Easter Sunday return to caching

It has been a long, extremely cold, very snowy winter! And we are really done with it! I know we will probably get a few more snow flurries before I can consider getting started on garden work but today it was warm enough to get out as a family and enjoy some suburban hiking.

We started with a cache that has been nagging at my mind for a while. The Hunger Games cache (GC35K4Z) is a puzzle cache that requires you to have read the first Hunger Games book in order to solve the puzzle. I had some issues with the idea behind the book and was resistant to reading it, but I thought I should at least read the first one so that I knew more about it. Well, that was the plan.

Turns out I really liked the books. Yes, books. Had to go to the library and find the other two because I wanted to read more!
 
You only need to read the first book to solve this puzzle cache though, and the solution is pretty easy.
The littlest goat was not keen on going caching today but I gave her a bit of a guilt trip and she came around. As it was, she was the leader walking through the woods and was the one to pull the cache out of hiding!

Then it was on to the next cache called Dig It! (GC4KEAC) that was placed for the Fall Cache and Release event of 2013. It has a Thanksgiving theme but Easter is also a time of being thankful so today was a good day to look for it! The littlest goat was at GZ before the old goat and I had even cleared the woods and she had the cache in hand before I even saw where she pulled it from. We loved the inner container. Some thought and creativity has gone into this one and it is worth a visit.

We took a short drive to our next target area. There is a new area called Nolan Hill in the Northwest of Calgary that is just starting to be built up. There are still lots of fields and undeveloped but cleared land with a couple of ponds and a creek running through it. Perfect when someone has seen fit to hide a few caches in the area!

Our first target was Nolan Hill Scramble (GC52D8G) and scramble we did! We went down into the creek area and then had to go back up to the trees when we realized where the compass was pointing. Saw out first crocus of the season and felt a rush of relief that spring may actually be here!

Took a bit of searching as the container is well-camouflaged, but we were successful in the end. Littlest goat went for a walk around the pond while we searched and she came back excited about seeing a Bufflehead and a Goldeneye diving for their lunch.

We headed over to the walking path to look for Nolan Hill Stroll (GC52D8X) next. Couldn't get Little Goat out of the creek so the Old goat and I had to search on our own. The container was a bit trickier than the last one as it is smaller but the coordinates were better, and after some pricks and pokes in the hands, we found the cache.

At this point we called it a day. I still had a turkey to roast and the others were planning on heading to the pool for a swim. A very pleasant day out in the fresh air with the family now that spring is peeking through!

Better late than never

At the end of my last post, I mentioned that we went geocaching on the Bearspaw Lasso Trail but I never did write the follow up post to that day. So here it is...better late than never.

From July 26, 2013
We were greeted at the trail head by a beautiful doe, casually grazing on the lush greenery abundant in the area. She was not too worried about our approach, just moved slightly off the path and watched us get out of the car and start our first search. Our first target was Gnome Alone CCARS09 (GC1YAA4) which was an easy find to get us started. Sadly the gnome who was supposed to guard the cache was gone but the cache was in good shape. And the hike up to it got us warmed up for what turned out to be quite an afternoon of hiking.

The next cache on the trail was Living in a Yellow Submarine (GC4B02Y) which was another quick find and a cute cache container. It is always nice when a cache is hidden in an unusual container or hidden in some way that takes imagination and creativity.

Our entire hike was made more enjoyable by the scenery, the wildflowers, grasses and ponds we passed.

 After all the rain and flooding Calgary went through in June, July was green and lush and feeling very much NOT like winter.

As we hiked to GCPF5C (Blueridge Micro), the trail dropped quite a bit in elevation and we came to a small creek to be crossed. However, the GPS was quite sure that the cache we were looking for was not across the creek. We searched in all the obvious spots and just could not see what needed to be seen. Then, I saw something that just didn't look right...and there was the cache. Again, just a unique way to hide a cache in plain sight, but something that made this better than a bison tube in a tree!

Across a little bridge (watching out for trolls) we went, and up into a treed area. It was a welcome way to cool off a bit as the day was warm, but soon we were out onto the grassy hillside again and looking for a multicache called When You Feel Miserable (GC1AZJK). The first part of the cache was supposed to be near a fenceline but this area was covered in anthills and millions of large ANTS! We did our best searching but gave up as the prickles, ants and sun were taking their toll. We moved on.

