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

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