eastriver

Tnx Guy.

There will be lots of these special Events throughout Canada in 2020. Please add yours to the list: Canadian Geocaching 20Th Anniversary Event - Graves Island Provincial Park, Nova Scotia, 27Th June - GC8HJBW

Nice coin "sides" but heavy on the Ont. Going to use a Canada Mint Silver Dollar. Tnx for the reply.

Found one.

Does NOT have to be Trackable.

I need a "special" Geocoin to imbed in a hiking stick, to be presented at the 20Th Anniversary Event on 27th of June @ Graves Island, Nova Scotia. Looking for suggestions. It must indicate Canada in some way. If you have such a coin please post a pic. I am willing to buy, or will trade for it. I have a few rare coins I'm willing to give up.

Will be visiting Reykjavik from June 06 to 11. Would there be any Events during that time? Any must do caches? Where is the oldest cache in Iceland? Any local cachers like to meet up for a coffee? Will be available evenings,or all day June 11th. Greetings from Nova Scotia, and Canada's 1st Geocacher (owner of GCBBA, originally GC41).

On the 28th of June 2000 GC41 was placed at Exit #7 of Hwy 103, near Hubbards Nova Scotia. GC41 was later changed to GCBBA and remains with that name today. I later asked for GCBBA to be changed back, but GC.com would not entertain that idea because of the large amount of data that had already been generated. More and more it seems that GCBBA is attracting cachers who want to visit Canada's first geocache, many of them use it as a personal milestone cache as well. Throughout the year, and esp during the summer months, the cache log shows the great enthusiasm showed by those who visit it. I love reading those, and hope that that trend continues. Thanks to all my friends and fellow cachers who have visited this cache over the years. I hope the interest in this cache continues well in to the future. Happy Anniversay to all cachers. Ken eastriver

I guess i will just have to let the "history" build up and see if it begins to accept the new data in to the Calendar. The Calendar function is not all that important to me, but i have refered to it from time to time and would like to have it working. Will get bored someday and send an e-mail off to garmin to see if they have any ideas. Tnx for the reply.

I can understand the idea of giving a printout to your fellow cachers, but if you upload the geocache_visits text file to the Geocaching website, it makes life easier for you to log your finds, and the field notes you enter on site will help to jog your memory and you can expand the text to write whatever you like when you get home. To upload your field notes, follow the instructions from the right hand column on your webpage: 'Field Notes: Access Your Field Notes for supported GPS devices and applications.' I have noticed this myself and have come to the conclusion that if you leave the unedited geocache_visits text file on your GPS, the Calandar will show the visits on the correct day.... but as soon as you delete or edit the geocache_visits text file, the Calandar no longer shows the info. The Calandar uses the info in this file to display the relevany info, without it it doesnt know what to display. To me this makes the Calandar function useless, as I always delete the geocache_visits text file after each trip. One way that may help you is to leave the original geocache_visits text file on your GPS, let it build up your history ( I think there is a limit, but from what I can remember reading somewhere, it can hold a very large number of visits )..... make a copy of the file onto your PC and edit the PC version and then print ( or email ) this for your fellow cachers...maybe this would help you?

I can understand the idea of giving a printout to your fellow cachers, but if you upload the geocache_visits text file to the Geocaching website, it makes life easier for you to log your finds, and the field notes you enter on site will help to jog your memory and you can expand the text to write whatever you like when you get home. To upload your field notes, follow the instructions from the right hand column on your webpage: 'Field Notes: Access Your Field Notes for supported GPS devices and applications.' I have noticed this myself and have come to the conclusion that if you leave the unedited geocache_visits text file on your GPS, the Calandar will show the visits on the correct day.... but as soon as you delete or edit the geocache_visits text file, the Calandar no longer shows the info. The Calandar uses the info in this file to display the relevany info, without it it doesnt know what to display. To me this makes the Calandar function useless, as I always delete the geocache_visits text file after each trip. One way that may help you is to leave the original geocache_visits text file on your GPS, let it build up your history ( I think there is a limit, but from what I can remember reading somewhere, it can hold a very large number of visits )..... make a copy of the file onto your PC and edit the PC version and then print ( or email ) this for your fellow cachers...maybe this would help you?

The Calendar in my 62s no longer works correctly, and its obviously my fault, but i can't seem to correct it. Hoping someone has a suggestion for me to try. Here's what happened. It was my routine to print out the Found Caches as shown in the E:\Garmin\geocache_visits.(Notepad). These i would give to those i had done a bunch of caches with (who didn't have a GPS with the capability to show Found Caches).This worked great, even used them myself for logging. The file kept getting bigger and bigger so that finally i went in and deleted previous caches from the file and would then only get a 1 page printout. The problem was it affected my Calendar so that now no caches show there. I have tried several times to correct this but nothing seems to work. Or maybe I'm missing a file. Not sure. Done some playing around in there and may have inadvertently deleted a necessary file. Any found Caches when logged will still show in the above file ok, just not on the Calendar.