Following the path led us down to a quiet road we had to cross to an area we had been before. There is a large pond here with lots of ducks and reeds and mosquitoes!

 

Orange You Glad It's Not a Micro (GC1YA97) has a nice view of this pond which was quiet and peaceful this hot summer day. We signed the log as quickly as we could as the bugs were thick and relentless beside the water, then we made our way back to the trail. We almost turned back here because the next cache was one we had found back in 2007 when we first started caching and there was quite a distance to the cache past that one. But turning back would be almost the same distance and not as interesting since we had already covered it, so on we went. Friday the Thirteenth (GC1YZZJ) was the cache we had previously found, and is well worth a visit, especially if you are a night cacher with enough courage to search a dark wooded area. For us though, the destination was another Beatles cache appropriately named The Beatles - A Tribute (GC4AEBM). The littlest goat pulled this one from the hiding spot with a giggle. A fine tribute to the Beatles indeed!

The next cache itself was unremarkable but easily found in a grove of trees. (GC4AEAD) We had to reapply the bugspray and head to the next one before we were sucked dry by the mosquitoes. GC32JGR (Goodbye Calgary) was a unique hide placed in a clever way. We looked around for a bit before finding it and after closing it up and walking away, realized we had to go back because the littlest goat was still holding the log book.

Our last cache of the day, after a long hot hike, turned out to be our 500th cache!  We were excited to reach this milestone and a bit relieved to find the cache as we were hot and thirsty and tired of the bugs. The cache was hidden near a beautiful little pasture that was noted in the title of The Ponies Crystal Pasture (GC4AE98).

 Our return to the car turned out to be an adventure in itself as we made a wrong turn on one of the trails and had to do a lot of scrambling through trees, down a steep hillside and across a little gully. We made it through to the right area and soon found our ride waiting where we left it. A great day of caching that ended well.

An Amazing Adventure at Pine Lake

This has been an absolutely amazing month for geocaching for us! We have had a slow start to our year but recently had an opportunity to make up for that in a way I had never imagined. After volunteering to help the GeoWyrms, a couple who are heavily involved in the geocaching community here, with a Geocaching 101 presentation, they invited me to go along on a Power Trail geocaching expedition to Pine Lake, Alberta. Since the old goat and littlest goat had things to keep them busy at home, I eagerly said yes to the invitation!

 I have never done a power trail, the most caches I have previously done in one day was 23 during a CCARS event with friends. The GeoWyrms thought we would be getting about 83 caches that Saturday! Unbelievable!

Since we would be away from the city, I packed carefully. I brought along bug spray, sunscreen, a hat, a rain jacket, extra socks in case my feet got wet, a water bottle, my cache bag with trade items, a couple extra pens, extra batteries for my GPS, some cash for food, antihistamines  for any allergy problems, and my cell phone. I made sure to load all the caches in the area into my GPS just in case we went for some that weren't on the Pine Lake Power Trail.
  

I was so excited that I hardly got any sleep the night before. A quick shower, breakfast, and a short drive to meet up with the GeoWyrms, the Uh-ohs and Mr. Ge0Patr0l and then we were off to Pine Lake. The drive was fun and seemed to take no time at all. Our first warm-up cache was actually at a strip mall in Innisfail after a quick stop for snacks and a bathroom break.  Then it was off to the trail.

The Pine Lake Micro Trail was created by a cacher called CharlieRona who has found more than 8000 caches. He placed the first 37 caches in the summer of 2012 and the remaining 83 earlier this summer. The GeoWyrms had already done the first 37 so we started at the other end with (GC4EHR4) Pine Lake Micro #120. Most of the caches were bison tubes or medicine bottles but there were a few regular caches and some surprises.

In the afternoon when we were all getting hungry, we stopped and ate out of the back of the pick-up. Mr. GeoWyrm had shopped for some MREs that we were all curious to try. Meals Ready To Eat is not quite true. They require heating with a special heat pack activated by a small amount of water. We all had different varieties and had some fun swapping tastes and checking out what was in each pack. They were definitely filling and flavorful but I'm not sure I'd want to eat them everyday!

