Back to the Gold Country and Weekend caching

 Weekend caching

#Geocache4Michael

Grabbed this cool cache called Umpire Strikes Back to honor Michael Costello. He was an avid geocacher that was born with congenital heart disease. He used geocaching to get his heart stronger. 4 years ago he sadly passed away and on his birthday the world went geocaching for him.

His birthday is on March 19th. If you find a geocache on March 19th, I would encourage you to write #Geocache4Michael in your log, in honor of his memory.

Was out grabbing a few caches with Sansue, and saw a few cool things. Up above is an Insect Hotel, but not the Travel Bug type. lol 

Some caching between rain showers. We found 2 different long PVC pipe caches. One was set up vertical and you had to lower the cache down out of it and the other was on the ground horizontal.

Who would drag an old newspaper box into the woods....Oh, I guess a geocacher would to make a cool cache. lol

Easter Weekend

On Easter weekend the day after we did some "Fraser Valley Cache bash" caches, we went out between rain showers and grabbed several caches in the downtown and Gastown areas of Vancouver.

Sansue and I did several caches including an Earthcache called "Mottled Limestone" that was on the side of a building, and a cool Multi cache using a cool Art piece called "Line of Work"

Text-etched laminated wood elements reach out towards the water at an increasing angle and length like a wave, which compares the energy of a wave to the growing diversity and complexity of British Columbia's workforce.

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!!!

The big news last month was the Mars Rover landing. It was carrying a geocoin for that was part of the calibration system for the Watson Camera. All geocachers had a chance to log this once they took the calibration picture. At time of writing this, only 10 days after it was loggable, it has been logged 62,330 times. The picture above is The Mars Rover Trackable Souvenir. Got it for logging the Trackable code onboard the Rover. What a cool opportunity to log this from 219.88 Million Km's away!!

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 to view better!!!

The Erratic

So as I wrote a couple of months ago, about wanting to publish an earthcache using an Erratic (A large rock or boulder that differs from the surrounding rock and is believed to have been brought from a distance by glacial action), and I had one already picked out to use and write about. 

I was given some info from a friend that reviews caches, and It turns out the reviewers' that review Earthcaches are not publishing Erratic's right now. I am told there are too many erratic earthcaches. Unless there is some unique geological lesson, chances are it won't be published. I have started looking at other areas to create an Earthcache. 

I have published 4 Earthcache's but 1 of them I had to archive as the signboard was taken down. Another I had archived as the signboard and the stairs leading down to "The Vanishing River" were destroyed. A friend went to look for it as it was a part of the Alice Lake loop. He suggested some new questions to ask and I was able to revive this important Earthcache. So as of right now I have 3 active Earthcaches, but I am considered a Platinum Level Earthchache Master according to the "Geological Society of America" as I have created four Earthcaches. This is one of the reasons I am looking at adding at least one more to my profile. Plus I enjoy doing earthcaches while traveling, so I would like to be a part of the advancement of more Earthcaches for those others to enjoy. 

Gold country caching

As you have seen from last months post, we are planning a trip to the Gold country to do some caching. We were planning to go sooner, but the weather got crappy. My list of caches went from starting at 95 to 143 caches last month during the initial planning, plus an additional list was added for caches in Hope, BC on the way back home. 71 of these caches are "Gold Country" caches.

I will write more about this in my next 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

Five Thousand, Five Hundred, and Fifty Five!!!

 Boundary Bay Dyke Trail caching

So Sansue, Magicboy2012, and I decided to go grab some caches to get the stamps for the "Wonders of the World" to work towards the souvenir's. We were able to get all the stamps but 1 on the Bay.

 

One cache in particular stood out during our hike, and that was "The Clarinet" 

It by far was the coolest container on the walk. You can find it easy as it is in plain view, but to retrieve the cache container, you need to use one of 2 methods. We used the second option and had it not been for a nearby piece of fishing line handy my TOTT would not have been long enough. This cache has 99 fave points on it, which is almost as many as the whole BBDT series has on it. That's the reason I am not a fan of power trails with just a bunch of pill bottles or preforms. No imagination within these caches.

We also did an Adventure Lab while we were there, and the total walk was 7.71km long, and I found 21 caches and 5 finds for the AL. 

This big rock was shaped like a Heart.

