Anybody Geocache?

Yesterday was our first time.........a HUGE thank you to Panamon Creel for all your help!

The first one was hidden in Happy Valley near the golf course.

Dressing appropriately for the terrain is always a good idea........ :S

Success Ü

2nd cache was near one of our fav summer eating spots......

It's down in the lowest point of the city (Wakamaw Valley) and is where the locals go to escape the heat of the prairie sun.........

The river is nearby and canoes can be rented.....

The latitude/longitude co-ordinates led us to behind these trees (and the shed)

I'm guessing they were struck by lightning not too long ago.

The guardians of the cache we never found. 40 or 50 years ago their Great Grandparents were released down there and generations of Moose Jaw children have had great fun trying to catch them. It could be that a child chasing the rabbits also found/removed the cache?

Third cache was hidden in a residential park with lots of ponds :)

That one was a two parter........first part contained the co-ordinates to the main cache. It turns out our GPS led us right to the first one, but it was so well hidden that eventually we heard a voice from ???? saying "rocks can be a problem". The second set of *now* found co-ordinates led us to the banks of this lovely pond. :)

Where the cache was discovered. We logged in our discovery, left an item/picked one up, and admired the busy muskrat that proved to be camera shy.

Hi Pam,
I just registered on geocaching.com. It looks like so much fun and something we can do with the kids! Now I have to get a GPS unit but can't afford anything to spiffy. There are so many caches within walking distance of my house!!!!

The garmin e trex legend is the one I'd go for (Milan strongly suggest it as a very good model). Many other companies are coming out with them now but garmins been in it the longest and their maps are excellent (the others are making the prices drop :). Your family will love it and chances are you will be going to places you normally would never visit (or haven't visited for years :). We are eyeing some that are located at Saskatchewan's huge sand dunes (about two hour drive away). I've never been there and I've read geotrackers from all over North America reported they were blown away by how incredibly awesome they are.

re kids we discovered that many of the teachers at the high school have one and make it a family outing with their children. I'm looking forward to using it also when we country mice are lost in a larger city (ie. Calgary ;).

Watch out for Muggles!!! :S

This message was edited Aug 8, 2006 5:26 PM

Erynne once you've learned how to use yours (and have downloaded Topo Canada onto your computer) here's where you should head to next: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?country_id=5

You can also enter your co-ordinates prior to the step above (or postal code) for a more limited search result.

p.s. we found a lot of reasonably priced goodies to leave behind at the Buck or Two store (or Dollar Store). Families often leave toys but the adults like to find other stuff (some leave junk too). They do ask that even if you don't take anything to leave something behind (I think some dig under theircar seats ;).

Someone left a roll of Charmin TP (handy for those in the country) and others leave a new pack of batteries ....we really thought both were good drops (esp. for travellers)

That is so funny...toilet paper....but practical no doubt. I'll look into the garmin model you mentioned above. Do you leave notes behind for the next person to read or do you "blog" somewhere?
Personally, I'd be more interested hunting in the woods because DH and I love to hike. The kids on the other hand would prefer city stuff where they don't have to be in the car too long to "get there".

Do people do this in the winter too?

LOL yep re the TP and very practical here (going off the TransCanada and deep into the country means the next washroom can be beyond human endurance ;).

They leave a notebook in the cache for you to log into and when you get home you should also log into the place where you got the cache's co-ordinates.

Wooded caches are a little harder to find here (but some exist in the valleys)..........downfall (or the challenge :) is that the tree canopy will interfere with the signal. In those locations you might have to take multiple readings to figure out (triangulate ?) where it might be located. Milan enjoys those. Here we are most likely to be sent to an abandoned farm yard where there are lots of building and machinery to hunt thro.

People do it year round but some cache write ups say only go in good weather due to road conditions &/or location (or some of the visitors will have posted impossible to find due to snow/ice cover).

Well my new GPS unit is a bit more forgiving regarding tree canopy cover but that advantage is a bit more costly ;)
The caches in wooded areas are often more challenging due to the many possible hiding places in an area and I've often spend hours trying to find a single cache there (the hours are not lost time though, many photo shooting opportunities for flora and fauna, maybe that's why it takes me so long to find them :).
Many of the caches are in beautiful areas I would never thought going to on my own. I do avoid caches that require major "bush wacking" tours. It's just not fun spending hours in the woods where one seems to be the only involuntary blood donor for Mosquitoes.
Tip: when going to unknown grounds It is wise to create a waypoint on the start of the "cache hunt" where the car is parked, it's rather annoying when one finds the cache but can't find the car again thereafter :) (though the Etrex Legend keeps a record of the track which can be followed back). This "Waypoint where parked" saved my behind many times while on travel and taking walking tours through some unknown big city.

Milan

Thank you both for your info. I can imagine that this would be most enjoyable in the autumn with all the fall colours and less heat/bugs.
Aside from people leaving their junk in the caches, have you heard of anyone having bad experiences with this hobby (ie dangerous situations).