This area was so beautiful and quiet. We had great weather until the afternoon when a brief thundershower forced us all into the cab of the Uh-ohs truck. At the end of the downpour we discovered the truck had a fast tire leak and a quick change was needed before continuing on.

As we cached the GeoWyrms reached their 4000th find and we reached our 400th find. Very exciting. But even more amazing was that instead of getting 83 caches, we finished the day with 104! I am still stunned by that number. We added on some caches that were near the Pine Lake Trail to make sure that the GeoWyrms made it to 4000 since they were so close. I phoned my family on the way home and told them how many we had done and they were equally incredulous.

Our day wrapped up with dinner and drinks back in Calgary and a tired but happy drive home.

Missing in Action

I have been MIA from here for too long! This is partly because we find it harder to cache in the late winter and partly because I have been busy with work and other parts of my family life. But I do have a few things to write about today so here goes.

My husband, whom I often refer to as the old goat, managed an out-of-province cache find and an out-of-country cache find in February. I found it very exciting to add the province of Quebec to our stats page when Allen went there for a conference and was able to find a cache just outside his hotel. Micro-Parc Shaughnessy (GC1MMVZ) was placed quite high up and he is vertically challenged so it almost eluded him but he managed to reach it and we received a new province badge for our souvenir page on geocaching.com.

This was the kick in the pants I needed to get more organized to find caches when we are out and about. So that weekend while our daughter was taking some ski lessons at the Calgary Olympic Park, Allen and I hunted down GC23K61 (Down by the C.O.P.) across from the ski hill and GC53C2 (Calgary History Tour- Olympics) which was placed to commemorate the 1988 Olympics which were held at the aptly named COP.

A couple of weeks later we decided to do a day of geocaching at a park we had never been to. In the 1920's Imperial Oil had a refinery on the site which is now the Ogden Refinery Park. The land was reclaimed as a wilderness park in the 1990's and there are walking paths and a frisbee golf course now available there. 

We bundled ourselves up for a cold winter walk and set out to find GC2CK86 - Ogden Refinery Park - Parks 100 cache. The littlest goat spotted this one before her Dad and I even got near. We continued on to find GCNRC4 - Fishin', Landin', or Strollin' which was quite a ways off the coordinates posted. Then on to one hidden in a place we had never seen a cache in before and in spite of its name, Pretty in Pink, turned out to be green! Our last find was GCing by Candlelight (GCMX3E) which had an easy path to it ...which we took on the way back down! On the way there we scaled some steep terrain that caused the littlest goat to decide to stay put and wait for us. It took a bit of hunting at the coordinates before we turned up the actual cache but we got lucky. We called it a day after that due to the cold.

Scooby's Cache GC43KNV

Our cache has been published and the first finders have logged their visits! Whoo hoo! Our coordinates were good and the cache has not been too easy nor too hard to find. We are very happy with the results!

Happy Geocaching in 2013!

On this first day of 2013 we are excited because we are preparing our own cache to be hidden. We finally decided we were ready to venture into another aspect of geocaching and have taken some time to agree on a location for our first hide. We are keeping it in our neighbourhood so it will be easy to maintain. This first one is not elaborate, just a small cache hidden in a park, but we wanted to keep the first one simple. (The littlest goat has plans for a much more amazing cache that needs a particular location and lots of time to set up.)

As for finding caches, Little Goat and I took a trip to Vancouver for Christmas and I managed to drag my Mom out for a few quick searches. My Mom lives in Surrey and we started with a short walk in a park in Clover Valley to find GC23MZ3 Clover Valley Prairie. As it had been raining all week and this was the first sunny day, everything was wet and mucky and that is also the condition the cache was found in. Although the cache was a plastic box and the contents were in a plastic bag, the log book was soaked and everything was damp.
Next we took a little jaunt over to The Fernery GC23H2H. This one was nicely camouflaged and required a bit of a search but we came up with the goods. Nice waterproof container kept the contents dry and tradeable. We signed the log and replaced it quickly with muggles coming our way.
We then stopped briefly at Ball Park Tour #4 but it was too close to a private home and we were uncomfortable rooting around in the trees. We decided to skip it and move on to Pace On By GC24JA5 which is at the Cloverdale race track. We had just started looking around when another cacher joined us. She had only 8 finds so far and was pleased when I made the find as it was in a place she hadn't thought to look. We pulled out a very wet piece of paper and made our best attempts to sign it before hiding everything again.
Mom decided it was time to head home as she was getting chilled so that was the last cache of a very good year of caching. We managed to get 136 caches this year, our best yet. I know many cachers who say it is not about the numbers but about the experiences and the places you go, but it is still nice to see the numbers go up and to check your stats page and see how you are doing.
Once we get our cache published and ready for finding, come take a look and tell us what you think. It is called Scooby's Cache GC43KNV and we are looking forward to your feedback.