This driftwood shape was so much like a Giraffe head that someone actually painted it to look like one. lol

My little boy Magicboy2012 playing around.

Weekend Caching

One sunny Saturday, Sansue and I went Caching in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and New Westminster. We did some traditional's, a Multi, and 2 puzzle caches. The Multi was at the Sapperton Brewery District, and one of the traditional's was a difficult 5 cache. After a bit of looking and thinking outside the box, we came up with the cache and a smiley in more ways than one.

 

 

The smiley!!




Such a cool and very well hidden cache, just sitting there smiling at all that pass by!!

Hornby Road 5555

In case you were wondering why this month's blog is named "Five Thousand, Five Hundred, and Fifty Five" it is because Today (March 7th) I got my 5555th cache.

A cool number that reads the same backwards, forwards, and inside out. We started at the Hornby Road series and Burns drive caches, and later ended up in Vancouver and we grabbed a total of 25 caches, including 2 that were in a tube and the suggested method to retrieve them was to pour water in them while plugging the hole at the bottom of the tube. Interestingly enough, we did one like this just last week at Boundary Bay. The first one today we did, because the container had a magnet on the top of it, we were able to reach down with my magnet stick and something else that I had in my car, because of the TV shoot I was on a few days earlier. A cache we found at Boundary bay a week ago, There was a piece of fishing line nearby that I was able to use. This is what I remembered so we could do this one.  You can see my video "The Right TOTT" on how we retrieved the first one. The second one we did today however needed about a liter of water, as it did not have a magnet or metal on the container. So we stopped at a nearby store and bought a bottle of water, and went and retrieved the cache. Funny thing is, when Susan let go of the bottom hole she was plugging to hold the water in until I could retrieve the cache, it sprayed out and got her all wet, LOL, ooops, I meant sorry baby!!

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!!!

Fraser Valley Cache Bash 4

This year I decided to participate in the Fraser Valley Cache Bash. You can see more about this event at the webpage “FVCB4”

The theme for this years event is "The Unexplained." I figured Magic is something that is Unexplainable to most so, I hid a cache called "Unexplainable Magic Clock" which used a video of me doing Magic to get the co-ordinates.

And we also went looking for as many FTF's as we could find on the publishing date!! Unfortunately we only got one First to Find. Lol. Oh well, we still enjoyed doing a few New Fraser Valley Cache Bash caches, and then also went and grabbed some other caches at Willband Creek Park between Abbotsford and Mission. 

My Cache container was even chosen specifically and made to look like a Clock to fit within my Magic Clock theme!! 

I used a trick that has been used by famous Magicians such as David Copperfield on one of his many TV specials.

The Magic Clock Trick

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!!!

From above the Earth to the Bottom of the sea

Last months blog upon writing about the Mars Rover landing, I talked about the accomplishments of an astronaut that took the first TB up to space and also published a cache on the international space station.

Recently he was in the news as he has now hidden a cache in the deepest spot in the Ocean. You can read the story “Here”

Also speaking about Geocaching stories, here is a recent local one from Vancouver Island's CHEK News:

"Geocaching-The perfect Pandemic Pastime"

Return to Gold Country

So Sansue and I are planning a trip to the Gold Country to do some caches in May. As of right now my list has 95 110 136 caches in it, although I have already found several of them.

Finding 24 caches and collecting the stickers in the Gold Country series, you can send away and receive a very cool gold bar shaped geocoin like the ones you see here in this picture.

Feel free to discover these coins.

I own 2 as I have found over 48 of these caches. I also own several other Gold Country coins, as some I won at one of the Events. I plan on getting another 1 or 2 Gold bar coins on this trip!! 

 I will write more about our trip in an upcoming 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

Creating an Earthcache and going to Mars!!!

 Creating an Erratic Earthcache

An Erratic is a rock or boulder that differs from the surrounding rock and is believed to have been brought from a distance by glacial action.

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 kilometer's. Erratic's can range in size from pebbles to large boulders.

"Whale of a Tail"

Recently, I did another Earthcache that was an Erratic, which as the meaning above says, "Is a Rock or Boulder that has been moved to a location by a Glacier flow." I have done several Earthcaches in the past that have been Erratic's. I have always found them fascinating and have seen several in my travels.

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!!!

