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.

Canada Day Caching

Yes, we finally got out to do some more caching!
Had a fun day in typical Calgary weather. Hot and sunny when we set out, black clouds swept in with a few thunder claps and a big downpour, then hot and sunny again. Took a day to introduce more friends to geocaching and we now have more caching buddies to go out with. The tiniest cacher (at 1 1/2 years) caught on quickly and was checking behind every bench after seeing us pull one nano out from behind a park bench.
We planned our cache adventure to start with a cache that the kids could trade swag in and out of, then a couple of micros for the grown ups and finally a cache at a play park for the kids to have some swing time. Luckily we had good luck and found 4/4 today and the kids enjoyed all of it, even the rainshower.

We did have to place a note on one cache that needed maintenance. The lid of the cache had a hole in it and the cache was filled with water when we discovered it. The pencil was wet and the paper was unusable. This is the sort of thing you need to let cache owners know about so that they can clean it up and repair the damage and get their cache up and running again.
Another thing to mention is that the regular size cache had a theme of 'Round' objects so my daughter took a yoyo and replaced it with a bouncy ball. It is nice to keep to a theme when trading if at all possible.

It was a fun way to spend Canada Day away from the crowds, but still outdoors and with friends. What did you do for Canada Day?

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!

How to Hide a Cache

Just a reminder that if you want to learn how to hide a cache that is a bit different (non-traditional) there is a class this Saturday afternoon at the CNIB building in Calgary. This will help you learn how to make puzzle caches, multi-caches, and hides that are not your everyday lock'n'lock under a tree! And these skills will help with the upcoming CCARS event in May.
For more information on the Saturday class click here.

Quick cache find

Yesterday my daughter and I went out to find a geocache in our own neighbourhood. I had seen the listing on geocaching.com but, knowing it wasn't a difficult one, I wanted to wait for a day when we could do it together. Alana took the lead with the GPS receiver with a reminder to let it orient itself after she was out of the truck. Then she led us to the right tree and I spotted the container. It was a winter friendly hide (not buried under snow) and a good size container holding lots of swag for trading. We signed the log book, replaced the treasure with swag of our own and replaced the container where we found it. Then I remembered I had planned to photograph the container for my blog so we took it back out, moved to a spot that would not offer spoilers and took the photographs. You must remember when caching, that you don't want to give away the location of the cache to the next cacher or anyone checking the logs on-line, so don't put the actual hiding place in your photographs and be careful what you say when you enter your comments on-line. These unwanted hints are called 'spoilers' for a reason! If you want to make a comment that may give away hints there is a feature on the website that will encript your log so that only someone who wants hints can read it.