Geocaching in the Valley Ridge area of Calgary

I know I promised stories of the rest of our summer trip but I am interrupting the summer stories for a more current geocache adventure we recently went on.
As newish Calgarians, transplanted here 5 years ago from Vancouver, we are still getting to know Calgary and the surrounding area. We are always surprised and delighted to find a new hiking or walking park and finding the Valley Ridge trails was just that sort of place. Only about a 10 minute drive from our house, there is a small gravel parking lot with walking trails leading first to a play park and then to the woods.

 We skipped the play park on the way in as our dog was too excited and wanted to get on the trails. So we headed first for Creepy Ol' Tree cache (GCY1PG) in a southerly direction on a narrow trail with a steep slope down to a creek on our right and an uphill rise to our left. Scooby Doo was thrilled to be along on this adventure and was barreling up and down the hills and into the creek and back to us again. We were enjoying the walk, the trees, the birds and the lure of a new cache.



The littlest goat was holding the Garmin GPS and kept her eye on the compass, letting us know when it was time to veer off the trail and up the hill. It was a quick find to grab the cache and sign the log. Then we left a travel coin to continue its journey.

 

The next cache in this direction was going to be across the creek so we decided to head back toward the beginning of the trail and take the other trail paralleling the river to look for another cache. (GC1XYK1) For Brinleigh, kiddie cache #3 the cache hiding spot was marked quite well for kids to spot it and our little goat did just that. She was happy to make the find on her own and hide it well after. Since she was still in a good caching mood we decided to go for one more. (GC103TB) Howler was next down this trail and we were enjoying the fall colours and the river views so much that we were at it before we knew it. A little scrambling around just off the trail and we had this one in hand too.

There are several more caches in this area and we are definitely planning to return for more. But for today this was just the right amount of caching. Now it was time to stop at the park and let the littlest goat check out the playground equipment.

The Vancouver trip Part 2 - The Return

For our return trip to Calgary we allotted 4 days although many people do it in one long day and I usually do it in two. My husband flew out just for the road trip home and we wanted to take our time, visit points of interest and geocache along the way.

Our first stop was at Bridal Falls Golf Course for lunch with our friend who owns the course. The restaurant in the clubhouse serves amazing food. We started with a mango butternut squash soup that was just spicy enough to be flavourful but not enough to burn your tongue. Then we had salads accompanied by garlic toast drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I chose the green salad which had morsels of figs and feta cheese tossed in and was delicious. Alana and I shared a slice of lemon tart afterwards which was just the right finish for the meal. I highly recommend this restaurant as a lunch stop even if you don't golf but since this is a geocaching blog let me get back on track.

There were two caches within a short distance of the golf course. The nearest was Welcome to Bridal Falls (GC1H34K) which was at the end of a field just past the driving range and a quick, easy find. The second cache we went after was a BC Parks 100 cache called Bridal Veil Provincial Park (GC2Y1GD). This one took us into the woods of the Provincial Park where we did some stream hopping before finding the cache. We made it a lot harder than it was partly because the trees made it difficult for the GPS to pick up satellites. Eventually the old goat realized we were off track and doubled back to make the find.

 

The next destination on our "Stop and See One Day" list was the Othello Tunnels along the Coquihalla river. This is a series of no longer used railway tunnels that have become a pathway into history.

 The Kettle Valley Railway ran through these 5 tunnels built by Andrew McCullough in 1914. The tunnels are connected by trestles which have been converted to walkways. The views of the river from the path were beautiful and the tunnels were very cool to walk through.

 At the end of the tunnels and quite a good walk past the gate we located the hint that let us know we were nearing the cache. After some scrambling up and down rocks we finally found the cache.

