)I must not have logged it online.

Old Log
 

 

January 26th was our annual VMC banquet. We have a special guest come and entertain us and we also have a bunch of close up magicians performing for all the guests.  

 

 

I was privileged to be in charge of the close up coordination of the 13 close up magicians including myself this year. It was an awesome night of magic and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The following day our guest performer David Merry lectured for us.

After the great lecture a few of us got the chance to hang out with David and share magic at a local pub.

Feb 2nd was the release date for all the HAG(Hide and Go) caches. Being a cacher that likes to get FTFs(I now have almost 300 ftfs ) I thought I would like to get a few more.

The plan was to wait till a bunch got published in an area and then head out after them. I awoke that morning at 5am and waited by my computer. A bunch popped up out in East Sooke Regional park, and I waited a bit longer thinking more would pop up closer to home.

I waited for a bit and then since it looked as if no more were going to get published right away, I downloaded them and headed out. As I was heading to them I figured because I had waited so long that I would not be the first to get there. On route I heard my phone go off with some emails. I stopped to check if they were some more caches, Yes they were. I looked to see where this new group was and it showed them just off Kangaroo rd. I looked up and I was parked right in front of the sign that says kangaroo rd next left. I am really close to them. Off I go. I got to the trailhead and found the first one. An empty logbook....YES!!! on this trail I grabbed 6 FTFs and DNFed one of them that I was sure was not there. While in the woods on the way out(when I finally got a signal again) I did a quick search for other newly published caches. More had popped up relatively close by so I jumped in the truck and headed over there. Got to the first of several, crossed my fingers and hoped for a fresh logbook. Opened it up and there was no logbook at all??? I assumed maybe that it was placed without one accidently. I usually always carry spare logbooks with me so I put some paper in the cache,

 

signed it and headed for the next. It was the same COs cache and there was an empty log. My assumption had been right. Got 5 more FTFs and decided to head home. On the way I stopped to maybe grab one more. Not this time, I was second. Oh well with 11 FTFs I was happy enough. After getting home, Jenna suggested heading to a nearby dog park to go for a quick walk. There is cache in there and she needs one for her cache a day(since she did not come with me for the FTF hunt). We were just about to walk out the door when a notification pops up about a nearby cache. It is in the park we are planning to head to. Sweeeeet!!! We get there minutes after it being published to grab another FTF making it 12 for me and 1 for her. What a great way to end off the caching day.

 

Until next month

Keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65