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If so, please share you stories. I would love to hear about good spots to hunt near Canadian bases and any overseas adventures!
Any fellow geocachers out there?
- Thread starter Luvs 2 Curl
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I am an avid cacher with over 1600 finds in 5 provinces and 1 state. My caching name is the same as form name here.
I once hiked 2.5k into the woods to find a cache on an island. The island had a small walking bridge to it. so no problem. The GPSr said the cache was on the other side of the island. The mountain bike trails were a nice hike which was rather enjoyable. That is until I reach the other side of the island and found that there was a second island 50 feet off the coast. This one had no bridge, but I was determined to get the cache. I took off my boots and headed into the water only to find it was deeper then my pants would roll up. So back to the shore I went. I was not going to let a little water stop me after the 2.5k hike in to get the cache. So off came the pants. With pants and boots in hand I headed back into the water. Once I reached the smaller island I noticed the ice around the shore. I love caching in Canada in December. At least I managed to find sign the log and clam the find without another trip back in. And this one didn't involve a life jacket or police waiting for me when I came out. But they are other stories for another time.
Harley
I once hiked 2.5k into the woods to find a cache on an island. The island had a small walking bridge to it. so no problem. The GPSr said the cache was on the other side of the island. The mountain bike trails were a nice hike which was rather enjoyable. That is until I reach the other side of the island and found that there was a second island 50 feet off the coast. This one had no bridge, but I was determined to get the cache. I took off my boots and headed into the water only to find it was deeper then my pants would roll up. So back to the shore I went. I was not going to let a little water stop me after the 2.5k hike in to get the cache. So off came the pants. With pants and boots in hand I headed back into the water. Once I reached the smaller island I noticed the ice around the shore. I love caching in Canada in December. At least I managed to find sign the log and clam the find without another trip back in. And this one didn't involve a life jacket or police waiting for me when I came out. But they are other stories for another time.
Harley
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Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080801.wlgeocache01/BNStory/lifeMain/home
When family fun becomes a bomb scare
SIRI AGRELL
From Friday's Globe and Mail
August 1, 2008 at 9:12 AM EDT
When a Muggle finds a cache, they don't usually blow it up.
If that sentence doesn't seem to make any sense, you are not familiar with geocaching, a popular outdoor activity in which hidden treasure is sought out with the help of hand-held GPS devices.
There are 624,542 geocaches around the world - stealthily hidden containers ranging in size from film canisters to jumbo Tupperware containers, squirrelled away in parks, woods and some urban areas.
Thousands of Canadians search for these caches each day, logging their finds on geocaching.com.
In Ottawa last week, a Muggle (someone not part of the geocaching society) spotted a badly placed cache under a bridge, prompting police to shut down a major road for more than four hours while they investigated the suspicious package.
At least two dozen police officers, 11 firefighters and six paramedics arrived at the scene, and the cache - a metal tin containing a log for geocachers to record their find - was eventually blown up.
"I think it was a really poor place to put a cache," said Alane Martinuzzi, a Grade 5 teacher from Ottawa who regularly geocaches with her husband and three kids. "Usually we put them in parks or in the woods, not right in an urban area. You don't place them somewhere it will be misconstrued."
Geocachers enter their postal code or location into geocaching.com, an international registry for the pastime, and can download to their GPS devices the nearby caches, which are graded by the difficulty of the terrain.
The GPS devices, while effective, will only get you within three to six metres of the hidden treasure, so some actual old-school hunting is required.
The Martinuzzi family started making regular geocaching forays about a year ago, and so far have logged about 80 finds.
"We've had quite a few that we haven't found, and that's frustrating for the kids," Ms. Martinuzzi said.
Ken Arnou, a 41-year-old geocacher from Peterborough, Ont., said these DNFs - or Did Not Finds - are annoying, but not enough to dissuade him from his hobby. "It gets you outside to places you might not normally go," he said. "It might be a lookout or someplace that's a bit different."
Many of the caches include small trinkets, mostly dollar store items. All prizes must be replaced, but other caches also contain what are called travel bugs, which can be taken to another cache, their travels logged and monitored online.
