California caching 2012
Last April we came to California to visit our son and to geocache. We posted 4 items on CacheupNB entitled Spring Caching Trip under Pa’s caching tales category. I told stories of our caching adventures
https://www.cacheupnb.com/category/anecdotes/pas-caching-tales/page/2/
This year we have been here nearly 2 weeks and I have not posted anything yet. I will try to add comments and photos to this poat later. Meanwhile here are a few tidbits.
* A lot of the caching here, especially the urban caching, is about deception, and camo. I doont know how much detail I can give because maybe i will try and copy the ideas.
* Two days ago we hiked for over 8 hours on trails in an Open Space preserve in the hills. We pikced up 28 caches and most were pretty tough. We have to admit to using hints for a lot of them and fortunately the hints were good.
* Why do you need hints for caches on a trail? Well there is no snow so they have a lot more hiding spots and are very creative. We see a pile of branches and we think the cache is under the pile. Well the cache turns out to be a nano imbedded in the end of a branch or twig. Or it is a dark green container in the crook of a tree under a pile of moss, or a magnetic nano at ground level at the base of a sign in the woods or a tiny fake rock.
* We had the thrill of seeing caches logged by Alamogul and even did an Alamogul cache. In case you didnt know Alamogul has nearly 65,000 finds.
More later
Pa, I beg you to bring some of those idea here. I think I am getting a bit bored about geocaching when caching is now just finding a 35mm film canister or a tobacco container, with good ol camo tape, hanging in a tree (and I know I’ve placed my share of those!). After 1500 of those same ol same ol, they are all becoming quite boring. I love love love when it takes me forever to find a cache. P&G have their purpose, but I purposely bypass them now. It’s just a mood I am in right now, together with slapping people around with a fish. I have caches at a walking distance from my home that I never went for and probably never will cause I know they are just a 35mm canister in a tree. I think we are ready for something a bit more challenging than a guard rail micro, an ammo box, or ML puzzle (ooops did I let that one get out?). Now I know lots love them MLs so don’t get offended (I know you won’t). But I think if we would get more of very creative and very HARD to find caches, it would probably give me the kick in the butt I need to get back outthere geocaching.
Nemo, I’m preparing to publish an unconventional multi in Centennial Park that will probably take you an hour to complete. Keep an eye out for it.
Cool!I’ll make sure to get out for that one. When I was writing my first comment here, I was thinking about a couple of caches, but mostly “Scope it out”, that for some reason made me feel like a little boy running around on an easter egg hunt and I loved it(I actually never had an egg hunt as a kid. My parents never made us believe in a bunny that lay chocolate eggs or a even in santa clauss. Santa to us was my uncle Serge dressing up weirdly at christmas and pass us each our gifts, then getting the beard off and getting shitface with my father and other uncles LOL. All good times 🙂 )
You can’t spell “unconventional” without “evil” (you’d only have unconntona – I checked it out)
Paul, if you just came up with this, I bow before you. This is a very very very good one! If you borrowed this from someone else, well thank you for sharing as it’s the first time I hear it. I love it. So I’ll borrow it from you from time to time.
All original. You may use it. I know you will do so with great care.
Yes, but sadly you can’t spell Micro Logic in “unconventional” but they keep appearing.
Nemo there are many aspects to geocaching. I see no problem with a sries of easy caches on a trail. In fact i think many of us would get pied off if we walked 5 km to get a cache and it turns out to be a tough one. That happened to us last year when we hiked and cache for 4 hours, doing over 5 kms and going up 2800 feet and then discovering that there was a tricky hide at the top of the hill. It took a while and we persisted and found a small rock cache.
If you want interesting and tricky caches, head over to Riverview to check out some of Chatelaine’s caches. Many are tricky, many are different, and many are lots of fun. Imagine finding a tree full of caches or a suitcaase full of caches, and you have to find the log. If you want tricky you must of course look for Critter’s caches.
If you want a challenge, you have to go check out KDCachers caches. They bring you to places on the bay of Fundy that you never would have seen without geocaching. And if you cant figure out how to get to those caches, well, Chignecto Duo may have a series that will lead you through the woods to those caches.
If you want adventure, we have a number of series to challenge you in the Shediac to Bouctouche area.
WEll back to my topic.
Caching in a few Open Space Preserves yesterday. We had a DNF on a cache where a rattler was sharing a space under a rock with the cache.
A DNF on a cache in a Lurking series. The series involves really well disguised caches. It was a DNF because the only thing we found lurking were ants. They were all over me. I dont think they bit me but I cant tell because I am already covered in poison oak again this year.
