chris-mouse

I'm committed to Field Day this weekend, as is Keith Watson (what about YOU Chris-Mouse??). July 9th is a possibility, but I'm still in "negotiations" with Kitten on this. Last two weekends in July are a definate no-can-do for me. I'd like a refresher on the route please. Well, I be busy across the road saturday. I understand there's going to be a bunch of rowdies hanging out there and I want to keep a close eye on them The plan for the route is to start in sunnybrook park, near GCG0WC There's five caches in that park. (Those cachers who were on the last 24 hour marathon hit 4 of them around dawn) From there, we head down the Don Valley cycle trail, hitting a bunch of caches along the way, and possibly detouring up the side trails to some of the other caches up the ravines in the area. Eventually, the trail brings us out near GC987D From there, we have the option of heading out on the Leslie St. Spit to GCVKC1 before continuing eastward to Ashbridge's Bay and eventually GC2EC6. After finishing the boardwalk, we then head north on Victoria Park Ave. to Taylor Creek and GCV098. From there it's downstream to the Don again, and back up the Don to the cars. note: edit to correct broken links.

Everyone thinks it's a good idea, but nobody's mentioning dates, so how about I toss out some dates. If I leave it for at least two weeks from now, that would make it into July. I'd want to avoid the long weekends, and I'd prefer a sunday, so that makes the following dates preferred for me: July: 9, 16, 23, 30 August: 20, 27 (The 24 hour marathon is on the 12/13th) September: 10, 17, 24 Anything much later than that, and we risk running onto the cold, wet fall weather. Of those dates, which ones are people NOT available on? We can eliminate all those dates and see what we've got left.

Even marking the location of the car doesn't always help. I've been looking for a cache in a park in Oakville. With 5 people, each having a GPS, and the car waypointed, it STILL took 45 minutes of wandering around the maze of trails before we finally managed to track down the car. Ever since then I've added a new bit to my navigation routine. Every time we pass a fork in the trail, I take a look behind me so I know what things are going to look like on the way back.

OK, now that the first cycle caching trip of the year is done, it's time to start thinking about the next one The overall plan for the route is to start at Sunnybrook park in the Eglinton and Leslie area, and work our way down the Don valley to the lake. From there, we go east along the lake, then north to Taylor Creek park. We can then follow Taylor Creek downstream to the Don again, and back up the Don to return to the cars. Along the way, there are numerous side trails we can travel up to visit many of the ravine caches on the east side of the city. I don't have any real distance figures yet, but I'm guessing somewhere around 25km or so, depending on options. I can't promise no hills, but I can promise that we won't have to worry about climbing the Niagara Escarpment So who's interested?

Hey, it wasn't my fault that the city of Hamilton decided to mark a trail on the map before they got around to building it. My stats from the day: time taken - 10:30 to 7:15 - 8 hours, 45 minutes distance traveled - 39.34 km Drinks consumed: approx 1L of water and another 500ml of gatorade highlights of the day: spotting the deer in the forest, and having them stick around long enough for me to get a bunch of photographs of them! spotting the snake on the trail in time to avoid running over it. Sorry, no photographs this time. arriving back in the parking lot with everyone more or less intact, and looking forward to the next trip. I had a ball. Dinner afterwards was really appreciated, even if we did have to drive around to find a place willing to accept half a dozen sweaty cyclists. I'll tell you though, by the time I got home at almost 10pm, I had no problems at all falling asleep so now the question is, when's the next trip?

We won't be putting on any long distance races anyway. Yes the route is about 32K around, but there's also more than 30 geocaches along that route! We'll probably be spending more time hunting geocaches than cycling. The first 15 K has about 5 caches along it. After that, it's just one cache after another as we come back along the rail trails. I know for sure I won't be in any mood for any edurance runs. I'll be cycling from Brampton to Milton and back for a Ham Radio activity tomorrow. (and probably hitting a few geocaches along the route home ) I estimate I'll be doing at least 70km of cycling, and possibly closer to 100km for the day. That should be enough to keep me from running away from anyone by sunday.

Starting and ending area is near Albion Fall.s. Parking at: N43 11.996 W79 49.274. with alternate parking at N43 12.042 W79 48.938 if the first lot is full for some reason. The route itself shouldn't be that hard. we're starting out cycling along Stone Church Rd. for about 10km or so, then looping back along the Chedoke rail Trail and the Escarpment Rail Trail. Depending on how we feel at the end of it all, we can do another 4K out and back along the Red Hill Valley trail as well. For the most part, It's all either on road bike lanes, or else packed gravel cycling trails.

