http://www.bcgeocaching.com/ BC Geocaching Association News en-us Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:42:10 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly British Columbia Geocaching Association News http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.bcgeocaching.com/images/bcga_logo_300x110.gif http://www.bcgeocaching.com/ http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=426 We found this article in the Salmon Arm Observer: "Geocaching Gets Cash Boost Shuswap Geo Quest co-ordinator James Gjaltema holds an example of one of 250 caches to be added to more than 300 already in the Shuswap for geocache seekers to find. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:42:10 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=425 Mr and Mrs Landsharkz actually celebrated this milestone twice... once by accident and once for real. When in Tennessee for Geowoodstock in late May, we did a little caching road trip to Georgia and Alabama with some friends we were staying with (2Fidoes and Clamm). We set off for the day with (what we thought was) 1988 finds. We knew we were not too far from a big milestone, but were not paying very close attention to it. We counted down and when we hit 2000 we wrote "Woo Hoo 2000 caches" in the log book of a micro on the side of a highway in southern Tennessee. Our friends saw our log entry and were rather surprised, yet very pleased to be with us (and us with them) for this milestone. We did the happy dance on the side of the highway and continued on with our wonderful day. When we got back that night, we were rather embarrassed to have to announce that the milestone we had celebrated that afternoon was actually 1900! OOOPS! it was 1888 at the start of the day! When we got back to BC, we were much closer to 2000 and finally hit the real milestone at the BCGA Blitz wrap-up event in Victoria. Much better than at a micro on the side of a Tennessee highway. Friends, and a BCGA event... what could be better. A big thank you to everyone that has come into our lives over the past 2000... Now to catch the Kootenay Pirates! Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:09:05 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=424 The 2Fidoes are Drew and Marie Fidoe, from Victoria, Vancouver Island (hee hee). Drew and I have been geocaching since July of 2004. Actually, it's mostly me, Marie, the 'One' of 2Fidoes. Drew is sometimes along for the adventure, as an extra set of hands on very long arms! We've managed to get our old friend Ickster into caching (who then begat the Landsharkz), and we have also made lots of new friends through caching. Our favourite caches are ones that take us on a good adventure, bring us to a new-found place close to home, or get us out-and-about while we are travelling. We recently hit our 1,000 milestone while down south for GeoWoodstock VIII. When a cacher in our group hits a milestone, we usually try to make it a special cache, either through location or a fun event. Drew was hoping that GW VIII would be the 1,000, but we still had a three-state caching day to get through! With the multitude of micros we were hitting, I was just hoping that it WASN'T going to be a micro! Our caching day took the 2Fidoes, Landsharkz (Chris & Helen), and 2 parts of CLAMM (Mike & Lisa, cachers from Minnesota who were our housemates for the week) to Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama... one cache even took us to all three states and two time zones at once! I was hoping that one would be 1,000, but of course it wasn't. What did it end up being? EE0853 (GC1B98A), a micro in Bridgeport Alabama... and not a very interesting one at that. I was soon to be proven wrong! We like micros that are interesting hides... this one was hidden in a bullet! Yup, you know you're in the states when a bullet is used as a cache container! The sun was just setting, and the birds were just settling down... including the kildeer nesting not 10 feet from the cache! We wouldn't have even seen her if she didn't start swaking and carrying on. She was on full defence display, and Chris got some nice photos of her. The setting for this cache was also interesting... and old train station, turned into a museum. And of course caching is always a fun adventure with friends! It was great to share the milestone with my #1 caching buddy, Helen, who has shared so many adventures with me over the last four years! We've met so many cachers over the years, so it was appropriate to be sharing the milestone with Mike & Lisa (and all the ticks we picked up along the way!) So this cache really did have all the elements we like about caching: an interesting location, a diversion while on vacation, an amusing micro cache containers, wildlife, and old and new friends to share it all with! Thanks to all you cachers for putting out the caches for us to hunt! Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:06:53 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=423 We started caching in 2005. It took awhile to get hooked but we did! We have found that by caching on any trip, you get to find all the beauty spots normally just residents find. We tried hard (and succeeded) to get our #1000 at the Coal Rush Event. We had planned to have #1000 be the end night, but 2 more caches presented themselves so it was #1002. We have even discovered more about Kamloops trails in the last 2 years than we ever did in the 30 years we have lived here. We've found everything from Hoo Doo's to water falls. BC really is beautiful! Mrs Zee Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:04:42 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=422 Our very first cache was found June 21, 2007 in Revelstoke BC. We had heard about Geocaching from our Nephew in California who at that time had 28 finds... we thought "oh my" we will never catch up to him... We got the bug, and that was the end of "kick back" weekends LOL! On June 20th, 2009 our #2000 milestone was reached almost two years to the date of our very first find. Geocaching has brought us closer to the environment that we live in and makes us appreciate it so much more. We have met many wonderful people on both sides of the Border because of this sport and look forward to making new friends along the trails.Thank you mrlashbrook for introducing us to this game, our lives (and legs) will never be the same! Cheers! Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:02:16 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=421 Our very first cache was found June 21, 2007 in Revelstoke BC. We had heard about Geocaching from our Nephew in California who at that time had 28 finds... we thought "oh my" we will never catch up to him... We got the bug, and that was the end of "kick back" weekends LOL! On June 20th, 2009 our #2000 milestone was reached almost two years to the date of our very first find. Geocaching has brought us closer to the environment that we live in and makes us appreciate it so much more. We have met many wonderful people on both sides of the Border because of this sport and look forward to making new friends along the trails. Thank you mrlashbrook for introducing us to this game, our lives (and legs) will never be the same! Cheers! Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:40:04 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=420 Steen Bray is a member of the Interior Geocachers and we asked him if we could tell his story. Here it is: "Some of my coworkers and family members call it an obsession, I personally like to refer to it as my passion. We got into caching as a young family of 3 last January with my sister. My sister and I are pretty competitive, so we competed all last spring for finds. With her being in Calgary, and us in Kamloops, she outpaced us pretty fast. Summer came along and we started hiking more and caching less. That's one of the reasons why I cache, it gives me new ideas for hikes. Caching slowed down quite a bit for the last part of 2008. Then I saw the Geostomp Out Winter event coming up, and started to get out caching a little more. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:46:12 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=419 My husband and I have always loved the outdoors and exploring British Columbia. We especially love discovering old Ghost towns, pictographs (rock paintings) and going down roads where we’ve never been before. We love our beautiful province. So when our 25th Anniversary came around my family thought a GPS would be a really great gift for the two of us. (I guess they were always worried that we would get lost.) The first day, I turned our new Garmin on, and I saw a little icon in the menu that said “Geocaches.” Hmmm…. It didn’t take too long after that and I had already found my first cache, only 600 metres from our house! That was it, I was hooked. From that day on it’s been one adventure after another. I don’t know how many times I’ve said “I would have never known about this if there wasn’t a cache here.” I’ve hiked new trails and discovered secluded beaches. I’ve stood at the top of mountains and under a warm waterfall. All because there was a cache there that I had to find. I’ve made some great new friends and I am in way better shape than I was five years ago. All because I’ve been given the incentive to get moving and get out there. What a great sport. I’ve been fortunate that my friends are willing to hike and search with me, even though most of them aren’t “official” cachers and my husband is willing to drive just about anywhere the GPS is pointing. My 1000th find was called “Stones Throw” in Vernon. I chose it especially because it had so many characteristics that I look for in a cache… a hike, a view, a special place and a unique hide. There was even some pictographs close by that we found at the same time. It was just perfect. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for my next thousand! Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:12:56 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=415 June 6, 2009 - Stave Lake CITO 26 of BC’s Geocachers joined the 4 Wheel Drive Association of BC’s 7th Annual Stave Lake Clean up. Together we cleaned up 2,540 KG of Trash and over 1 ton of recycled metal (Likely closer to 3 ton’s, but we are waiting for the final tally.) We managed to fill two dump trucks & a large metal recycle bin. The Video of the event can be found here – Stave Lake CITO. Together Goalie Girl 38, HotRod2, Agassiz Angels, Hell Raisers, Peppy, Ilovevacation, High Maintenance, Grafinator, Best Red, Teskelly, The Curnews, Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden spent 6 hours exploring Stave Lake & putting their best foot forward to clean up the items left behind by those that abuse the area. Numerous items were found and now rest where they belong everything including a Kitchen Sink was found– also several other items that would help furnish your home - Garage Doors, A burned out Camper, Several Computers, a stove, planters, and too many shot gun shells to count. As a group we managed to clean up 2 of the areas that most needed the maintenance, however several other days could have been spent helping out this area. Several of the Geocachers won prizes donated by those supporting the event including a few cases of oil, maps of the area, Cloverdale Paint Gift Certificates – They also enjoyed winning the prizes donated by the BCGA - including the coveted BCGA 2008 Coin. We thank the BCGA for it’s great support of helping out the event, and we look forward to joining the 4 Wheel Drive Association Next year – unfortunately it will be needed. PS - I even think they managed to find a Cache or Two!! Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:06:22 GMT http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=414 Gold Country's Office provided this information for us: "It appears to me that our idea of a Launch Event for this program is slightly different than a traditional Geocaching Event. The launch event symbolically marks the activation of the 72 sites in our program. The sites will remain active year round and in future years, so people can spend all summer collecting stickers, and finish next summer if they do not complete 24. They can also still participate if they are not able to make it to the launch event. The sites used at the launch are the same as our regular sites (with the exception of the temporary mini caches), and there will be 72 throughout the entire region, with around 6 sites in the vicinity of each community. People should not expect to be able to visit all 72 sites on the launch day, as it is unlikely someone would be able to. Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:28:28 GMT