Although we were deep in bear country we managed to complete this adventure without running into any grizzlies and that was a relief to me!

By the time we got back to my truck it was getting quite late so we had to make time to get to the town of Merritt for the night. I'll fill in the rest of our trip soon! If you get a chance to go to the Othello tunnels or if you are heading down the Coquihalla, this is a nice place to take a walk, stretch your legs and enjoy the views!

Scouting for a campground near Bragg Creek

On Sunday our little family took a drive to look for some potential campgrounds for future camping trips. We have lived in Calgary for five years but have not gone camping in the area, so we wanted to see what sort of sites are available. Our target area was south of Bragg Creek off of Highway 66, following the Elbow River. And since we were going for a drive, I thought we might as well pick up a few caches just for fun!

Our first stop was in the Redwood Meadows neighbourhood on Highway 22 before Bragg Creek.  To protect the townsite from the Elbow River floods a berm was built which makes a great walking path and happens to lead to two caches. The first one we sought out was On the way to Grandma's House (GC189XA). For a regular sized cache it was hidden in an unusual place but we made the find and headed off to Sherpa's Cache (GC17CF5). As we approached the trail head for this one, I glanced into the forest on our left and saw a beautiful buck laying beneath a tree enjoying the cool cover of the trees on this hot day. He was undisturbed by our presence and continued to rest as we passed by. The search for this cache was trickier and involved scrambling over rocks until the old Goat spotted the container. Inside the ammo can we discovered a travel geocoin ( SW#3's Shamrock) that we picked up to move along. When I entered the coin tracking number to log our find, I discovered that it had travelled to Europe, Eastern Canada, Hawaii and the southern USA and had ended up back at a cache just hundreds of meters from its origin!


Since we were so close to the Elbow River and it was a very hot day we went down to the edge of the river and dipped our hands and cooled off for a few minutes before continuing our journey.

We drove right past Bragg Creek as the line of traffic coming in and out was not inviting and continued on to Kananaskis Country on Highway 66. We stopped for a quick micro called Kananaskis Country Cache (GC12C97) right at the big sign for Kananaskis Country. The littlest goat jumped out of the car, walked over to GZ and plucked the cache from its hiding spot! She is getting to be an amazing cacher.

Just a few hundred metres away was the first campsite we wanted to check out and at the beginning of the path down to it, was another cache called Gooseberry (GCQM20). This one took a bit of walking around in the trees as the GPS couldn't get good satellite signals but eventually we found the spot and earned another smiley.

We checked out the campsites at McLean Creek and decided those would be the ones we try out when we get a chance to camp. Then there was just time for cooling off in the creek before heading back toward Calgary.

We made one final stop just before reaching the Trans-Canada highway and that was at a cache called Wolf Kubs Kache (GC3FK11) hidden by the Strathmore scouts. Parking near this cache was not allowed so the old goat and the littlest goat waited in the car while I made the trek to GZ to try my luck. This cache was easy to locate but hard to pick up. I had to use all my arm strength to retrieve it from its hiding spot and then repeat the process to replace it in the same spot! Should have sent in the old goat!

We are getting in more caching this summer by blending it in with other activities and taking opportunities to do quick ones when we can. They often bring us to places we never knew existed or ones that we have been meaning to get to but haven't taken the time. Where are you exploring this summer while you geocache?

Addicting More People to Geocaching

I received an e-mail request this week from a friend whose son is in school with my daughter. She and her family have been wondering about geocaching and asked if I would take them out for a beginner's lesson. So yesterday morning we piled our three kids into her vehicle with the two of us and set out for Baker Park on the Bow River in Calgary. I had my iPhone with the geocaching app and my Garmin Oregon 200 to show them both options when they start out.

We began with the Dollhouse cache (GC1RT7C) to get the kids excited because I knew it had recently been found and was supposed to have good swag in it. This one took a bit of looking and then was found where we didn't expect it. The kids found it easy to follow the compass on the Garmin so I let them carry that one and worked off the iPhone with my girlfriend. The three kids took turns holding the GPS and telling the others which way to go. We followed along making sure they didn't get too far off course but they did very well. And we had our first smiley for the day.