I've been up to Killarney many times, including Silver peak. the trail leading to the top of Silver Peak is on the north side of the peak. It might be possible to approach the peak from another direction, but given how steep the official trail is, I doubt it. If there was an easier way up, they'd have used it. Looking at the trail map, it might be possible to head southeast from one of the bays on Norway lake and intercept the main hiking trail. Then you could follow the trail around to where it meets the trail to Silver Peak. I'd expect to count on at least five hours hiking each way though. If all you're looking for is spectacular views, you don't have to go that far. The trail leading up to "The Crack" can be reached from the portage between Freeland and Carlyle lakes. It's about a two hour hike in, and VERY spectacular. This trail takes you up to the tops of the cliff that overlooks the south-east shoreline of Killarney lake. On the other hand, if you're geocaching, GCH1MZ is at the top of Silver Peak, and GCH2AW is at the top of The Crack, so you can have it both ways

9am sounds good to me. That gives us lots of time to be hunting tupperware, without having to rush in the morning. I've got a couple of possibilities for parking coordinates. There's a set of coordinates for parking for GCGRPH, Albion Falls Trail Treasure N43 11.996 W79 49.274. There's a second, somewhat smaller parking lot at N43 12.042 W79 48.938 I'd suggest we try for the big parking lot, and if it's full, go for the second one. The bicycle trail map indicates that there are a number of other areas for parking nearby, so I doubt we'll be stuck. The weather forcast that far ahead is more of a guess than anything else, but for what it's worth, the Weather Network's 14 day trend indicates that the 11th should be a lot cooler than the last few days have been. Car Pooling: I lknow I'm going to need a lift down there. Is there anyone willing to give me and my bike a lift? Is there anyone else who needs a lift, or has room for additional passengers and bikes?

Best excuses for not finding a cache? Ambulance driver didn't want to detour on the way to the hospital. GC2C1E Feb 9/03 (not logged) Cache solidly frozen in place. GC8BCD Jan 15/06 Cacher solidly frozen in place. just about any cache at the end of a night caching session in the wintertime.

Unless you're going a LONG way out in the woods, the most dangerous animal you'll ever run across walks on two legs, and you're probably already familiar with them. Larger animals might be dangerous, but they're also rare, and usually afraid of humans. If you've got someone else along, just talking is probably more than enough to get them to hide as you approach. The smaller critters like chipmunks and squirrels are "harmless" but can easily give you a nasty bite if they're cornered. It helps to pick up a stick and poke it into all those little holes before you put your hand there. If I'm lucky enough to run across any animal life on my travels, what I normally do is stand still and pull out the camera. Most of the time though they're long gone by the time I'm ready to take a picture You do need to have someone else along if you're way out of the city. Cellphones often don't work, and if you run into trouble, there's at least someone else along to go for help. Dropping a small first-aid kit into your supplies is probably a good idea too. Other hazards that have been mentioned: Poison Ivy. Learn to recognise it, and the kinds of places it grows. It's not hard to avoid. Insects. Deer ticks can carry Lyme disease, Mosquitoes can carry West Nile. Bring a supply of DEET based insect repellent, and use it liberally.

Well, since nobody else has mentioned anything, how about I toss out a date and see who likes it. Quark's is June 3rd, so how about we try for the weekend after that, Sunday June 11th.

If you don't mind driving north from Toronto for an hour or so, check out the event cache: GCT9J5 There's five permanent caches in the park, plus all the other caches that will be placed there for the event.

An event cache would be an idea, but as it stands, I'm not sure it would be approved. We're only going to be at the start/finish area for a short time out of the entire day's activity, and the rest of the time we'll be moving. One possibility would be to have a "refuelling" stop for the bicycle cachers at the end of the day. Does anyone feel like holding a pub night in the Mt. Albion area? You provide the bike, and we'll provide lots of encouragement for working up a very good appetite I plotted out the trail route in Mapsend today, and got a bit over 30km for the total distance of the main loop. If we go clockwise around the loop, we'll be going downhill on the one "moderately steep" hill marked on the Hamilton trail map. Along the way, the route passes within 300 metres of the posted cordinates for 33 caches. For those who are interested, there's an additional 13 caches along the 4km Red Hill Creek trail as well.

Ok, Looks like the Hamilton Rail Trail loop is the first choice, with the Don Valley as a second run for later in the year. I'll try to put together a GPX file of the route, and a list of caches along the way. All we need to do now is set a date. I got the impression that sunday was the preferred day, although saturday would be acceptable as well. So far, my weekends are pretty open. I'll be busy Jun 3rd, Jun 24/25, and Aug 12/13. I'd also suggest avoiding Jul 1/2 and Aug 5/6 as those are holiday weekends. Post what days you're not available, and we'll pick through those and find a couple of days during the summer when we can all get together.

Count me in as well. Bolton is OK for me, although I'd need a lift. It's within cycling range, but the traffic along Mayfield Rd. is downright scary after dark.

