Trail Mix

Night Cache

2011-12-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

One night over the weekend, there was a wonderful full moon out and the temperature was above zero Celsius, so we randomly drove to a cache area. Once there we did a half mile walk to the cache and then bushwhacked to ground zero. Despite the great light cast off from the moon, the bushes still seemed eerie. Luckily all went well and we made the find. The stroll back was even better since the breeze was behind us. It was a great night. Sometimes night caching can be just as good as day caching... this was one of those times.

Black Friday Upgrade

2011-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

So we decided to upgrade the GPS to a Garmin 60s. After receiving it, we took it out on a 4 day - single cache workout. Hasn't been much of a test for it just yet, so the jury is still out on if it is any better then the Colorado or not. Either way, it is a nice unit and we're glad to add it to our caching arsenal.

2011 Recap

2011-11-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

This year started year late as we experienced one of the worst winters in quite a while. The first real adventure was the annual Cache And Release Winter event at the beginning of May. It was a cold day with quite a bit of snow on the ground. After the first two drive by caches, the third was along the Sturgeon River. We spent way too much time slogging through the hip deep snow, though getting the First To Find (FTF) was a nice reward. It was then we both decided it was time to invest in some snow shoes. So it was off to Canadian Tire and then back out into the frigid weather. Armed with the new equipment, we found our stride and grabbed seven more caches. It was great fun and made us fans of snow shoeing. Unfortunately, the time spent fighting with the deep snow and buying some snow shoes killed most of the day and with night falling along with the temperature, we decided to call it a day. 10 finds in total with 5 FTFs. It was fun. Next year we'll be better prepared for the snow.

Our next adventure came in July. We headed off to Utah for Tatterhood's brother's wedding. On the way down, we stopped and cached at the various rest stops. After the wedding, we headed to the Moab/Blanding area of Utah for a family reunion. Once there, we grabbed several caches in the area and made a trip over to Mesa Verde in Colorado... of coarse we had to grab a Colorado cache. A few days later, we headed over to Arches National Park... but driving through the entrance just seemed to simple, so we decided to put our stock Toyota Tacoma (Obsidian) to the test and take the off-road way into Arches. This involved taking Obsidian up a few mountains and doing a few rock stacks. Despite her long wheelbase (she's a Crew Cab), stock all-weather tires and retarded mudflaps, she made it no problem. Naturally there were several cool caches along the way. It was a great and memorable experience. On the way home, we were able to stop at a few caches that I've (Torran) has been eyeing for years.

Since then, caching has taken a backseat to life. We did manage to find a neat cache out at Pembina River and another one on Nov 11 at around 11:11pm. So hopefully now that things are quieting down again, we'll be able to get back into the sport we love.

The Kokopelli

2011-03-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

This past year we went down to Utah for Christmas. While there, we took Zer0 up on his offer to go do the Kokopelli Series of geocaches. The series is made up of approximately 150 caches, placed in such a way as to resemble the Kokopelli. The link below offers a map view of the caches... zoom out to see the picture.

http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx?lat=37.033767&lng=-113.963867

The caches were laid out in the desert and after much hiking, we found all of them. Though it wasn't about the numbers, we did hit the 1000 finds milestone. More important though was the adventure of wandering around the desert and completing this series.

2009 Utah Adventures

2011-03-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

I decided to break up this next part of the 2009 adventures into 3 movies. All feature areas within Southern Utah.

2009 Adventures Part 1

2011-03-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

After a year in the waiting, I finally got to doing a 2009 Adventure Video. This is Part 1 of our 2009 adventures and features Elk Island National Park, Slave Lake, and Alberta Beach.

Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Discovering Cooking Lake

2010-08-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

On Aug 7, 2010, we headed out to a place many geocachers have talked about; Cooking Lake and Blackfoot Rec. Area. It was a great experience from the moment we got there. Being new, we wandered over to a map and tried to figure out where to go. We were quickly apporached by a friendly Host who directed us to the right paths and told us some of the structures we might encounter along it. Our first few caches along the well groomed trails were challenging only in the fact that there were swarms of mosqiutoes hiding out in the bushes, waiting for some crazy fool to come close enough... AKA... us.
We were impressed with how maintained the trails were and how there were pit toilets and shelters all along our journey. We managed to make it to a shelter about 6-7 kms from the stagging area where we found more toilets and a fresh water supply... they really know how to take care of a hiker/biker out here.
The highlight of the day came when we were riding down the trails and came around the corner. We quickly stopped and stood in awe as a male Moose strolled less then 40 ft away from us. At first he watched us intently, but when we didn't move he just went on eating leaves, every so often checking to see where we were. After some time he wandered back into the bushes, but this was not the end of our encounter. A female moose decided to be brave and follow the male. She crossed the trail even closer to us and then away she went into the bushes again.
We managed to grab 9 of 10 caches... the one that got away was in the middle of a mosquitoe infested, thorny bushed area, 200ft from the trail. The sad part is, we were the first no finders of that cache ever... rats. Probably one of my favourite caches of the day was a huge keg sized cache. Funny thing was it was classified as a regular...but it was clearly a large... still it was a great experience.
We both highly recommend this area for caching and hiking/biking and we will be back.