Part of Big Rock

Visible from considerable distance across the relatively flat terrain of the prairie landscape, ‘Big Rock’ is an enormous glacial erratic. The 16,500-tonne (18,200-ton) boulder transported far from its mountainous place of origin by a rockslide then by a glacial sheet of ice between 10,000 to 30,000 years ago to its present-day location just west of the Town of Okotoks.

Big Rock

  

Info from the Earthcache page: Ten kilometers west of Okotoks on Highway 7 is the Big Rock, the largest glacial erratic in the world. These boulders are believed to have traveled from Jasper during the Ice Age when a landslide deposited them on an advancing glacier. It is the largest of the Foothills Erratics Train, a series of boulders stretching over 700 kilometers along the eastern Foothills of the Rocky Mountains from Jasper to Montana. This enormous quartzite block weighs about 16, 500 tonnes.

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!!!

White Rock Erratic

Coupeville Erratic

This little boulder that is about 25-30 feet tall and 35-40 feet wide(At least the part that is seen) is located in someone's backyard in Coupeville, Washington.

This greenstone erratic was “excavated” from Mt. Erie 40 km to the north and is one of the more famous glacial field boulders on Whidbey Island. This big rock is known to geologists as the Coupeville Erratic.

Campbell River Erratic

Aldergrove Park Erratic

Lake Samish, Wash. Erratic

This location was not an Earthcache, but there was a traditional cache there.

Salt Spring Island caching

So Susan and I planned a quick trip to Salt Spring as I noticed there was 14 HAG caches that were published on Feb. 6th but had still not been found yet, almost 2 weeks later. Up until the point we left, the 14 possible FTF's were still up for grabs. We got to the island and, BAM....they were logged....Arrrrgg!!! But wait, the cacher who had come over to grab them could not find one. The following log after his DNF log was a Coordinate update log by the Cache Owner. It seems he had posted the wrong Co-ords. So we headed out and we got 1 FTF instead of the 14 we were anticipating...LOL!!

Chris Hatfield Trail

This cache behind this painted rock was called "Ribbit!!"

Lots of cool sights on the island.

We still did a total of 25 caches during our quick trip, so we still had fun. I always love the trails where the natural beauty is used to make the accessibility easier. Instead of wooden steps, use the rocks that already exist there.

Caching on MARS!!!

Geocaching and NASA head to Mars with the Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020 is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. This specific mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life there. 

Perseverance has four main science goals:

• Determine whether life ever arose on Mars
• Characterize the climate of Mars
• Characterize the geology of Mars
• Prepare for human exploration

Timeline:

• Launch: July 30, 2020 with an Atlas V-541 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

• Landing: February 18, 2021 in the Jezero Crater, Mars

About This Item

Thanks to the Mars 2020 SHERLOC instrument team at Johnson Space Center, the newest mission to Mars contains a tracking code, truly taking geocaching out of this world!

Check out the trackable at: "Mars Perseverance Rover"

Geocaching is not new to Space, after all, we have been using satellite's to play this game since May 2nd, 2000 when GPS technology became available to all when the "Big Blue Switch" was flipped, turning off Selective availability. On October 12th, 2008, the first Travel Bug® in space launches aboard Soyuz TMA 13 with Richard Garriott and spends 10 days aboard the International Space Station. I was fortunate enough to log this cool Space traveling, Travel Bug at Groundspeak's Block Party on Aug. 17, 2013. (PS Not in space but back here on Planet Earth)

This is a pic I took of the Trackable at the Block Party.

I have a better pic but it shows the tracking number and I don't want to give it away.

On Feb 3rd, 2010, Astronaut, Richard Garriott, placed a new geocache on the International Space Station. 

3 years and 9 months later On Nov. 17, 2013 Astronaut Rick Mastraccio logs the cache on the Space station as an FTF!!! (What a cool FTF!!!)

And, on July 30th, 2020 the Perseverance Rover Launches from Cape Canaveral air force station in Florida on an almost 7 month journey to Planet Mars.

 It has landed on Feb. 18th, 2021 and we cachers eagerly await being able to log the trackable code found on the calibration lens inside the camera.

Here is a photo I took, while getting the Mars Rover Geocoin code. You can tell it's real cause you can see my shadow!!! Lol

Hopefully they Calibrate the camera soon, so we can log this cool part of Geocaching History.

Now I'm working on publishing an Earthcache with an Erratic, 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

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