The Frigate and Firkin is always available. N43° 42.245 W79° 44.457 All we'd need to do is pick a time. I ran a couple of PQs, and did some checking. Starting from GCTE0V and heading downstream, we could go all the way to the lake, then dodge east and loop through High Park for a while. There's 17 caches along that route, including the ones in High Park. There's plenty of parking available at both ends of the route, and it's almost entirely off-road trails. On the other side of the city, starting from Sunnybrook park in the Eglington and Leslie area, we could pick off GCVCQP (Ed the Stump) and 14 other caches on the way down to Riverdale park at Bayview and Gerrard. Again, plenty of parking at both ends, and almost entirely off-road trails. A good location for refueling the cyclists is something I'm not as familiar with. Suggestions anyone?

hmm, the latest I've ever been out for caching. Skipping over the two 24 hour marathons, it's probably the night the KoBFL team did Bruce Almighty We started the series at about 10pm, and finished up at something like 8am the next morning. Over the last couple of years, I think I've found more caches at night than I have in the daylight hours.

that would be the Waterfront trail. Lots of caches along it in the Mississauga/Oakville area. I haven't been on it much west of there though. The Islands route was nice in that we could arrange a circular route that brought us back to the vehicles at the end of the day. We'd have to arrange some sort of carpooling if we're going to finish the day 20km away from where we started. In the city, the Humber and the Don trails are possibilities. Look at doing those starting from the north end, and working downhill towards the lake, then carpooling back uphill. Further afield there's the Caledon Trailway, the Elora-Cateract trailway and a number of trails in the Hamilton area. all of these are former rail lines (no hills!) that have been converted to trails. The surface is usually fine gravel rather than pavement. The Niagara trails are another possibility. I'd love to spend a couple of days cycling there, and I know there's plenty of caches in the area. I'll have to see what I can dig up about cycle trails in the GTA, and caches near them.

Yeah, that's why we're the Keepers of the Order of the BFL. You didn't think BFL stood for big Flash Light, did you??

I'd be very interested in such an outing. We could do the Toronto Islands again, although the pub fare there is rather meager. Other possible options in the Toronto area are: The Humber Trail The Don River Trail The Waterfront Trail Going a bit further afield, there are many rail-trails in the Golden Horseshoe area as well. The only problem with any of the trails is that we'd end up a long way away from the cars, and have to either cycle back to them or arrange a carpool of some sort. Any other ideas?

Congratulations Keith. May the next 1000 finds be as much fun as the first 1000 have been.

There's at least six that I know of. There may be more now though, Cache Tech has been kinda busy lately. Hoppity! Eurocash Seeing Red in High Park High Park Slanty Hollow Golf Nut Grenadier Pond If you haven't been to these caches, going for a trip there would be a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, and a pretty good way to get a tour of the park while you're at it.

In the long run, rechargable batteries are the way to go. I find I get 12+ hours out of a set of alkaline batteries, as compared to 8 hours or so on a set of rechargables. The difference is that the alkaline batteries get tossed in the garbage at the end of that time, while the rechargables go into the charger to get another 8 hours of use. After three or four charging cycles, the rechargables are paid for. Everything after that is a freebie. Rechargable batteries do have a couple of drawbacks. All batteries lose the ability to deliver power when they're cold, and regain it when they warm back up. Rechargables suffer from this much more than alkaline batteries. I've had a set of rechargables completely 'die' in a couple of hours at -15c, yet after they'd spent the night warming up on the table, they were still more than 50% charged. Rechargable batteries also have slightly different characteristics that can fool battery monitoring software. The lower voltage of the rechargables makes the my Magellan think that a freshly charged rechargable battery has already lost about 25% of it's life. The rechargable holds that voltage better than the alkaline battery, so when the battery is almost dead, the Magellan still thinks there's more than half of it left. The "low battery" warning is a joke with rechargables. With alkaline batteries, a low battery warning means you've got 5-10 minutes to get a new set of batteries in place. With rechargables, a "low battery" warning means you've got 5-10 seconds before the unit shuts down. Go with the smart charger for the batteries. A smart charger will shut down the charging when the battery is charged. This prevents overcharging, which kills more batteries than all other causes combined. Overall, go with rechargable batteries, but make sure you have a second set of charged batteries with you all the time. A third set wouldn't hurt either, especially in cold weather. Keep the spare batteries someplace warm, like an inside pocket, and they'll be ready when you need them.

You really have to ask?? Of course I'll be there! Dates. June 24th/25th is the amateur radio Field Day. We probably want to avoid that one. July 1st is Canada Day, and August 5/6th is the civic holiday weekend. Another couple of dates to avoid. Other than those suggestions, I'm open for any weekend. One other thought. The full moon is around the 10th for all three months, so that's probably a good target to shoot for.