Jasper-Banff Cache Adventure

2010-08-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, Joe Teton joined us and Anyatoo as we went off to Jasper and Banff for the weekend. On the way to our first stop in Jasper, we stopped in Hinton to show off a few of the local caches. Once in Jasper, we traveled to Pyramid Lake, the summit of Whistlers Mountain, and around the town-site collecting memories and caches. After two nights, we headed south to Banff, stopping along the way to visit wonderful locations with a few of them having caches and earthcaches. We spent two nights in Banff as well. The first day we headed back to Lake Louise via a secondary scenic highway again stopping at many locations and finding various caches, including a cache hidden in an old 1930's car that was abandoned long ago. That night we tried to go to the Banff Upper hot springs but were turned away due to someone blowing chunks in the pool. Then a big storm rolled in and we hid out in a Boston Pizza. While there, Torran turned on the GPS and discovered a cache across the street... we just had to go get it... after supper. The next day we headed home stopping by some Drumlins for a quick cache... last one of this trip.

The Return To Hinton

2010-05-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

Apr 23, 2010 we decided to take a break and head back to Hinton after 2 yrs. The weather held out for most of the trip and we were able to explore the town and Switzer Provincial Park. One of the highlights the trip was the fact we found our first ever Difficulty 5 cache.

On the Sunday, instead of heading home, we went the opposite direction to Jasper and then onward across the Alberta/BC border so that we could get our first ever BC cache and also so Tatterhood could save she's been to another Canadian Province.

On the way back, we stopping in Jasper for some lunch at Jasper Pizza (I highly recommend) and then it was back home. In all we found 37 caches and got to explore some really interesting areas.

Inga

2010-05-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

In honour of our beloved dog, Inga who we will and have missed deeply.

We love you!

Hold down the fort.

CARW2010

2010-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

March 13, 2010 marked the begining of our caching adventures this year. It started with the annual Edmonton Car And Release Winter Event... aka CARW2010. The event involved all area cachers hiding winter friendly, non micro caches in the Edmonton Region. The caches all get published on the same date and are then free game to grab.

We picked the closest to our house to begin the adventure and when the starting time passed we came up with the First To Find (FTF). MadCapR joined us in an all day frenzy that led us through St Albert, Edmonton and into the acreages of Spruce Grove. In the end we came up with over 20 finds including 6 FTF's!

It was a great day... hopefully one of many to come.

2008 Adventure Video

2010-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Decided to make a video slideshow of 2008's pictures. Enjoy!

Atop The World

2010-02-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

These are from our hike up the mountain beside the condo in Hawaii.

Turn up the volume!

Chasing Satellites

2010-02-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

The year 2009 started out with us in Utah. For Christmas, Joe Teton (Mariah's Dad) had gotten a lot of geocaching materials. Here we see the mastermind showing off his grasshopper cache.

Of corse, we did go out caching as well. This is down by Santa Claira. We were out with Mariah's parents (Joe Teton and Anyatoo) and with Mariah's old boss (Zer0). Mariah decided to try out the range of her camera, to the left is was it looked like at full zoom.

On the right, is what it really looked like.

Later that year, Mariah's sister came to live with us and we took her on a geocaching trip to Alberta Beach... the scenic route via Westlock.

Once summer had FINALLY arrived, we headed north to Slave Lake. This is one of the most unique caches we found... two tin cans placed one inside the other. It was called "The Poor Man's Cache.

As summer came to a quick close, we decided to camp in Elk Island National Park. Sure enough, we hiked one of the trails and found a cache... luckily we didn't run into this guy out in the bush.

In October, we went to Hawaii with our good friends. We stayed on the island of Oahu and found 3 caches. One at the Dole Plantation, another at the Polynesian Cultural Center and the last one on top of a mountain beside our condo (You can see the condo in the middle).

Our year ended with a trip back to Utah for Mariah's sister's wedding in November. While there, Joe Teton, Baconator(Mariah's Brother) and Colin made 100 finds in one day. We finished 2009 with 317 finds, bringing our total caches found to 747.

The Spirit of Adventure 2008

2010-02-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

A brief glimpse of our adventures in 2008:

During the Spring of 2008, we spent most of the time close to home, finding and placing caches when we got a free chance. Here is Colin (Torran) placing one of many caches in a local park.

In the summer, work was busy, so we didn't travel far. There were plenty of caches around town. This particular cache was one from a winter Cache and Release event where only ammo cans were used. Unfortunatly, this cache and the whole green area was ripped up due to a new ring road, the Anthony Henday, being constructed not long after we found this cache.

In July, 08 we headed out to Pigeon Lake to see Colin's Aunt with Colin's Dad and Brother (MadCapr). On the way, we stopped off at an Earthcache... Leduc #1

In September, Mariah suggested an impromptu trip to Hinton. On the way there we cached, making the 3hr trip into a 7hr trip. We stayed the night at a hotel and then went out on a winding bike trail in search of caches. What a spectacular hike it was!

In December, Colin's office had their Christmas Party in Jasper. While everyone else went drinking, we went caching. This is just one of the many beautiful views we enjoyed while there.

In December, we also went down to Utah for Christmas. Naturally, We had to go out caching with Mariah's dad (Joe Teton) and later on with some of our geocaching friends... Zer0 and Baad Daata. On Christmas Eve there was a wild blizzard. Two days later we went out to Baad Daata's to see how she was and also to take a look for a cache she had in her yard.

Baad Daata also took us to another one of her caches:

THE GRIDWALK

You walk 21 sqaures out on the rebar/steel girder covering the Silver Reef mine shaft. Then drop to your knees and feel around for a thin fishing line. Pull up all 50 ft of line and you got yourself a geocache.

In all we finished the year with 430 cache finds.