Is there any geocachers in Blandford, near Dorset(?) A group from Blandford, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia would like to communicte with them please. Ken eastriver

Magellan 315. Placed Canada's first geocache with it. GC41 (now GCBBA)

Is there any cachers on here from Fergus? I'm looking for someone to do a joint caching project with. I was born in Fergus in '47. Joined the Navy and of course moved away. I placed Canada's first geocache in June of 2000 (GCBBA, formerly GC41). I recently became aware that there was an HMCS Fergus during WWII. I would like to do a cache honouring that ship, and of course have it placed in Fergus. If you are interested, and live in, or near Fergus, please e-mail me via geocaching.com. Ken, aka eastriver

I didn't have any finds. My first one was a hide. GCBBA (originally known as GC41)

It took over a year before someone came to my first one (GCBBA). Now they visit from all over North America.

Ordered three on 3rd of March. Link for free shipping was still there so used that. Now I wait I guess.

I certainly don't need any more transparency. Cachers in the Maritimes certainly know who you are. What I do need to know is whose side are you on? Yes, yes, I know you have to follow the guidelines. The "commercialism" thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger. You as a Reviewer must deal with it, and surely you can see the inconsistencies that are happening. So tell us, what as a Reviewer have you done about it? Certainly GC.com will listen to your concerns, even if they don't appear to be listening to the average joe cacher. Only when the "double standard" is fixed will things be smoothed out. Is it not time for some better "guidelines"? Many will say that the current guidelines are just fine, but they are NOT.

UBC Geograd - I agree with a lot of what you said. I never did understand the need for Reviewers to "hide" their identity. One would think that they were also Geocachers, and as such would be more communicative with their fellow cachers.

My dearly departed lost her's at the CITO Event in Halifax two springs ago. We went back a couple of times but to no avail. Some other cachers who lived near Halifax also looked, but again to no avail. Being a female she was of course attached to it. It took a while before I could talk her in to a new one.

The Atlantic Canada Geocaching Association (ACGA) is seeking to make contact with fellow geocachers who are serving in foreign posts. The purpose of this contact is to offer complimentary geocoins to those who would like to have one of the "Canada's First Geocache Commemorative Geocoin" to begin its life in their location. More infomation about the coin can be seen at this website under "Geocoin Discussions" More information about ACGA can be seen at their website www.atlanticgeocaching.com. For those interested, send me an e-mail via gc.com using my profile, eastriver.

I would like to know who the representative from the Maritime Geocaching Association is, and what they are saying on my behalf. I have had a cache on the outskirts of Kejimkujik National Park for 3 years. This cache has not created any problems for the park staff and seems to be quite popular with geocachers camping there. You only need to read my logged visits to see how happy people are to have that cache in place. So I at least want to know what our area representative is proposing. If I differ from their presentation then I want to know it and have a chance to voice my opinion. I have not seen any posts from this person and therefore have no way of knowing what their stand is. Some in this thread have indicated that they are not happy with their representative. Well I don't know if I'm happy or not, since I don't know who it is or what they are presenting on behalf of MGA members.

Maybe someone with lots of time on their hands could come up with a list of all the first caches in each Province. What a series that would be. Could anyone complete such a series?