The next cache we aimed for was Baker's Bark (GC1EV27) which was a different kind of 'micro in a tree'. No trades here, just signed the log and off we went to search for I Do (GCXJTA). This is a very beautiful area right down by the river with bright beds of flowers surrounding a stone wall. We watched a few young men leaping into the chilly waters across the river and a Zodiak float by with two life-jacketed paddlers aboard.

 The search was briefly interrupted by the appearance of two snakes who may have been guarding the cache and who caused all the children to leap upon the stone wall and scream! Luckily my friend and I were not deterred and continued to peer under rocks and into nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, no cache was unearthed and we had to leave this one for another day.

We moved on to look for one of the Calgary Parks caches called, of course, Baker Park (GC299K3). This was when I saw the change in my friend from 'interested observer' to 'addicted cacher' as she made her first unassisted find. Her face lit up and she got excited and declared herself hooked! I always love that moment!

Our last cache of the day, Baker's Hedge (GC1EV1Z) was also exciting for her young daughter when she made her own first find. We told ourselves it was because she was closest to the ground but really we all had our backs turned when she said ' Oh I found one." And honestly I didn't really think she had found one, but there it was! So much for me showing her how its done!!

After such a good day of caching I am sure we will be going out as a group again before too long. And we have another girlfriend with kids who we'll have to take out and addict!

Never JUST a rock!

My sister flew out from Vancouver for a visit last week while her kids were away on other travel adventures. Since she was curious about geocaching and had never been, we decided to take her out one day to Nosehill Park with our dog, Scooby Doo, and my daughter and just try one or two caches.

Our first destination was the infamous Your Mother was a Hamster (GC2TQZX) which makes me giggle every time I read it. Monty Python is everywhere! It was a very buggy day but the dog was very excited to get out and the littlest goat was happy to show her Aunty Otter our family hobby so off we went. As a fellow Vancouver expat, I wasn't surprised that my sister found the park very different from parks back home with so few trees and so much long grass. We laughed at the dog leaping up to see through the grass as she chased her ball. And before we knew it we were at the cache. It was really an easy find and a very cute container, well worth the walk. Just after we rehid the container we turned to see two beautiful stags watching us from the other side of the gulley. They kept their eyes on us as we back-tracked to the off-leash area and our next cache.

We were curious to see what the next cache would look like as it was a puzzle cache with an odd description. The Lockbox (GC3GMD0) was actually a two-part cache. You had to find the container first and then find a separate cache with the combination to the lock which was on the container. Took a bit of looking and lots of slapping at mosquitoes but eventually we found both parts and signed the log. I think maybe this one should be listed as a multi instead of a puzzle.

That was enough buggy adventures to give my sister a taste for geocaching but not wear her out on her first day. But the next night I was telling Otter about some caches I had been unable to find and she got excited and wanted to go take a look. It was already evening so we took flashlights and headed off to the first location. I won't tell you the name of this cache as I am going to spoil the container type by saying it was a micro hidden in a small rock which was blended into the actual rock base of a structure. We were feeling around the area looking for anything that might be hiding a tiny cache when my sister pulled a rock out of the wall, said "Its just a rock" and replaced it. I turned to her and said "What? Wait a minute..." and sure enough the bison tube was stuck inside the back of that very rock. For the rest of the night I kept saying "It's never JUST a rock!"

We went on to find two more caches that had been eluding me, including a creative micro in a tree called Nutz (GC2TROG).

Two days later we made a trip to the south for an appointment and took a few minutes to find the cache hidden in the Signal Hill branch of the Calgary Public Library. This was also creative and fun and we even had some help from the librarians who caught on what we were up to. We made two more finds that day and had my sister well and truly hooked on caching by the time we sent her home.

Caching in the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

As a family, we enjoy birdwatching and any chance to see wildlife up close, so a day of geocaching in the Bird Sanctuary is three kinds of fun! Family time, geocaching, and wildlife viewing all at the same time.

There is a very creative puzzle cache called IBS: Gnome's Animal Lodge at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. The cache container itself is out in plain sight right at the entrance to the Sanctuary but in order to open the cache you need to walk around the trails and collect answers to questions on the cache page. This gets you visiting every part of the park and gives you a chance to view different songbirds, waterfowl, deer, muskrats, beavers, weasels, owls, and other creatures if you are lucky. There is a second cache called the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary Cache which gets you to do the same thing but the Final cache is off site. We collected all the answers for that one as we went around but didn't pick up the last cache as we were ready to go home by then.