Erynne

Well only "bad" things I've heard of is that rarely visited caches had suddenly a Hornets nest right by the hiding place giving the finder a nice run through the woods :).
Sometimes caches get "vandalized" if found by accident by some kids or there even had been cases where some kids actively vandalized caches by looking them up at the geocaching site.

Milan

ROFLMBO

LOL ;)

I did pick up some cache goodies tonight (buck sales really help:) and thought of you ;).......

Will prolly have to bag that one item seperately and if it isn't taken before freeze up go back out and exchange it for something else.

VW geocaching is in two diff ways. One is posting a picture of a VW including the face of the GPS so you have to go find it and the other one is a regular geocache. Lots of fun. One day I'll buy a GPS for myself - have given them to kids for prezzies so far -

My main purchases seem to be airline tkts and lilies these days.

inanda

Those VW folks certainly have found many ways to have wonderful get togethers Ginny. One of these days (after you've run out of room for Irises and Lilies ;) you will have to purchase one for yourself (esp with all the trips that you take).

Re dangers I would be very careful visiting caches in Southern Alberta.........they have Black Widows, Scorpions and Rattle Snakes in the Drumheller Valley that could cause a problem or two. :S

This one is most definitely going to be visited by us sometime in the near future. :)
I'll be sure to capture the flora and fauna. BTW there is also the treasure of liquid gold hiding there.



This message was edited Aug 9, 2006 8:10 AM

Will definitely be bringing the digi since the hills are a treasure-trove of wildlife. Ü

Sharp-tailed grouse are more abundant here than anywhere else in Canada, and the mule deer population is the densest in the province. Antelope, white pelican, merlin, peregrine falcon, coyote, white-tailed deer, golden eagle, badger, weasel, burrowing owl, mourning dove, porcupine, sand hill crane and fox are just a few of the walking and winged creatures who make the hills their home. The desert-adapted Ord's Kangaroo Rat is found nowhere else in the province.

Biologists call the region an "important genetic reservoir" for many Saskatchewan species.

Erynne I forgot about one danger that exists within my city (we actually spent this afternoon looking for this cache....I'm working 6 days a week now but some are partial days). This is a posting by some people from Winnipeg that were in town 7 days ago. The cache is in Wakamaw Valley and an often sighted female cougar has called it home for a number of years (luckily we have enough deer etc., that she has never gone after humans or pets).

Oh my goodness Pam.....that is scary! Thankfully, cougars aren't typically found in Ontario unless they've escaped captivity. But bears on the other hand are out there. I think the cougars would most likely run away from humans unless of course, they were starving as would bears. Either way, it wouldn't deter me from hiking but I wouldn't bring my children to areas that I know bears have been sighted.
I was having a look at GPS equipment on eBay and other sites......so much info and somewhat overwhelming! I hope I don't have to be too technologically-inclined to be able learn all this,lol.

Erynne

Erynne take a look at your local library for a book called GPS For Dummies by Joel McNamara. I haven't seen it yet but I did put through a purchasing order for it at the library (it was just recently published). Truthfully it was pretty overwhelming for me at first but even I am figuring it out (albeit slowly).

No I don't think about her often either, like you we used to live where bear were also sighted and no attacks on humans or pets usually makes people worry less.

However since I do know what is down there I don't know what I would have done if I heard what she did. :S Usually when the cougar is sighted she looks relatively safe and is lounging on a sideways growing tree nearby one of the often used nature trails (I'm positive tho if that lady had seen what she heard she'd never return).

We found the cache a little while ago and very close to it we had the pleasure of seeing a large buck and, after dropping to our knees, another visitor came within 4 feet of us. Ignore the bluriness and please look closely.....it's a young one that was bounding through the grass and I was pretty excited (both subject and hands moved a bit). We were also praying that the hunter wasn't still around. ;S

Pam, this is what is so appealing about geocaching. I love this kinda stuff! It really gets you out there and lets you experience so much along the way.
Now run baby run! Awesome pic......looks like she's coming right at you!

She stopped 4 feet away :) but of course our camera isn't fast enough to take multiple pics. :(

I had to phone Milan and thank him for re-introducing us to the great outdoors (and, of course, share the excitement of the day ;).

Even poorer pic but this was the fawn's reaction after sighting us (thank goodness the wind was blowing towards us). Look partway up the hill (dad was also moving and keeping an eye on us....he had sighted us but hadn't smelt us).

Baby can run (bound) pretty fast! Ü

same pic above :(

Here's the right one.....the fawn has it's back to us and dad is near the bush.

Actually I do know what I would have done if I heard what that lady did.......I think I'll take a roll of TP to leave at that cache. ;)

Btw did you read the draft Policy regarding Geocaching in Parks Canada areas? http://canadageocaching.com/pc/index.html
Amazing what type of restrictions they want to put on this, kinda takes the fun out of it.

I just started geocaching last weekend and loved it! I used my pda and the gps that goes with it. I'm thinking of buying a dedicated gps though since it's more rugged than my pda. What does everyone here use? The common gps' seem to be magellan and garmin.

Milan, that stinks. Talk about taking the fun out.