Caching Stuff August 2, 2014
1) MEGA M3
Last night I went to the kickoff to M3 at DQ in Riverview. There was a big crowd and everyone was excited.
We were provided with all kinds of details about the event and then a celebration Ice cream Cake was brought out.
http://imgcdn.geocaching.com/cache/log/9b7924df-1c81-4dd5-85ef-c6359fe2c3ee.jpg
Some of the details about the MEGA are out and were provided at the event. It looks like it will be an incredible MEGA. There are plans for contests, side events, symposiums. games, caches, etc. It will be an amazing time for all of us.
Here is the link to the MEGA http://coord.info/GC4W3TZ
You will note that there are already more than 40 WILL ATTEND logs. This will account for more than 40 people which is important since the necessary attendance for a MEGA is 500 people not 500 cachers.
Good luck and thank you to the group that has taken on the task of organizing and planning this major caching event.
2)Cocagne Island caches
Many have gone over to Cocagne Island in winter to find the caches there but how many would want to venture over there in summer. A geocaching family from Quebec decided that they wanted to go over and get a few caches on the island but did not have a boat. They were camping during their vacation, so they decided to get on their air mattress and paddle over to the island. They said the current was strong but they managed to get over there and get about 5 caches.
3) Obsessive Streak
An Ottawa cacher (Happyheartcache) was celebrating his streak of 100 days. The surprising thing is that it was his 100th day of caching. So he has found a cache everyday since he started caching. The following was a comment from well known cacher bluelamb:
Prima facie evidence of severe caching obsession! I would offer to lead an intervention but I’m going caching tonight……
4)Souvenirs of August
This whole souvenir thing sounds a little silly, but it is good to have little goals and to have a little distraction as we indulge in our caching obsession. So we are aiming to get all six souvenirs and thereby get the special 7th souvenir. As Jim52 points out however, it is tough to get these souvenirs if you have high caching numbers. So we are looking at the caching maps and trying to figure out where to get multis, earth caches and virtuals. I guess we will be going to Fredericton or PEI this month. I am sure MA will giving me the details soon.
5) Interesting Bouctouche Cache
A recent cache came out in Bouctouche from a QC cacher who was visiting a friend in the area. http://coord.info/GC59J8N
We were very impressed with the camo and the quality of the cache. I checked his profile and saw that he has 65 caches out (they seem to be in Montreal area) and many of them have garnered a good collection of favorites. So if you are looking for a challenge, check this one out.
6) Our Caches
We have 478 caches that are still active. As you know many of them are Micro Logic caches, but we also have a large number of cache series of traditional caches in the Shediac to Bouctouche and Cap Pele areas, as well as Scoudouc and the 933 series towards Memramcook.
We had an idea for another series of about 100 caches that would involve hiking or biking but we are rethinking that plan. We really enjoy planning, creating and placing these cache series; however, we are then faced with the task of maintaining the caches. With such a large number of caches we cannot always go fix them as soon as we would like. I keep track of all the DNF’s on our caches and we will be going out later this month to check on them. Herrminnz and Belladan have made that task a little easier by replacing some of the caches for us. Other local cachers have also helped by fixing some of the caches that have problems.
I have 50 Micro Logic puzzles created but have nowhere to hide them so there may not be any appearing soon. The ones I have in Ottawa are really well received but I have not located an area to put any, because I like to hide a series of them in the same area. I hate to archive the ML caches because many caching tourists solve them over the winter and come and get them during the summer. However, I have to archive some as a result of construction off Berry Mills road and because of clear cutting at the eastern end of the airport property. I am considering archiving some on a dirt road between Shediac and Barachois. This would allow the placement of a new series of traditionals that would be available to cachers coming for the Ice Walk next year and for the MEGA visitors.
7) Deer Flies or Horse Flies
This past week we moved our Casino breakfast from Friday to Thursday. We needed 5 caches on that day, so Jim52 and Belladan decided to come with us and try for the 7 ATV Trails and Hydro Lines caches between Niagara Road and Pine Glen Rd. We doused ourselves with DEET to keep the mosquitos off us but of course it did nothing to stop the deer flies (or are they horse flies?). Those flies were vicious and i crushed a ton of them trying to get at my scalp. But we got the 7 caches.
But that is not the end of the fly stories. Yesterday I decided to bring Jake & Ben to try and get gigi’s fun Fishing Pipe cache http://coord.info/GC543WM on the Batemans Mills Rd so they could get a puzzle souvenir for August. As I parked on the side of the road, the car was attacked by the flies. The boys refused to get out , so i drove away and came back from the other direction. As soon as i stopped, it happened again. There were dozens of flies at the windows. I tried twice more with no luck so we gave up. We went again today with the same result. The flies are really bad this year.
For a bald guy like me the flies reek havoc on my head. A natural way to keep them at bay is a ceder smudge. Make a large “stogie” out of birch bark and stuff it with ceder shavings and old man’s beard. Light it on fire and quickly blow it out. While it’s still smoking, waft the smoke over your body making sure to douse your clothes with it. works for me. Cheers
Interesting.. I think I prefer the flies
Hahahaha I’m a cold weather guy so the flies and me have been at odds for awhile now. I’ll try anything..lol
Got 12 of the 20 NB Trail caches so far. Hope to get the rest of them soon.