"We set up a travel bug in Jasper and are waiting for it to come back to Peterborough," Mr. Arnou said. "Other cachers will pick it up and drop it off at another cache. When we get it back, I think it'll be pretty incredible."
Bob Bunting, an Internet consultant and founder of the B.C. Geocaching Association, takes great pleasure in hiding caches around the province.
"It's a real geeky thing," he said. "I've always said the best thing about geocaching is that it gets geeks away from the keyboard and out into the sunlight."
But not all cachers follow the rules or bother to find an exciting location for their hidden prize.
Originally, caches were meant to lead people to out of the way places, spectacular views or along incredible trails.
Now, many are "crappy caches," he said, hidden in easily found urban locations or spots that could put the hunter in danger.
This is the kind of behaviour that leads to bomb scares like the one in Ottawa last week, said Mr. Bunting.
In the United States, security scares caused by geocachers are common, he said, and as the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver approach, he believes B.C. cachers must be extra cautious about where they hide their treasure.
"When the world comes here we certainly don't want things like that getting on the news," he said. "I wouldn't want a bridge to be shut down because someone saw a sandwich container that didn't look quite right."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080801.wlgeocache01/BNStory/lifeMain/home
When family fun becomes a bomb scare
SIRI AGRELL
From Friday's Globe and Mail
August 1, 2008 at 9:12 AM EDT
When a Muggle finds a cache, they don't usually blow it up.
If that sentence doesn't seem to make any sense, you are not familiar with geocaching, a popular outdoor activity in which hidden treasure is sought out with the help of hand-held GPS devices.
There are 624,542 geocaches around the world - stealthily hidden containers ranging in size from film canisters to jumbo Tupperware containers, squirrelled away in parks, woods and some urban areas.
Thousands of Canadians search for these caches each day, logging their finds on geocaching.com.
In Ottawa last week, a Muggle (someone not part of the geocaching society) spotted a badly placed cache under a bridge, prompting police to shut down a major road for more than four hours while they investigated the suspicious package.
At least two dozen police officers, 11 firefighters and six paramedics arrived at the scene, and the cache - a metal tin containing a log for geocachers to record their find - was eventually blown up.
"I think it was a really poor place to put a cache," said Alane Martinuzzi, a Grade 5 teacher from Ottawa who regularly geocaches with her husband and three kids. "Usually we put them in parks or in the woods, not right in an urban area. You don't place them somewhere it will be misconstrued."
Geocachers enter their postal code or location into geocaching.com, an international registry for the pastime, and can download to their GPS devices the nearby caches, which are graded by the difficulty of the terrain.
The GPS devices, while effective, will only get you within three to six metres of the hidden treasure, so some actual old-school hunting is required.
The Martinuzzi family started making regular geocaching forays about a year ago, and so far have logged about 80 finds.
"We've had quite a few that we haven't found, and that's frustrating for the kids," Ms. Martinuzzi said.
Ken Arnou, a 41-year-old geocacher from Peterborough, Ont., said these DNFs - or Did Not Finds - are annoying, but not enough to dissuade him from his hobby. "It gets you outside to places you might not normally go," he said. "It might be a lookout or someplace that's a bit different."
Many of the caches include small trinkets, mostly dollar store items. All prizes must be replaced, but other caches also contain what are called travel bugs, which can be taken to another cache, their travels logged and monitored online.
"We set up a travel bug in Jasper and are waiting for it to come back to Peterborough," Mr. Arnou said. "Other cachers will pick it up and drop it off at another cache. When we get it back, I think it'll be pretty incredible."
Bob Bunting, an Internet consultant and founder of the B.C. Geocaching Association, takes great pleasure in hiding caches around the province.
"It's a real geeky thing," he said. "I've always said the best thing about geocaching is that it gets geeks away from the keyboard and out into the sunlight."
But not all cachers follow the rules or bother to find an exciting location for their hidden prize.
Originally, caches were meant to lead people to out of the way places, spectacular views or along incredible trails.
Now, many are "crappy caches," he said, hidden in easily found urban locations or spots that could put the hunter in danger.