As we walked we had amazing encounters with deer today. My daughter was thrilled when a young deer appeared beside her eating leaves that grow along the walkway. Alana held very still and watched with a huge smile on her face and then talked about it for the rest of the day. That is an experience she won't soon forget!

We also saw evidence of beavers hard at work.

The park looks completely different than when we have seen it in the fall, especially with the Bow River running high from the summer rains. The views along the river were beautiful as usual.
There were portions of the trails that were closed due to flooding but this would be temporary. Don't let it dissuade you from visiting the Sanctuary.

There is a third cache in the park commemorating the Colonel James Walker Historical Site. This is a regular cache with a container full of swag to trade.

Even if you haven't been bitten by the geocaching bug, there is lots to see at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and it is well worth a visit any time of year.

CCARS12

Well it was a great day of geocaching on Saturday! We did 21 caches in just under 12 hours including a couple that were not part of the CCARS12 new releases. We met up at Carburn Park in the Southeast where we spent about 90 minutes doing a trash pickup (also known as a CITO or Cache In Trash Out). If you are ever looking for a park for a family outing this is a nice destination. There are lots of picnic tables, a pond with ducks in it, a river to walk along or wade in and some nice caches to hunt down. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the riverbank looking for garbage and were quite impressed not to find all that much to pick up. We found our first cache in the park and, because it was not a CCARS12 cache we were able to look for it before the noon opening of the event.

We did several caches in the south of Calgary in areas I had never been before and this reminded us how caching can take you to places you might have missed even in your own city. And it is certainly a great way to get to know a city you have just moved to.

We looked for a cache called Pirates of the Elbow Treasure Chest and were rewarded with these amazing views. This was just South of the Glenmore Athletic Park and North of the Glenmore Reservoir. There were some steep climbs involved in finding this treasure chest but we came up with the goods and the kids enjoyed their loot!

Just West of this cache is the Weaselhead Natural Area and we saw herons, geese and a few deer down on the flats as we looked for a Murder in the Park cache and Rowlf the Dog cache.

One of our favourite caches of the day was called Go Fish and required us to actually fish the cache out of its hiding spot. Even the grown ups enjoyed this and we had to use our ingenuity to create a fishing device from what we had with us.

Did any of you take part in CCARS12? Have you done Caching events in other cities? Let me know what your favourite events have been. I'll share more of our big cache day later this week.

Spring into geocaching

We have been having some nicer weather in Calgary this week and I have managed to get out twice to grab a few caches. Adding some smiley faces to our 'found' list felt great after a slow winter with not much geocaching going on.

On Friday I just had time for one hunt and combined it with a walk for our chocolate lab. I had tried to find this multi-cache before and had found the first stage but did not know how to attempt the second stage. After reading a little tutorial on projecting a waypoint with your Garmin GPS I managed to complete the second stage of the cache hunt and found the final container. And Scooby got a great walk when I went a kilometer in the wrong direction before realizing what I'd done!
There are many of these rocks walls (pictured behind Scooby) in Calgary and frequently the cache you are looking for will be hidden in one of the spaces between rocks. The only problem is being brave enough to stick your hand in and retrieve the cache or move the smaller rocks to see if the cache is behind them. I am quite certain one day something will bite me when I reach in so I am very careful!
The final cache for this multi-cache was in a recess between some rocks (not shown above) but I had a view of the cache container before reaching in. I had to be quite stealthy because there were several muggles (non-geocachers) nearby but I managed to sign and replace the cache quickly.

Today while my daughter was at a birthday party, I talked the old goat into doing a few caches in a nearby neighbourhood. We found two small caches and a micro cache before heading back to pick up our daughter. The micro cache was down in a ravine near a footbridge and we were surprised to see that there was still lots of ice and snow in the creek there. Luckily the cache was not under the bridge and we did not have to test the ice or get wet. We did have to disturb a spider from the cache and I was grateful the littlest cacher was not with us as she would have screamed and ran!

I am looking forward to doing more caching as the weather continues to improve. Even if I have to sneak them in one search at a time!