GPS
Global Positioning System.
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Geocaching
Locating items hidden by others using GPS Receivers.
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This part of my site talks about GPS, GPR receivers, Geocaching and anything else I have time for.


03.09.2002

Burnaby Mountain Hideout

Don't have time for an update just yet. But here are 3 images from the hunt for the Burnaby Mountain Cache. (Warning: There may be some spoilers here)

First Waypoint - Different View

Second Waypoint - Different View

Third Waypoint - Different View

 
 
11.26.2001

Introducing Geocaching to Winnipeggers

While visiting a friend of mine in Winnipeg, I noticed that there were a couple of caches in the city limits. So, with a bunch of first-time Geocachers, we went off in search of treasure.

DNTO 2: Hidden by members of the CBC Radio show Definately Not The Opera, this cache had been placed at the base of a tree in the Assiniboine Forest.

Unfortuately, they used a tin can with a dodgy top, which leaked water and completely soaked the contents.

Nevertheless, we took a DNTO sticker and, having nothing else with us, left a coupon for wieners.

Mosquito Farm: This cache was located right where a residential and farm area meet.

This cache was an easy find. The GPS led us right to the spot and only a few seconds of looking was required before we spotted it.

I'm sure that it would be beautiful in the summer time, but on a cloudy, cold day in late November, we were out of the car just long enough to find the cache, log our names and back to the car.

 
11.17.2001

Shore Circuited

My first attempt at a multi-stage cache was successful!

The description for the recently placed Shore Circuit says that it highlights "a few of the North Shore's abundant water features". It certainly does!

All of the locations are beautiful and today was the perfect day to get out there. The first sunny Saturday in about 5 weeks, there were almost no clouds in the sky.

There are spoilers mixed in with some of my other comments, so if you want to see them, you will have to highlight the next few paragraphs:

The first location is a giant reservoir in North Vancouver above the Cleveland Dam. What amazed me was that the water level was so incredibly low! I have been up there lots of times, but I never realized that the water could go down that far. I think I'll take shorter showers from now on.

At this point, the next waypoint (#2) was about 4km away, but waypoint #5 was just .6km to the south, so I decided to do that one next. We walked down along the trail, but when we got to the spot, there was nothing there! The question is:

How many minutes of latitude north of here did Flight 3 end (rounded to the nearest minute)?
I assumed there would be a plaque or something to look at, but I saw nothing. We walked around for 30 minutes but could not find anything that would indicate the answer to this clue.

After feeling lost, we decided to continue on in search of the remaining waypoints. I was convinced that this waypoint was a ruse and I wrote it off in favour of the other waypoints along the way.

From there on, I found the remaining waypoints (#2, #3, #4 and #6) without difficulty.

At the end of the route, during calculations, I had to substitute a number for the missing waypoint. I conjured all of the math I could remember from high school (I was an atrociously bad math student) and tried to figure out what the answer must have been.

After comparing my number against the checksum (I felt dirty having to use that hint), my number matched to my great suprise.

I marched off in the direction my GPS receiver indicated and found the spot a few minutes later. By this time, I was going at a pretty good clip due to my enthusiasm about being the first to find this new cache.

After mis-calculating the distance from the trail and bushwhacking in the wrong direction for about 10 minutes, I came across the final location.

With great anticipation, I opened the cache and voila!, I was the first one to find it!

This was a great deal of fun that took about 3 hours to complete and a visit to some of the most beautiful areas of North Vancouver. Great fun!

 
11.12.2001

Urban Geocaching

After a lovely weekend in Whistler, I came back to Vancouver with a couple more caches to knock off.

With my trusty companion Derek manning the controls, we went off in search of Rotten Ole Stumpy II (Grave Digger) which we found pretty easily. In fact, we didn't need the hint at all, but used it anyway because we were curious what it said.

Next was the travelling Vancouver Transit, which I already found and re-hid a few weeks ago. When I requested the new waypoint from the GPS and it drew the map, we saw that it was down by False Creek. Not too far. We decided to go for it.

