Winter geocaching

One thing we have not done enough of is winter caching in the snow. We find it very frustrating to have to poke around in the snow with no idea if we are even near the right tree/bush/rock. We have had some luck and I'm sure with practice it gets easier but for now we are waiting for better weather to do more geocaching. The snow has been coming down on and off for a few days and today it was pretty steady and cold. At the first sign of sunny skies I will be setting out to get some photos of different cache containers to give you an idea of what you are looking for.
In the meantime, it would be great to get some feedback about my website, or questions on anything you'd like to know about geocaching,  or requests for more information on any aspect of this hobby.

And in three weeks, we'll be attempting to find the lone geocache in Cayo Coco, Cuba!! Can't wait to leave the snow behind and hit the beach!!

Sunny Sunday geocaching

We got the jump on Family Day and spent our Sunday together geocaching in local neighbourhoods last weekend. The littlest goat decided she only wanted to do 3 caches, but after each one she said, "Well, just one more!" until we had done 6 caches and run out of steam. When we could not find the seventh cache we decided that was a good time to return home and relax!
We planned the searches to start with a large ammo can that had been found recently and was listed as a 1 in difficulty and 1 in terrain (5 being the hardest, 1 the easiest) so that our daughter would not get frustrated early. It turned out to be easy enough that she spotted the container first and was able to retrieve it herself. It had been placed by a Pathfinders group and had been well maintained.
On the way to what was going to be our second search I noticed a listing for a micro cache on the way. A micro is usually quite small (not as small as a nano!) and difficult to find although this one was listed as a 1 for terrain and 1 for difficulty. Turns out the terrain was definitely easy, even in the snow, but the difficult was more of a 2 since it was green and hidden in a tree. The old goat and I jumped out and took about 10 minutes to find this one while the littlest goat stayed in the warm car reading a book.

Our third search offered a walk in the aspen woods of an off-leash park. It was rated a 1.5 and 1.5 and we found the terrain a bit tricky due to ice but the cache relatively simple to locate. 

We decided to drive to a neighbourhood where we had never geocached before for our last three caches and found ourselves in MacEwen near Nosehill Park. This area has beautiful views of Calgary and is worth a visit. Only four geocaches hidden here and we found three out of the four. Not a bad day for winter caching in a cold climate!
In my next post I'll talk about cache containers a bit more. There are some really clever hides out there and I'm always curious to see what people will think of next. If you are a geocacher, post a photo of your favourite cache container!