2011 Ice Walk
The fifth annual Ice Walk to Shediac Island will be held on Saturday February 5, 2011. If you wish to experience winter caching, this is the event for you.
You will be able to cross the ice to grab caches on Shediac Island or on Cocagne Island. If you have done those caches, bring your snowshoes anyway, because there will be many other new caches in the woods and on trails in this area. If that is not your kind of caching, then venture out on our country roads to pick up some of the many caches or, you may want to do a bit of urban caching in Shediac or try some puzzles in the Shediac to Bouctouche area.
The walk will begin at Ma & Pa’s place at 9:00 am. The event will be going on all day so feel free to start later if that suits you better or if you already have many of the caches. When you get back from walk, come in, relax and enjoy the company of fellow cachers and trade stories of your day. We will have warm comfort food, hot drinks, treats and sweets waiting for everyone.
Oh man I’ll write that down write now and tell my better half about it. We wanted to go so bad last year but it didn’t work out. I did some winter caching in the Shediac area in March and I loved it. I know there wasn’t that much snow but still … 😉
The only thing is that we do not have any snowshoes. I’ve been planning to get some for a while but I could use some help in this departement. Would anyone have some to recommend ? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks and hopefully see you in Feb.
My soul PA, you are worse than Costco, who puts Christmas decorations out on display at the end of August! LOL. All joking aside, Didi, Sophie and I are really looking forward to being part of the bunch this year. Last year Didi’s belly was bigger than mine, and being close to giving birth, the thought of delivering our daughter outside in February, on a remote island, in front of a bunch of geocachers was not appealing to my wife, so I had to call it off. This year all should be good 🙂
We know it is early to announce, but some come from far away and like to get advance notice, especially if they have to arrange for time off at work.
I also wanted to let people know that it is Saturday. One year we did it on a Sunday to accomodate those who worked on Saturdays, but it seems that most like Saturday because it gives them a day to recover or get home, before getting back to work on Monday.
BTW If anyone has not found all the caches in the Cocagne area, NOW may be a good time to go and get them. Some of the caches in that area will be archived sometime in December, in order to make room for a new series on the Cocagne trails.
We had a great time last year, our first to Shediac Island, and a wonderful visit with Ma & Pa and fellow cachers afterward. It was a hard day of sloshing through slush and we only got half the island done but still worth doing! Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back this time to finish the island and the weather will stay colder longer so we can walk on ice! It’s definately one of the best caching treks/events in NB!
Costco has had really good snowshoes for sale every year, including poles. A number of members of the Outdoor Enthusiasts club have bought theirs there.
Last year there was a Costco coupon that came out to save $30. We bought some for Jake & Ben before the coupon came out, so we went back and they gave us the rebate. In fact, they gave us a rebate on both pairs, even though the coupon said only one rebate per customer. I love Costco (and their hot dogs too)
Thanks for the heads up PA. We have the Costo membership so we will keep our eyes open for them.
we have the Costco snowshoes and poles and they are fine for us, and, yup, we’ll be there again. Thinking this year it’s Shediac Island for us. One of the only things that makes winter worthwhile.
1 – Today we spent 3 hours on a hiking trail in the Cocagne area planning a series of 15 caches. The caches will be published in January, before the Ice Walk. The series can be done in one hike but cross roads can help the series to be done in stages.
2 – The creation of the above series will mean the archiving of a Micro Logic Puzzle. ML 12 will be archived in early January. You will have until then to claim the cache.
http://coord.info/GC1XTY2
3 – I saw a post on ACGA that kent in Dartmouth had snowshoes with poles and a carry bag for $79. Not sure if available at other Kent locations
Event is published
http://coord.info/GC2GY0E
We have placed 19 new traditional caches on the trail in Cocagne. There are actually 20 caches in the series. Cache number 5 is an older cache that has been on the trail since 2008. Here is the link to that cache.
http://coord.info/GC1CJ6B
We are arranging to have the new caches published just before the Ice Walk. If you have done all the caches on the islands or would rather not venture over to the islands, you may enjoy these.
JANUARY 1, 2011
Cache-Tech has approved the new caches and will publish them on January 31, i.e. 5
days before the event. There are actually 20 caches on the trail.
http://coord.info/GC1CJ6B
GC1CJ6B>/b> is an older cache on
the trail and we have renamed it as Cocagne Trail 5 NO BISON
.
I think we’ll try to make it to the Ice Walk this year… if the ice is frozen!
There was a fisherman out on the ice with his ATV this morning, tending to his nets. We were surprised as we thought it was too soon. There is still a bit of open water close to the island.
Ordered two pairs of snowshoes from Costco last night. I think they are the one you guys were talking about, they come with sticks and bag. Can’t wait to get them and give them a try.
Coopsquared, I can guarantee that the ice will be frozen, however, we are not so sure about the water. We will keep you all posted
That’s funny…
We are pleased to announce that the organizers of this summer’s
MEGA event in Alberta have provided us with a beautiful coin to be
given away as a door prize at this event. You should sign the log
early in the day, to ensure that your name is included in the
draw.
I just had an event published for the morning after the ice walk. a large group of us are coming down from Fredericton, and we were going to stop for breakfast on sunday morning before heading back, so i figured, why not make it into an event! I dont want to step on anybody’s toes or interfere with the monthly breakfasts, but i didn’t want to waste an opportunity to share breakfast with people who will/may be coming down from all over the place to attend the ice walk. Hope to see you all there!
That is a fantastic idea Treehugger. Thanks for the support.