The find was an easy one, hidden on a landscaped overpass behind some bushes. On the way back to the car, we passed someone who pointed at us and said: "Hey, that's a Geocache!".

Taken aback and fearful that Geocaching had been outlawed in the last hour or so, I made a feeble and reflexive attempt to hide it momentarily.

When I turned around, I saw that it was a family: Dad, Mom and two boys about 10 and 14. One of the boys was holding a GPS receiver in his hand and was looking defeated.

They literally missed it by about 2 minutes. They told us it was their very first attempt at Geocaching. I felt bad that I had scuttled their very first outing, so I offered the cache to them so they could re-hide it. As true competitors, they declined my offer, but accepted a couple of new waypoints that I had in my receiver.

Later, Derek and I realized that had we hit traffic, stopped at an extra red light, even tied our shoes, we would have missed the cache.

 
11.10.2001

Whistler Adventure

So, while up in Whistler for a relaxing weekend, I decided to go look for some caches in the area.

1. The first one I looked for was simply not possible due to the fact that it is about 6200 feet up and is currently covered in about 2 metres of snow.

The next two were successful, though somewhat remote.

2. The Cairn at Nairn is a nice spot with an impressive waterfall. It took quite a long time to find this one as it was hidden so well.

I placed a Travel Bug in this particular cache. This is a little item, usually a stuffed toy or doll, that has a dogtag stamped with a number. You pick up the Travel Bug and move it to another cache. By noting where the item moves to, you can track how far it has travelled.

3. An American at Birkenhead Lake was an absolutley gorgeous spot at the end of a 17km long dirt road. It is an alpine lake with beautiful mountains all around. Quite impressive.

On the way up, we saw a small herd of buffalo. Seriously. I was pretty stunned. When I get the pics developed, I'll post them.

 
10.21.2001

Vancouver Transit

Even though it was a totally miserable day today, I decided to venture out in search of a travelling cache called Vancouver Transit.

I found where it was hidden down by the Fraser River next to the Women's Correctional Facility and a really cool old swing bridge that I have never seen before. I moved it to a new location that is secret until the next person finds and moves it.

I am starting to have a lot of fun at this!

 
10.14.2001

Salt Lake City

While on business in Salt Lake City, I had a huge number of caches to choose from. I figured I could get 10 or 15 without too much problem.

I was wrong.

After walking around the hills west of Salt Lake for an entire day (and around 16 miles), I came back to my hotel room with blisters the size of quarters that hobbled me for the rest of my trip.

Sadly, I was limited to six caches. Salt Lake City is a beautiful place, I think I'll be back. Next time, I'm taking my mountain bike with me.

Here are the caches I was able to find:

08.22.2001

Next Adventure

I'm hoping that the weather forcast for sunny skies this weekend will be accurate, as I don't want to get stuck in the Vancouver rain for my next outing.

My plan is to visit some of the following caches, located a little farther afield:

08.19.2001

First Finds

It didn't take me long to break in my new GPS III Plus. I uploaded a bunch of locations into the unit this morning and headed off.

I would have been happy to find just one cache buried somewhere, but I got lucky and located four of them.

Here's what I found:

Cache #1 Run-a-way River Log Raft
Location: Found it pretty easily, very open area.
Took: Loonie bottle opener and cards.
Left: Mini soccer ball.
   
Cache #2 Top Arch
Location: Went in circles for a few minutes, as the clue wasn't accurate.
Took: Crocheted bookworm.
Left: Plastic dinosaur.
   
Cache #3 Rotten Ole Stumpy
Location: Heavy tree coverage led to difficulty locating it, but the title helped greatly.
Took: Magic Schoolbus books.
Left: Mini Rubik's cube
   
Cache #4 By Golly A Gully
Location: Hardest one to find due to tree cover and underbrush. Well concealed.
Took: Stuffed hedgehog.
Left: Jasmine hand lotion.

 

 

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