My first Geocache

I placed my first Geocache on the weekend. It was a nice but super windy day and it took forever for my GPS to pick up the satellite signals.

Anyway I knew from walking the dog through the Veterans Park in our town that I wanted to place a cache there. There's never anyone in the park and it's a really cute little place. The trees and lilac bushes are beautiful and there are quite a few well maintained flower beds. There's some park and picnic benches scattered around too. I think it's a great place to let the kids and dog run and maybe discover a cache at the same time.

If you're not familiar with Geocaching then where have you been?! Follow this link and then watch the video below.

I love this game but I'm not a dedicated player. I like to cache when the snow first melts before all the ticks show up. Now that we have Josie I'm getting over my aversion to ticks. Good thing that, it's a bad tick year and this dog loves the bush! We're always picking ticks off her and each other. Gross...

So I've placed my cache and submitted it to Geocaching.com and it's been published! Yay! This is the link to the cache page. You don't have to be a member to see the page but it's free to sign up (so why don't you?).

I also have a few trackables. Trackables are coins, bugs, or other things that have a serial number that allows you track their movement on Geocaching.com. It's a fun way to get even more involved in the sheer scope of this game. It's worldwide people! This is the cache one of my trackable Girl Guides Coins is in right now. This is the map...

It's in Montreal! I placed it along the Trans Canada Highway with the goal of it travelling the world. Montreal is a world away from Indian Head! I hope it somehow gets carried across the Atlantic. How cool would that be if it made it to Europe and beyond?!

So now I have one hide under my belt and I can think of lots of places to hide a cache in this area. I just need to find some decent containers and a bit of fun swag (stuff to trade). This may be the summer of the Great Treasure Hunt. I better get training the geo-pup!

Caching along Highway 619

I took the kids Geocaching yesterday afternoon. We went after lunch for a few hours and good thing too because the heavens opened up shortly after we got home! So much rain and wind! We got snow overnight too, bah! I thought that tackling a few caches along the # 619 range road would be a good way to start our season.

Our first stop was a fun little cache above Redfox Creek Valley HiDeeKi #5. I think that's one of the best things about Geocaching, seeing places you ordinarily would never go to. It's a pretty spot and the cache was an easy find. The Superstar literally tripped over it!

We saw our first crocus. Once we spotted one, they were everywhere...

There's still snow in the shade spots and lots of standing water. We laughed at some of the shapes left behind in the ditches. Like this one...

We drove to the next cache and I can't wait to favorite it! It's called HiDeeKi #10. I didn't know Lake Marguerite was there, ice and all. There were cool stone ruins (probably an old barn) and a pretty little cemetery perched on a hill over looking the lake.

I didn't take the kids to the cemetery because the Superstar thought it was creepy and there was a closed gate. I'd hate to trespass on some one's property but I'd love to go back and have a look at it someday. I also want to check out the lake with the kayak if there's public access.

Kendal was our next stop after the lake. The village of Kendal is truly tiny, only about 60 people live there but their kids park is great! If there weren't pools of water we'd have stayed for a longer time. The cache we were looking for was hidden well, but easy to find. It's called Cummin 22 and it's one of many along the # 48 highway that tcummin has placed. I'm hoping to get all of them this year so I'm happy with the quality of this one.

We were going to stop at the PFRA to let the Superstar find the cache there (I found it last year) but Mr. Man decided to go down the slide in the above picture even though I told him he'd get wet. He had a good slide and a wet bottom and I learned a lesson when geocaching with kids. Always bring extra dry warm clothes!

So 3 out 4 isn't bad. We'll get the last cache another day...

In fact I have a whole route planned out for tomorrow!

A few weeks ago the Pathfinders and Rangers went Geocaching in town. We found a new one and checked in on an old find. It was a cold but fun hour and half of walking around with 5 rather silly teenagers. I think the winter was too long, they were pretty happy to be set loose with a GPS.

When the water dries up a bit I'll be taking this unit south to the number 48 highway and do a geocaching day trip. There are so many caches all along that highway in towns like Montmarte, Kendal, Odessa, Vibank, Davin, and White City. It's a great way to expose the girls to the history and monuments in the towns around us (as that is often where caches are hidden).

I'm lucky that these ladies share my enthusiasm for this game. If you're curious about geocaching check out their website. It's a great way to get outside and participate in the greatest treasure hunt ever.