Victoria Day Caching

About 3pm on Victoria Day, we decided we had time to go back to the South Gower park cache we couldn’t find a couple of weeks ago. We were much more prepared this time, and though it took a little while, we finally found the cache. A very clever hide it was too, but if you have your wits about you, and pay attention, it can be found. Now I’m ready to go back to a couple of others this guy has placed, as we might be on to how he thinks a bit better. I spotted where this cache was, walked up to it, and thought, no, it can’t be there, but 15 minutes later, that’s exactly where it was found.

We did notice that someone had gone on a bit of a rampage since we were there last. Various things had been kicked around, or smashed up. But no harm done, thank goodness.
Once again, another family was entering the area here, to hunt for the cache. As we were just about to put it away, I went over and suggested they turn around for a moment or two, so as not to spoil their fun. The log shows that the gentleman we hunted with last time never did find this cache. Hopefully he will come back for another try too.

On the way home we stopped for ice cream at the Red Barn. It seems to me I’ve mentioned that place before. Well, even though it was not a particularly warm day, they certainly were busy!

We took our ice cream and headed for Burritts Rapids. There is a new cache on the Tip to Tip trail. I’m not recommending this one to anybody though. Oh, go for the walk, figure out where the cache is, then go home. Even the sign at the end of the trail mentions calling 911 in case of emergency. No sense in creating one, I say. Even so, I’m sure I aged a few years at this location.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Today we finally succeeded at finding a cache, and then failed at finding another one.

We had tried to find the cache at Burritts Rapids twice before. It’s a multi, and the first time we were stopped when we discovered the sign referred to for waypoint 3 had been destroyed. A couple of other waypoints described things by colours though, so we continued along the trail and tried to find something useful so we might continue our quest. No such luck.

After reading the logs online, I discovered that the clues for waypoint 3 were still there, written somewhere with magic marker, so off we went again. We got to where waypoint 4 was supposed to be, and I remembered reading in the logs that if you found yourself standing on the grass, not near anything, (as I did) to take 6 steps in a certain direction. I tried that and saw a metal post, the sort of which should have had a blue tag on it. It was bent over and had no tag .

It was back to the drawing board. Or in my case, the computer to e-mail the person in charge of this particular cache to say that it had been destroyed once again. He apparently checked and e-mailed me back to say I should be looking for a green 2x2 wooden post, in the same general area I had been. And if I didn’t find that, the next waypoint was also written in magic marker someplace else.....and he told me where.

Well, today we went to try this one again, and found the marker for waypoint 4 but it wasn’t on the sort of stake he told me it was. We could not find where he may have written it where he said that was either. But we did have new numbers from what we did find, so off we went.

Well, hey, we found waypoint 5, though it was sitting in the middle of a swamp (we HAVE had a lot of rain this year, after all). After that it was easy to find the actual cache. Mind you, the bugs were bad, so I grabbed the first thing that caught my eye without even looking at the rest of it, signed the book and got the heck out of there while there was still enough blood in my veins to survive the experience.

It only took 3 trips to this area to find the darn thing, but you can't say we aren't persistent.

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After that, we went looking for something at the Ferguson Forest Centre. There are several caches in there. We stood right at Ground Zero for one of them but never did find the cache. It was probably staring us in the face, since the guy that hid it is famous for cleverly disguising his caches. We even checked into an animal hole. Ground hog, or possibly fox. Nothing. More bugs, and a lot of heat, so we gave up on that for today.

I did venture down an embankment for some pictures, but the mud started sucking me into the little stream. One minute I was fine, then, without even moving, I started sliding. I was going to land in that stream for sure but I managed to grab something and stop myself just in time. I did get rather muddy in the process though.

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Tip to .....well, not quite Tip

On Tuesday, June 10, we decided to try the Burritts Rapids Tip to Tip cache again. Last time we didn’t get very far as there was a sign missing, but we have since discovered that the information is still available, sign or not, so we were able to do the calculations to get to the next waypoint. Unfortunately, that one seems to have been vandalized also. I’ll be watching the logs closely, and if and when it sounds like it’s been fixed, we will pick up where we left off and finish the hunt.
On the last attempt I spotted a red trillium. This time we saw a turtle that seemed a little different from others we’re used to. I’ll have to look this one up.

Tip to Tip

It was a nice day for a walk Saturday, and we had some time so we went to Burritts Rapids to do the Tip to Tip cache there. I’ve walked the trail heading west before, and for some reason, thought that was the direction we would be going for this cache. Of course, I should know by now, I’m never right when I think I know where I’m going.

I had read the logs last year, and knew that the sign mentioned at the first waypoint was missing, so I looked up the numbers needed to calculate the second point. It was the year that Burritts Rapids was founded. The second waypoint was easy to find, once we realized my preformed assumptions were false.




The sign at the third waypoint, was however, also missing, so we couldn’t do any calculations after that. We did press on though, knowing the rest of the clues had colours associated with them and thought we might be able to spot at least one of them along the way. No such luck. We did see turtles, fish and even a couple of fishermen....not to mention a red trillium among the usual white ones. And we found a lovely hidden spot for a picnic, complete with three tables and a barbecue. There was even a little garden planted around a tree. I’ve only been going to this place for 34 years and had never found this spot before. This is just another example of the treasures that can be found while geocaching. It’s not all about what’s in the actual cache itself.

This particular cache is supposedly hidden near something that should be easy to spot, but we didn’t find that either.

I’m not logging this as a Did Not Find. It’s close to home and we WILL find it.....eventually. Yes, we are both that stubborn.

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