Recently I was contacted by an ON geocacher (Jeff Mackenzie) who suggested that a plaque be placed at the site of GCBBA, Canada's first geocache. Things have moved along since then. A Maritime Geocaching Association member (Tucats) has volunteered to form a committee to look in to this. Their first meeting is on Sat 12 Nov. Tucats has asked me to tell some of the history of this cache and myself. The placement of the commemorative plaque will probably take place in the spring of 06, on or before the commemorative date of 18 Jun. There have been many suggestions already as to the form of this plaque, what events will be held in conjunction with its placement, etc, etc. It may we become a national event. So any suggestions would be most welcome. Watch the MGA website for further developments. maritimegeocaching.com I bought my first (and still) GPS, a Magellan 315 in the early months of 2000. It was actually purchased through a friend who runs the local Home Hardware. We are fellow Hunter Safety Instructors and hunting partners, so he gave me a good deal. As I was learning to use the GPS I was active on the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup. GPSr were not super accurate at that time. The 315 manual, under Receiver Accuracy states: "The satellite constellation that provides the GPS information used by the receiver is maintained by the Department of Defense (DoD), GPS positioning, for general use, provides 25 meters RMS accuracy or better. Since the signals generated by these satellites are publicly accessible, the DoD has introduced errors in the satellite signals for security reasons. These errors are referred to as Selective Availability (SA). At present, your GPS position will be accurate within 100 meters horizontally and 150 meters vertically. Due to these errors introduced by SA, it is possible to get readings outside (italics mine) of these values at times." So the American military was purposely injecting inaccuracies into the GPS signals so that non-military users could not get a very accurate position. Of course the military's GPS receivers had no such problem. Clinton was the US President at that time, and due to a lot of pressure, mostly from the aeronautical industry, SA was removed from the GPS signal in May of 2000, by order of the President himself. The DoD had already stated that they had intended to remove SA, but not for several more years. So now, all of a suden GPSr are accurate to within 10 meters. They are now, of course, more accurate than this due to WAAS, better receivers, etc. But at that time this was a major improvement. The activity level on the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup really took off. GPS users were just amazed at how much they could now do with their hand-held units. To "mark" a position and return to it, anywhere in the world, and to be within 10 meters was simply incredible. New uses were being "invented" almost every day. The sale of receivers began to skyrocket, and even those companies who already had units on the market were caught somewhat unprepared by the sudden interest caused by the early removal of SA. It was on the -nav newsgroup that I first heard about geocaching.com After browsing the website and seeing what it was all about, I decided that I would like to try this. There was no way for me to tell at this time how many other people were using GPSr, or whether they were interested in geocaching. Now of course, due to the many associations like MGA etc the activity level can be readily seen. The world's first geocache, GCGV0P, was placed almost immediately in Seattle, Washington. So, on May 3 2000, began a now worldwide activity, that even today is still growing. I was somewhat slower and did not place GCBBA until 18 June. It took a day or so for it to be listed at geocaching.com, and I immediately asked them if it was Canada's first, which they confirmed that it was. For a long time it looked like I had wasted my time. I began by checking geocaching.com every day and then slowed down to probably once a week. Of course now they have automatic notification to the owner via e-mail if someone has visited your cache. So it was a long time(more later) before I had a visit to my site. In the meantime, I noticed that there was some activity now in ON and it seemed to be starting to grow up there, but not down here. To date I have had 160 plus logged visits to GCBBA. Canadians from all the way to BC have visited, and many Americans have dropped in. Even had an international visitor from Germany. As cited on the geo.com website, I purposely made it readily accissible to visitors by being on a major highway route. It's easy access has helped to make it very popular, especially in the beginning when people were just getting started. Not everyone has been happy with the cache site though. Some complained that because it was part of an intersection that it was dangerous to stop and get out of their car. Some complained about the water that seemed to surround the place like a moat, and others, who were apparently not used to NS outdoors complained about the mosquitoes and blackflys. The cache has given me a lot of pleasure over the years, and has had some memorable occasions. In 2001, I was asked to give an on-site interview for The Discovery Channel. That was fun getting the cameraman and female interviewer across the "moat", but it went well. Many people became aware of geocaching for the first time as a result of the viewing of that episode, as indicated in their log entries. On another occasion I was driving by the cache when I noticed an ON plate car plate with "Geocacher". I stopped and waited for them to come out, it was a family (TrimblesTrek), and we had a great chat. One spring I had to go in and dig my "bucket" out of the snow. I learned next year how to winterize! I always enjoyed seeing what people left, and on several occasions visited the cache just to view the contents. In the early days people seemed to leave less "junky" things. On one visit someone left a "care bear" that I gave to my daughter. At that time it wasn't unusual to see a pocketknife in the contents. Of course now thats a no-no. In the begining there were no pictures, when digital camers began to get real popular then images were available at the website and this added a lot more interest. I have three caches now, GCBBA, one very near the border of Kedjimkujik National Park, and one on the Aspotogan Trail between Hubbards and Eastriver. The one near the Park was put there after trying to get permission to put one in the Park itself. It is accessible from both inside and outside the Park and seems to be quite popular with those camping. I see from reviewing all the "logs", that GCBBA was the "first" for many new geocachers, and some used it as a "milestone". Groups have visited it, and the Lunenburg High School (15 ) actually started their own cache in the same area. At one time I offered a frameable certificate, which I mailed out, to those who requested one. Unfortunately my printer "went west", and I had to discontinue this activity. I have a new printer now and may re-activate this pursuit during the summer of 06. It was a long time before someone visited my cache. On October 5, 2000 GCBBA was visited by rowsell and her fiance. They had just bought a GPS that day and came to the cache after work. They had actually tried it the day before without a GPS. She had heard about geocaching on Much Music and thought it was something they could do together. On Jun 16, 2001, I managed to get to my first cache GC67B (now archived). There were by then several caches in the Halifax area, but I had not visited them. I had some DNF back then, and it was due to the software in the Magellan itself. At that time the Proximity Alarm would only indicate that you were within 100 ft of your chosen waypoint. Imagine only being within 100 ft of a microcache today. Manufacturers began offering software downloads on their websites. Anyone with a computer and their GPS hookup cables could then upgrade their software to the latest version. This was tricky sometimes and some guys ruined their GPSr as a result. But with the help of others on the -nav , and by watching the questions and answers, I was able to upgrade mine, and several others at a certain hardware store. With the upgrade, now the Proximity Alarm, and other features were down to 1 ft readout, as a minimum distance. Man what a change that made to the accuracy. Now it was a whole new ball game. Not so much physical searching now, but more using the GPS itself to find the cache. So geocaching has been a lot of fun for me. it is only part of what I do with my GPS though. It is my constant companion when in the woods, whether hunting or on a photo hike. I use it a lot in conjunction with the computer and recently purchased a scanner. So now for me, it is a whole new ball game again.