Mike & Jess

Anyone that was looking for the discontinued Geo-bike geocoin, send me a PM. My wife had a batch minted as myself, along with others had wanted this coin which was no longer available. My wife actually sold my unactivated coin on me. I didn't want to make this a sales pitch, hens the reason I didn't directly link the sales page. I can/will forward the link to the actual sales/information page upon request.

If it is encased in epoxy and is a food product that will not destroy the container from the inside (i.e Coke will eat the linking of the can that contains it), you should be fine.

This started out as a personal challenge, but I figured I would open it up to offer an interesting twist to this year's caching. The goal is simple; Find a cache of each difficulty/terrain level. The original thread and registry can be found on our local forum NOG 2011 Cache Challenge

Good points. All gear should be tested when you aren't in a survival situation. Being a Boy Scout in AK taught me how to build a fire in a rainstorm. This is NOT easy and takes a lot of practice. I would guess that most people are not capable of building a fire out of anything but bone-dry wood and lighter fluid. Fire building is something you can practice in your own back yard. As for the fishing, I remember many years ago I was out in the middle of nowhere in AK. We were backpacking and had camped at a very remote lake. I thought I would "test" my survival gear fishing equipment. I found a long stick and tied my hook and line on and threw it in the water. Using no bait at all I was pulling a trout in every few minutes. That was the only time I ever tested my survival kit fishing gear. So I can eat like a king with this stuff! Actually I know that there is probably about a 95% chance the fishing gear would be useless in most survival situations, however, the tiny amount of fishing gear that I have weighs next to nothing and takes up almost no room in the pack. Also, the fishing line could be used for other things besides fishing. I learned how to light fires many different ways through boy scouts, cadets and my grandfather. The one thing I noticed recently is, if you don't use it, you'll lose some of it. It is funny, if you don't need to fish, they will bit like crazy. If you are in a jam, good luck getting a bit.

Just like a Maritimer! Giving directions by referencing something that isn't there any more. I was going to say something about that, but I do the same thing.

PB jars are pretty common in our area. Another really good container that has been used heavily in our area are 1 gallon olive containers (don't remember the brand). They are plastic with a good gasket. You need to wash it out many times to get that olive smell out. As for the original post, I didn't mean to paint the entire East Coast caches as being bad. The title was meant to attract attention, which it did.

With all those hides you have, how do you find time to pull off that impressive find count?

I admit I haven't been about to get out much further then in and around the in-law's house with all the rain since I have been here and with Christmas and all. I'm going to be back in the summer and plan on doing lots of caching then for sure. Coffee would be cool. I am head to Halifax on the 3rd, then home the next day. I am heading out for the night now. Will be back on the forum tomorrow morning.

I was looking for anything and everything I could find. The material I'll be focusing on for our local guys will be really an introduction to it and work from there. Maybe a couple more focused advanced courses/presentations as the need arises. I am not much of a power user myself. I got the basics at the camp fire during the Spring Fling 6 event, and ran with it. Putting together a presentation will make me learn more of the ins and outs.

Good call. I didn't want to sign up for another forum while away from home. Hopefully I'll get a good enough response from this forum to save signing up for another. Thanks for moving the thread

Does anyone know of or have any GSAK presentations or instructional videos? I am looking to introduce GSAK to a number of local cachers and would love to take the easy route. Worst comes to worst, I can/will create some instructional videos.

In our area (Sudbury, Ontario) we have mostly L&L containers and a fair number of ammo cans as well. The nanos are starting to make an appearance in our area (thanks to my wife ). Hopefully I can find a good cache before I leave to place the two remaining trackables I brought with me. I have one large ready made L&L cache to place on my father in-laws property just in case.

We have a fair number of these caches where the CO has stopped being involved back home. There are a few of us that unofficially adopt abandon caches around our area. When I am out this way again in the summer, I'll have all our geocaching gear with us. My wife runs an online geocaching store, so I will have everything I need to bring repair some of the local caches.

Never seen that anywhere I have been. I can see how that would not be nice. The one thing I really like in the East Coast is that ~75% of the caches I have done are suspended off the ground (in a tree or something else). Makes winter caching much better.

Good list for a small/light weight kit. The key to surviving really is knowing what to do with these items.

I noticed out this way, a lot of the caches are off the ground, mostly in trees, etc. Given that the two Christmas I have been out here (this year and 2008) where both snowless, it has been pretty easy. Back home (Sudbury Ontario) I am trying to put out a few more winter friendly caches and make sure to set the winter friendly attributes. When placing caches, don't forget to set it as winter friendly or not.

I carry a handfull of ziplock bags and carry my swag/trackables in a lock&lock. If I am caching all day, I tend to have a couple ready made caches handy to swap out parts if I find one damaged, or low on swag.

Most areas I have cached in have been pretty good. If it hadn't been for the number of caches I have done that where poor, I would have simply blown it off as being the amount of rain that has fallen. I unfortunately didn't come very well prepared, so I didn't have much to repair the caches. When I come back out in the summer, I'll have all our stuff for geocaching, so I'll be able to do my part to bring things up a bit.

I noticed over the last few days (when it wasn't raining) that the cache container quality in the Sydney NS area is pretty poor. The caches are in some pretty cool areas, and if it wasn't for finding wet caches over and over, they would be amount my favorite caches. Of the ~26 caches done in the last week, I can probably count on one hand how many where not wet or damp. Most of the containers have been 35mm film canisters, kinder surprise containers (surprisingly a lot of these), a baby wipe container, and a number of other containers. Is this low quality of cache container common in this area or others? I have not seen a single L&L, ammo container, or anything similar. Of the caches I have done over the last week, only 2 where decent enough to put the trackables I brought with me (forgot them at the house when I found those two good caches).

I think you are correct on the $5 for the life time membership. Mec carries high end stuff, so it can look a bit more pricy, but it is generally well worth the price. One tip for you. Unless your friend is a hardcore outdoors person already, I would suggest looking at a 3 person tent instead of a 2 person. The little bit of extra space will help make them enjoy it more, which means they will like backpacking more as well.

I recieved a pair of Steiner 10x26 Predator Pro for Christmas. They are pretty good. The reviews look pretty good review

Broadstone makes alright fair weather tents. Specs are almost impossible to find on their stuff though. We bought this tent made by them this past spring while camping (not real camping, but in camp grounds) with the family.Broadstone 13-Person 4-Room Dome Tent, 21 x 17' As for the "tire store".... It's a hardware auto,outdoors, etc, department store chain in Canada. For high quality camping gear within Canada, check out mec.ca.

I would not go for that tent for many reasons. My first issue with it is that it would not pack well at all. For me, the time saved opening it, would be lost and then some trying to fold it up. If you are looking for hike in type camping, a pup tent would probably be the best for two people. They take up the smallest foot print, are fairly cheap to buy, and will hold in the heat during cooler weather. My only compaint with these tents is they need to be pegged. I love the hammock type tents for back country camping, but would not recommend them if you are sharing it with someone.

I don't consider coffee as a luxury item. A warm drink helps get the day started and takes no space. Nothing better then flavored instant coffee when it's cold in the morning.

The e-mail that was sent was forwarded to myself. The only address I could find in it was Product.Support@garmin.com