I’ve checked the Google maps for caches near my parent’s vacation condo in Florida and there are plenty nearby including quite a few at Fort de Soto Park where we usually go to the beach. I haven’t been there in a few years, but we are planning a Florida vacation for next summer, and you can bet that next to Disney World a bit of geocaching will be a priority for me. As the time gets closer I will be asking for a bit of advice about geocaching while traveling. I don’t want to end up being gator bait, and I don’t know what other hazards may be waiting, but I have a few months to worry about that.

A business trip down to Duluth, Georgia gave me the chance to get my first find away from home. Previous trips there, before I started geocaching, had been for four or five days. This time I only had a day and a half, and most of that time was booked solid. Before leaving on the trip I identified a dozen caches within wasy walking distance of my hotel, and one of them was literally right behind the building. I got my only find the first day while going for a walk before dinner: GCR3YH – John’s Gazebo and tried to find the one by the hotel,  GC1VPYB – JC Cache 1, but failed due to a missed keyed digit in the coordinates. I hoped to get out before breakfast the next morning and get some more, but I only had a few minutes. I thought the sunrise might be earlier that far south of Toronto, but it wasn’t. I tried JC Cache 1 again, but my GPS didn’t want to get a signal. I new roughly where it was, but I simply didn’t have time for a thorough search. Next I will find more of them!

We didn’t complete any of the caches.

One day we watched airplanes taking off from the runway across the street  from the Wendy’s at Airport Road and Orlando Drive where there happens to be a micro cache nearby. Even though it was lunch time, Devon didn’t want to get out of the car to look for the cache or get french fries (something she rarely turns down.)

Another day took us to a park in Churchville which was the starting point for four caches in the park and a short distance along the Credit River. The first thing we encountered there was a sign in the parking lot warning of something called Giant Hogweed. I never heard of this before which is surprising considering we were only a few kilometers from home. The warning is a little scary. It is one thing to risk contacting poison ivy, but this stuff sounds a lot worse. The sap contains compounds that are activated by sunlight and uv rays that can cause blisters and burns. Not for me thanks. I didn’t learn the details until later, but after reading the sign I decided to be very careful approaching any of the heavily overgrown areas which was most of the area near the river. We spent a little time in a playground area, but in the end it was the mosquitos that drove us out of the park. They we really bad there; the worst we’ve encountered so far this summer.

The Airport Hilton

SPOILER WARNING: While I’m careful not to give away too many specifics about a cache, it is always possible I might mention details you don’t want to know. Proceed accordingly.

We had great weather on Saturday, June 27, so the whole family headed out to the airport to release my father’s Chandelle travel bug. We parked at the Airport Hilton knowing the cache GCH31J – Not the Airport Hilton was close by. After a short stroll across the street we quickly homed in on ground zero. At a distance it looked as though a parked bus might cause some muggle interefence, but as we approached we saw that it was empty; the driver apparently gone on break. A few minutes of systematic searching followed and we found the cache, deposited my father’s travel bug as well as the two trackables I had had for two weeks.

We went for a little walk afterward since we had paid for the minimum 1 hour of parking. We thought we could see airplanes taking off, and we did, but the vantage point wasn’t that great. Then we drove to the other side of the airport and found a great spot to watch the planes land at Director Gate and Dixie Road. My youngest daughter Devon loves to watch planes, so we stayed a while and saw a dozen or so some in.

CanJet Airplane Just About To Land

On Monday my father received notification that someone discovered Chandelle but chose not to move it. At the time they hadn’t realized it was a new travel bug, so they left it. They said if they had known it was just starting its travels they would have taken it.  This showed me a new aspect of trackable items that I hadn’t considered before. If I find travel bugs or geocoins in a cache I either move them and log them or just leave them. It never occurred to me that I could log a discovery but not actually move the item. That is something I will probably start doing now. I know I’ve seen quite a few trackables that I chose to leave, and now I know I can keep a better record of them.