The other day we had a tough find n an ammo can. It was under a thinck cement slab. We had to lift the slab and there was a spot carved in it for the can.
Here is a link to some California photos, including some interesting hiding spots. I posted them on an archived cache of ours
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=df981c71-6068-4de0-b53d-bee663e35b07&IID=049bc5e0-fee6-4534-a9a7-a8683b3186c8
I mentioned the great disguised caches here in California. Here is an example. You are looking for a cache on a hiking trail. You look all around GZ and you cant find it. We looked a long time and finally with luck, we put our hands on it.
Here is how it was hidden. Near GZ there was one of the trail direction posts. The cache was placed on top of the wooden post and attached to it. The cache owner made a plastic post to fit over the post and the cache. He also removed the trail information from the post and placed it on the plastic. It was so well done, that there was no way you could tell.
Click on the picture below.
As usual we are getting lots of DNF. One local cacher sent us an email with hints for 3 of his caches.
Today we got a DNF for an urban cache. GZ was on the sidewalk and the hint said to remain on the sidewalk. The cache page said he made the cache container himself. We dont know where the cache was located because there was nothing on the sidewalk or next to it. No trees, no bushes, no hydrants, nothing.
Today we also did some serious hiking and caching in a couple of preserves. We looked for a long time for one of the caches and I finally spotted a piece of wood that looked like a promising spot. However, a rattler also discovered that spot and was letting me know that I was not welcome. So another DNF
More California caching tidbits
*********************
We went for a few caches in San Francisco yesterday. We were downtown. We didnt stay long. On street parking at the meters is $3 per hour and the meters take credit cards.
Here is a picture taken at a virtual cache location. Click to make it larger. We had to determine how many toes the statue might have.
**********************
We brought a TB belonging to evulc to San Francisco to have its picture taken at Twitter headquarters. It turns out that Twitter head Office is in an AT&T bldg and there is no indication that they are there other than the information board behind the security desk in the lobby. The building was closed but we managed to get in and talk to the man at the desk and take a picture of the board (Unfortunately is was a little blurry. Had a nice chat with the gentleman who seemed interested about geocaching but had never met a cacher before. He said he was from Buffao. I asked if he was a Sabres fan and he said he wasn’t even a fan of Buffalo. He said we were not the first persons to came and take a picture of the sign.
Here is a link to the TB and the photo.
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=e0475833-1a0a-481a-b98b-3cc712861ec9
******************
We went for an interesting TB Hotel cache in Downtown San Francisco. It is located in the California Historical Society building. It is near their front window. The cache page does not indicate what building to find the cache and the signal is not strong so we erroneously went looking in a museum across the street. They knew about the cache and directed us across the street. When we arrived at the cache there was an Australian cacher sitting on the floor at the window going through it, so we immediately knew where it was. She also had been to the museum. This was a great way to have a TB Hotel in the Downtown.
Here is the cache.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c0c9b2c1-de53-460a-9912-54d03b8f1f0e
********************************
We claimed a webcam cache a week ago. The cache is called TOO WEIRD, MAN. It is located inside a store called weird stuff. The camera refreshes every minute and you have to capture the picture off their webpage. Rather than have someone at a computer grabbing our picture, we learned how to do a print screen with our Iphone. We walked around the store trying to find the camera and when I saw our picture on the webpage I saved the picture and then located the camera. We then went and stood at the camera location.
Here is our log with both photos
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=93bd8bd8-7bbc-492e-82df-394367a30aa9
California caching can just drive you crazy. Yesterday we did a bit of urban caching, a ot of it on foot. We got 13 finds and 7 DNF. WE set a new streak record with 5 consecutive DNF’s, all in the same neighbourhoood. Not too good for the ego.
Interesting neighbourhood though. We drove up New Brunswick DR, and then saw streets called Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario, Kitchener, Prince Edward, Yukon, Owen Sound, etc.
One good thing about being here is that i get to watch the Sens beat the rangers at 4 pm.
We are now back home. We managed to get a cache today even though we left California at 7 am and arrived in Moncton after 11 pm
Here is our log
We spent the day in planes and airports today and we wouldnt have continued our streak without Belladan placing this cache at the airport for us to pick up at 11:30 pm upon landing in Moncton. We also wouldnt have continued our streak if Belladan had not picked us up at the airport and provided us with a flashlight to find the cache.
You gotta love caching and the great caching people. Thanks Dan.