This is the kind of behaviour that leads to bomb scares like the one in Ottawa last week, said Mr. Bunting.
In the United States, security scares caused by geocachers are common, he said, and as the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver approach, he believes B.C. cachers must be extra cautious about where they hide their treasure.
"When the world comes here we certainly don't want things like that getting on the news," he said. "I wouldn't want a bridge to be shut down because someone saw a sandwich container that didn't look quite right."
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MARS said:
I saw the Inspector on the news talking about it... man you could tell he was flippin peeved right off!
I wonder what num num thought it would be a good idea to put an ammo can on a bridge.... i mean sheesh...
Eye In The Sky
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I was introduced to this a few weeks ago while hiking Cape Split, one of the caches was a Travel Bug. I'm hooked, and as soon as I can afford this fella, I will be getting into it more and more, as I hike quite a bit.
Bzzliteyr
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Just to let you know, GPScity.ca is a good place to shop for anything GPS/Geocache related. I don't suggest GPS central as they earned their way onto my blacklist when they wouldn't walk 700 meters to take advantage of free shipping to send me a replacement part for my GPSmap60c.
I recommend the 60 very much.. I left mine on an airplane somewhere travelling and bought a Colorado instead. I should have just bought another 60c. The Colorado does fine, but has a seemingly steeper learning curve.
I recommend the 60 very much.. I left mine on an airplane somewhere travelling and bought a Colorado instead. I should have just bought another 60c. The Colorado does fine, but has a seemingly steeper learning curve.
Eye In The Sky
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Thanks for the site Bzz. Is the reception the same, or improved, on the Colorado vice the 60c? I'd pay the extra 80 for the better piece of kit as I'd be more likely to not replace it when I had the $ inthe bank after 1-2 years for something more gucchi.
Personal opinion, but the 60 rocks! Both for its sensitive antenna system, and for its battery use.
I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver, and on a lark, I decided to turn the Garmin on, and see if it would plot the route, max speed, total distance, and all that jazz. It worked beautifully. I easily got 24hrs of continuous use before I had to change the batteries during the three day trip. Even in the middle of the train car, it had no problem picking up enough birds for a 3D fix. I just put it up in the above bin and let it go. The only place it had problems was on a couple of stretches of the route through the Rockies where they blasted through some rock, and there were very close/steep cliff faces.
On the west bound trip I put waypoints at anything I thought deserved a second look, and than on the eastbound trip I had plenty of warning to make my way to the dome car to get a good seat.
I've also used the 60 for geocaching. Excellent receiver, and interface.
I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver, and on a lark, I decided to turn the Garmin on, and see if it would plot the route, max speed, total distance, and all that jazz. It worked beautifully. I easily got 24hrs of continuous use before I had to change the batteries during the three day trip. Even in the middle of the train car, it had no problem picking up enough birds for a 3D fix. I just put it up in the above bin and let it go. The only place it had problems was on a couple of stretches of the route through the Rockies where they blasted through some rock, and there were very close/steep cliff faces.
On the west bound trip I put waypoints at anything I thought deserved a second look, and than on the eastbound trip I had plenty of warning to make my way to the dome car to get a good seat.
I've also used the 60 for geocaching. Excellent receiver, and interface.
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We're fellow geocachers "2happy2gether" based at Borden and call Central Ontario home.
I also use the 60Cx and love it. I'm a magellan convert and have no intention of ever looking back.
Recently a cacher here in Borden placed a cache on base. Groundspeak's official policy is that military establishments are off-limits. Permission was granted through the curator of the museum. Any thoughts?
I also use the 60Cx and love it. I'm a magellan convert and have no intention of ever looking back.
Recently a cacher here in Borden placed a cache on base. Groundspeak's official policy is that military establishments are off-limits. Permission was granted through the curator of the museum. Any thoughts?
Bzzliteyr
Army.ca Veteran
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The military rule is mainly for placing caches in training areas ( i.e. Gagetown, I had to disable a cache when I didn't realize I had placed it on DND property). I imagine placing one at the museum would also involve placing a note on the cache page that states the museum may not always be accesible (Base defence exercise, etc).
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