Went to Fredericton today to complete the Souvenirs of August caches.
These contest tend to give you focus like the Sink the Battleship
contest in Winter.
I just noticed that The Major Family seem to be back in business. They began caching in 2003 and were well known for their cache hides and caching events. They are not the “lets go for numbers” kind of cachers but rather the “Let go see that incredible place” kind of cachers.
Anyhow they have revived one of their popular events in the Irving nature Park on saturday August 9. It is The 5th Geocaching For Geocash At The I.N.P. event. http://coord.info/GC58NBB
If you are looking for a family friendly event, this would be it. Have a look at the cache page for the details.
***************************************
Many people dont like to do multi caches. It may be a number thing. We tend to avoid them when travelling because of time constraints, but we do the local ones and find them enjoyable.
Yesterday we took grandson Jake to do E.B.E. 51’s multi on the trail behind the church on Mapleton. It is a wonderful cache, and a really interesting place to visit. But surprisingly it has ha only 17 finds in the nearly 2 years it has been out. That is a shame
http://coord.info/GC3W0EG
**************************************
After a great many visits, we finally got chatelaine’s dastardly cache:
O Flagitious: The Fiddlehead http://coord.info/GC4C4HR
We had grandson Jake with us. Here is his log
My grandparents suggested we go for this one. We looked all over the area for a long time with no luck. PA wanted to leave but I said we should stay and finally I spotted it. A tough cache. A favorite from us.
Here is my log:
TFTC
Was easy
**********************************************
How do you pronounce CITO? I say and hear SEE TOE but apparently in some places it is SIGH TOE and others it is SEE EYE TEE OWE. Here is the discussion on groundspeak forums
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=324721&pid=5410657&st=0&#entry5410657
****************************************************
I wont mention Deer Flies again except to say that in the woods this year you can get more exercise swatting flies than hiking.
.
I find if you roll a piece of duct tape onto itself so it’s sticky all around and stick it to the back of your hat it gets rid of most of the deer flies since they land on it and get stuck.
Also when you first stop the vehicle, don’t get out yet. Shut the vehicle off and wait a few minutes and most of the flies will leave. I think they are attracted to the carbon monoxide coming from the engine.
A friend of mine, when we were treeplanters together in the woods past Doaktown, would stick Bounce dryer sheets under the edge of his cap so that the sheets fell down over his ears. It would work for a few hours, with the added benefit of shielding his ears from the constant buzzing.
* Here is an embarrassing situation this week.
I went to do maintenance on a ML cache that was situated on a traffic island between two signs on a post. The cache was a magnetic key holder between the signs high up on the post. It was tricky driving around the island trying to spot the cache in the narrow spot between the signs. After going by twice and making two U turns on a busy street we finally determined that it was not there.
I did not have a magnetic key holder but I prepared a new magnetic container and brought it over to the post on the island. I waited till there was a break in the traffic, and placed it on the post. However it seemed to be a new post because the signs were too high for me to hide the cache. I tried jumping to place it higher but that didnt work and there were cars going by and I certainly must have looked stupid. Well I went across a ditch to grab a long stick and went back and tried not too look too obvious as I pushed the cache up the post till it was hidden by the signs.
I felt great having accomplished my task. In the car I told MA about the trouble I had because of the height of the pole. As we drove by the other side of the pole, I pointed out the height of the signs on the post, and we noticed the key holder on that side of the post. Well another U turn and I parked the car and headed back to the post to remove the key holder. I again tried jumping but the key holder was stuck solidly to the post and cars were still going by. I again went across the ditch to get a long stick. I reached up with the stick but that magnet was strong and it would not budge. Traffic was still going by and I was getting strange looks. The stick was barely long enough, but I got it to reach above the key holder and using both hands I was able to force the the key holder down the pole.
**********************************
* Another embarrassing caching situation earlier that day at another cache
A MICRO, NOT A MICRO LOGIC
http://coord.info/GC57XRW
Here is the log
We needed 2 caches today to bring our total for this date to 10. After the rain storm we headed to the Dobson trail because there were 3 available for us. After 7.5 kms and 2 hours of walking and looking, we ended up with 2 finds and 1 DNF.
After finding Jim’s cache on the trail we decided to continue for another km to this one because we were there when it was placed and we certainly would know where to find it. Well 40 minutes of looking and a couple of calls to a friend did not help. We will wait to see if others have more luck
*************************************************
* Profile pages show caches found and trackables logged. We changed ours to include our DNF’s.
http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=d4537635-c010-4dbd-bf2b-154e08afafd9
*************************************************
*Two big caching events tomorrow in New Brunswick tomorrow
Race For Cache in Moncton http://coord.info/GC4WYJ4
Geocaching For Geocash At The I.N.P. in Saint John http://coord.info/GC58NBB