I don’t know if I’ll ever manage a “First to Find.” Sunday afternoon I was number 4 to log a find on a new cache down the road from our house. Several weeks ago I discovered a park area just down the road that I didn’t know existed before. The area tucked in behind houses and a forested area used to be a farm  a long time ago, and now someone maintains a mowed walking trail in what used to be a field. The last time we walked there I thought it would be a great place for a cache. Well, someone beat me to it, GC1R7F3 – Dinky Car Treasures, was put there a month ago. A cache for trading match box and dinky cars is great to have nearby as my youngest daughter really likes toy cars. We set off with a couple of cars to trade and after walking the main path first to avoid a couple walking their dog, we hunted down the cache. It took a few minutes of searching but we found and traded our cars.

I’m still thinking of placing a cache in the area. It’s a big field and I think we can put one a good distance away so it will be approved and give people a chance to do a coulpe with one stop.

In a hurry to run some errands Sunday morning, I left the house without my GPSr. I planned to stop at two caches: one I already new the location GC1R72Z – Sam’s Zone, and GC1R752 – Are you smarter than a canine cacher which I new the general vicinity but not the precise location.

Sam’s Zone proved to be a problem again. It seems each time I need to go to the Walmart where it is located it happens to be a busy time of day. Once again too many muggles meant I didn’t attempt it. I’ll have to pick my shopping time more carefully next time.

I knew the canine cacher cache was near the PetSmart store. Previously I bypassed it becuase logs suggested it was missing. This time I had to buy dog biscuits. I knew the cache was available, so I might as well look. Upset at myself for forgetting the GPSr, I thought I would have a look anyway. Since I always decrypt the hints posted on the cache page, I at least had that to go by, and while it suggested a possiblity without being too blatant I proceeded to check a couple of places after leaving the store. Sure enough, the clue lead me to it. I could see it from a short distance, but it was in a fairly exposed area. My daughter and I sat on a curb for a minute, and during a brief break in auto and pedestrian traffic I grabbed the  cache and signed the log. After another brief wait I was able to replace it.

A Friday evening trip to The Running Company in Oakville gave us an opportunity to go for a couple of caches near Lake Ontario. I used to live in Oakville and have always enjoyed going downtown. The downtown core is a quaint mix of  shopping along Lakeshore Boulevard,  old homes by the lakeshore, and the harbour with all its sail boats.

The first cache we attempted was GC11X1F – Good luck with this one! which first required solving a coded set of coordinates. Earlier in the day I took about half an hour to figure out the substitution code and the coordinates I got checked out OK at GeoChecker, a site where solutions to cache puzzles can be checked (if the cacher saves them there.) The coordinates took us to one of the waterfront parks just west of the Oakville harbour. It was a pleasant evening to explore along the rocky beach area, and we casually poked around the area we thought the micro cache was hidden. As in previous situations the fluctuating readings from my Nuvi 250 GPSr made it difficult to home in on a specific spot. We knew we were looking for a well hidden micro, but ground zero had a hundred potential hiding spots. After half an hour of searching we gave up. I’ve never asked for a hint before, but this time I decided to do it. I know we were really close, so I want to go back and find it. I left a message for the cacher who placed this one, but I think he’s away right now, so it may be a while before I hear anything.

Hoping for some better luck we headed to our second objective GC16T04 – LFC – 25th Anniversary which was just a few hundred yards up the road. This cache is by the Lions Foundation of Canada facility where guide dogs are trained. My wife and I both work for a company in the eye care industry, and this organization is one our company supports. My wife had been here before helping out on Community Day, but it was my first time to visit. It was very quiet at 7:30pm, but we had to be cautious as someone was enjoying a drink on their balcony just across the street and had a clear view of us. The cache was a nice quick find after our earlier disappointment. It might have taken a lot longer, but I quickly realized the hide technique was one I had seen before at another cache. We retrieved the cache, signed the log then waited for a safe moment to slip it back into position.

On the way back to our car we picked up one clue to multi-cache GCFBE3 – Sweet Sixteen. I’m sure it will take a couple more trips downtown to get the rest of the clues, but hopefully we’ll be back soon to complete the DNF once we get a clue.

The long weekend gave plenty of opportunity to hunt for some caches. Since I still have a lot of “close to home” caches to find, even going out to run errands gives me a chance to make a couple of stops.  Saturday morning I drove by, but chose not to do GC1R752 – Are you smarter than a canine cacher since the latest log entries suggested it was missing. I see it is back in action, so I’ll be stopping there soon since dog biscuits are on my shopping list. After doing groceries I swung by GC1R72Z – Sam’s Zone. I know exactly where the cache is, but noon on a Saturday is Muggle Central at a Walmart. I had to abort, but I won’t call it a DNF.

Bridge Out

Saturday afternoon the weather looked a little iffy. It was supposed to be clearing, but scattered showers kept coming. We were celebrating my dad’s birthday and decided to head out to Meadowvale Conservation Area so dad could see what geocaching was about. We were lucky. We had a couple of hours with only a little drizzle even though it threatened to be much worse. We planned to do three caches, and the first was the only physical cache from TerraCaching that is close by.

The cache was almost a kilometer deep in the park. We hiked in from the parking area at the CVC Administration office and despite some muddy areas had a very pleasant walk along the trail. Fortunately I had read the updated cache description and logs that said the suspension bridge was out of commission so we knew to approach it from the right side of the river. We found the cache without trouble and enjoyed being able to do so without being observed by anyone. On the hike out we took the trail to the bridge and had a good look at it. The timber supports at either end clearly have cracks in them, so it looks like it will be out of order for a long time. Hopefully they will fix it because it looks like fun to cross.

We drove over to the main park area and quickly chose not to attempt GC1QAYQ – Big Old Tree. None of us felt like wading into the weeds which appeared necessary to approach this one. I’ll come back and do it myself. We headed further into the park to do GCVDQ – Away Mission – Meadowvale. Both my father and I had our GPSr’s and we found the general area of the cache quickly. As always seems to be the case with the Garmin Nuvi units, we found ourselves wandering back and forth in a ten metre area. Ultimately my father spotted the cache, his first find, in a place I thought I had looked already. All in all we had a successful afternoon then headed home for a rib birthday dinner.

My Father and Devon - Away Mission Complete

On Sunday, Devon and I attempted GC12QWF – Clone Zone – Part 1 – Around the River. However, we quickly found the weeds to be a problem. Devon is just three years old and weeds that are knee deep for me are above her waist. There didn’t seem to be any real trails on this side of the river, so we turned back and decided to explore the park on the other side. After a bit of bushwacking we found a mowed trail I didn’t know existed. The trail is easily accessible from Kenninghall Crescent,  so later that day we came back to walk the dogs there.

Monday was a beautiful day for a walk, so the whole family headed into Streetsville for a trip to Murphy’s Ice Cream Shop. I figured this would be a good chance to visit a couple of micro’s on the way home. The first, GC1H824 – Restin’ in Trinity (Streetsville), was a quick find. It is easy to forget with the rebuilt church that the cemetary dates back to Streetsville’s earliest days. After finding the cache we spent some time looking at the tombstones. Some of the older ones are barely legible anymore, and sadly quite a few are for children. One particularly large one lists several children from one family who died over a period of a few years. It makes me thankful that infant mortality is much less a concern now.

The second, GC1QZIC – Wall of Hedge, proved to be tougher. We got to the general vicinity of the cache but the GPSr reading kept moving me about. We had a good idea of what we were looking for and my wife and I kept searching in vain while our daughters played in the grass. In the ten minutes we were searching a few cars passed, and I kept expecting someone to stop. Sure enough, the next one stopped just past us seemingly with a purpose, and I sensed that the couple were geocachers. My feeling was immediately confirmed when I heard, “Did you find it?” called out. I replied, “No.” This was the first time we met anyone geocaching. Hi to RadioFly and SweetGirl who introduced themselves and quickly homed in on the cache. RadioFly’s GPSr took him straight to it while mine put me about ten feet away. We each signed the log then enjoyed some geocaching talk. RadioFly handed me a Serial Kacher geocoin he picked up earlier that I will move along soon.

Serial Kacher Geocoin - Front

Serial Kacher Geocoin - Back

Credit River - Running High and Fast

I decided to try visiting five caches in an hour Sunday morning. Of the five, one I had never been near before, one I had scoped out while driving by, one I had visited before, and two I had tried to find before but failed. This wasn’t as challenging as going to five new ones. All of these caches were within two kilometers of home, three along the same stretch of the Credit River near a gravel path. Things got off on the wrong foot when I decided to take a short cut which unbeknownst to me took me away from the first cache I planned to go to. That was OK. I had to come back past it, so no time was lost.

I tackled the first stage of a two stage multicache, GC15F1A – Bike Along the Credit – Tillsdown Park, which went quickly. I had tried this one once before but the information needed from a sign to do a calculation was missing due to vandalism. The sign had been replaced and even though it had been paint balled sometime recently the information was legible. After a few quick calculations and plugging the coordinates into the GPSr, I discovered the final location was back the way I had come. It was on to the next cache, and I would get the final on the way back.

The next cache, GC14HX1 – Meadowvale Micro Mystery Tour – Tree Protector, was a repeat visit. It was one of my earlist finds when I first started geocaching, and in my exitement of having found it I failed to collect a clue needed for the Meadowvale Micro Mystery Tour series. I didn’t remember the exact location, but it only took a couple of minutes to find. I made note of the clue I needed from the top of the log paper and set off to get the final of the multicache and the one I missed on the short cut.

I lost a few minutes when I spotted a deer about a 100 metres off trail eating some leaves. I hadn’t seen deer along this stretch before and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to watch it. The deer never noticed me. It leisurely walked around for about five minutes before it wandered behind some bushes. This time I managed to get a better photo.

Deer at a Distance

Deer Zoomed In

This is when I made some mistakes. The GPSr told me the multicache final was closer so that’s where I headed first. As I went down the path I realized I was farther along than expected. The distance to the multicache final was closer in a straight line from where I started, but the winding path took me past the other cache on the way. I had to double back to get it which I did. This cache, GCK434 – Parking on the Credit: Hyde’s Mill Hollow, had eluded me once before. It wasn’t going to this time, although I did my best to miss it! I kept wandering around in the cache location with my GPSr readings fluctuating. I don’t know if handheld receiver’s designed for trail use are better, but this is a shortcoming of the automotive type GPSr’s that don’t require the pinpoint accuracy. When you are looking for a tree in a forest and your GPSr changes from 1 metre to 5 metres while standing still, it makes things harder. This is were good hints come in. I kept looking in places where the hint from the cache posting suggested I would find it. It took me a few minutes to realize the hint I was using was for a different cache! No wonder I was having trouble. Once I used the correct clue, I found the cache in about a minute. I knew I was no longer going to get five caches. I just hoped I had time for the multicache final.

Off I went to the multicache final. After a minor detour into some bushes, I doubled checked the hint for this one. After a few seconds of thought I knew wht it referred to and immediately went to the right spot. This was a great example of how a good clue makes you think but helps a lot when needed. The only problem with the final was the location near the path in clear view of passers by who could sneak up due to a blind corner in the path. One of the challenges of geocaching is to do it stealthily so no “muggles” know what you are doing. I retrieved the cache from its hiding place and moved to a picnic area where it looked liked I had stopped for a snack. I signed the log and checked the loot. I took nothing which is what I usually do when I’m on my own. My daughter likes to take some “treasure” when she is with me. I left a bookmark, closed the cache, and slipped it back into its place after waiting for a jogger to pass.

After a quick walk home, I had managed to visit three caches in a hour; door to door. The other two caches will be next.

For this locationless cache I had to find an ad wrapped vehicle. This is what I got:

My wife and I decided to walk into Streetsville Friday evening. It was a beautiful evening, so we headed out for dinner at one of the pubs downtown. On the way I figured it would be a good opportunity to do GCQ4EJ Street Queen – First Reign, since I thought the stages of this multi-cache would be on the way. My GPS was being tempermental and didn’t want to acquire a signal. It finally did once we sat down at the pub. I plugged in the coordinates of each stage while we waited for dinner to arrive.

We enjoyed a good dinner, some wine for my wife, coolers for a friend, and a couple of pints of Guinness for me. After dinner we headed out to do the stages. Since we were in the middle of town we did the stages in reverse order which was fine. However, that meant doubling back to get to the final. It was a great eveing for walking. The only issue was the failing light as it was about 8:15 at that point. We reached the area of the final between 8:30 and 8:45 and had to look quickly. It took a little while and despite a few thorns and a GPS reading that was taking us a few metres off target, we found it.