Aerodoq

An intrepid team of cachers brought 100 ammo cans into Canada from Washington state for an upcoming event here in BC. Kudos to Catapult Jeff and Iron Maiden. There's a bit of their tale here: http://www.bcgeocaching.com/index.php?name...p;p=16754#16754 A>

The Vancouver park with the greatest number of caches is probably the Pacific Spirit Regional Park on the Point Grey peninsula on the west side of Vancouver (near UBC). Despite what you may be hearing in the news today and in the days to come, the park is quite safe. It has a large number of easy walking trails, covering quite the distance but also has a number of parking areas where you can drive to access caches instead of walking for many kilometres. The terrain is varied, covering Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest (ie big coniferous trees), hardwood forests, peat bogs, harbour cliffs, and kilometres of sandy beaches. There quite a number of traditional caches, a few multi's, a few puzzles, an earthcache, and the oldest cache in BC. Cheers, A> (@anthonyfloyd)

I've got a list of BC Lower Mainland geocachers here: http://twitter.com/AnthonyFloyd/geocachers-yvr-yxx and an international one here: http://twitter.com/AnthonyFloyd/geocaching Cheers, A> (@anthonyfloyd)

OK, I sent a newbie who I knew lived quite close to the cache to go look for it. However, in his excitement of finding his first cache ... he forgot about the coin. He did mention, though, that since it's so close he doesn't mind going back and checking/grabbing the coin and moving it to a more-frequented cache in the area (or maybe bring it to Vancouver). Cheers, Aerodoq

The Geomate.Jr works fine in Canada. Check out http://www.geocaching-101.com/2010/03/21/geomate-jr/ for our review. Also, you can buy them from a Canadian retailer, Landsharkz carries them for example. A>

I wrote a bit about our experience with it here: http://www.leftcoastfloyds.net/2010/01/geomate-jr/ A>

Sounds great ... except I hope you mean you're processing by longitude not latitude A>

Brrr, still a little cold and snowy in the northwest (I'm thinking the Yukon or Northwest BC) but if you want to send it to Vancouver (sunny and warm here don't you know -- Winter Olympics and all), we could set it on its way.

I don't usually do multi's, typically because I'm caching with a 3 yr old and his attention span isn't quite long enough. However, I recently completed a multi while on vacation (the toddler was with a grandparent) that was great. Cruel and Unusual (in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) I won't reveal how many stages it was (part of the fun) but it's more than 10. Typically cachers track over 11km back and forth across a hilly forested provincial park with great views of the Atlantic Ocean. Some cachers have reported doing it in just over 3.5 hrs, but typically it takes several days of return visits. The waypoints are not containers (again, revealing what they are would ruin the fun) and are slightly evil in their placement. The final is an ammo can, locked with a padlock. You need to have gathered the combo numbers from other stages, and if you've done the job correctly you have more numbers than you need. Here's my log:

I agree with Miragee, but if you really want to do it the way you asked then this is how I *used* to do it: 1) From your "MY ACCOUNT" list, assign the caches you want to a new bookmark. That is, create a new empty bookmark, then assign the caches you want this time to the bookmark. Actually, I find that it's easier to do this from the map rather than from the list of caches because there are bookmarking shortcuts right on the map. 2) Create a PQ from the bookmark 3) When you get it, open the zip file in GSAK, but in the importing options uncheck the "Use Defaults" check box then select the "Set user flag" option, and the "Clear user flags first" option 4) After the PQ has been loaded in, use the GSAK Search menu item "User flags set" to filter to just those ones you've recently imported 5) Transfer them to your GPS/PDA The problem with this approach is that finding the caches and sending them to a bookmark is slow. Plus you will sooner than later run out of bookmarks. Deleting caches from bookmarks is a bit of a pain, and you can't dump a bookmark w/o removing the caches from them first. Much better to do as Miragee suggested and get a PQ for a particular area and then use GSAK to filter them down to the ones you're interested in (certain type/rating/location/etc). Hope this helps, A>

Thanks for the update! Aerodoq <-- (note the 'Q' at the end ... could you change the racers site please? : ) )

Well, there are a couple actually on Granville Island and a few more that are nearish. Of the two on Granville Island, one is a micro that is in heavy muggle traffic constantly and has traditionally been difficult to find (although I see it's been pretty good lately). The other is a quick easy find a little bit out of the way. For starting out, though, Stanley Park might be a better place to start. There are some larger caches there, and there might be a few less muggles. You should look at this thread too: Vacationing in Canada without a car, visiting Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary from the UK Cheers, A>

Well, depending if I get a broken GPS, you might find out. April's coming up and I've got some ideas...

I'll echo the others. The Yaletown Currency Exchange is a fun, if not surprising find. By The Light of the GPSr is also a fun find, but could be muggle heavy. There are a number of others in Stanley Park that aren't micros too! The south side of False Creek has some but the cache density isn't very high, and most of the caches are on the smaller side. Still, a visit to Granville Island is a must, and from there you can strike out and go after a few more. Queen Elizabeth Park is a bit further away, but accessible by transit. It's a nice walk and there are a few caches there including a nice "traditional" multi that tours you around the park. If you're really adventurous, you can take transit out to the Point Grey pennisula (with the UBC campus on it) and visit the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. There are many trails through this large park, and there are a number of larger caches scattered through it. However, you can expect to walk several kms while going from cache to cache. And it's hilly. But it's West Coast rainforest, so that's kinda cool. I'll also support the others: WestJet is the way to go for regional flights. If you want some help on some of the transit options, drop me a line. Enjoy your visit! A>

Trying to figure out what to do with the broken GPS? I'm looking to acquire one for a project. The make/model doesn't matter as long as it's a handheld. I don't think I'm willing to pay much for a broken GPS, but I'll pay for the shipping. A>

... OK, that make a lot of sense. Thanks!

Hmmm, interesting indeed. I wonder if the parks board has put that into policy, or if it's just the musings of an independent-minded commissioner.

(cross-posted at bcgeocaching.com forums) It seems to my uneducated eye that many urban caches (and off-road too I bet) are placed with the 'easier to apologize than to ask permission' philosophy, with some of the 'frisbee' rule thrown in too. To be strictly correct, though, we should be seeking permission for all caches not on public land, and even for many of the public areas I wonder how many of those strictly should be approved too. In that vein, I wonder if there's anyone in the Lower Mainland (or in BC) that can provide me with examples of approaching businesses or institutions for permission to place caches on their property. I've got a couple of ideas for caches in a number of publicly accessible places but on non-public property. (If it's publicly accessible and you're encouraged to be there, I have a hard time calling it 'private' property.) Anyway, I thought I'd take the 'hard' route and see if I can get explicit permission for a couple of potential locations. To do this, I'd like to be able to point at other local caches where people have sought and obtained permission for the cache. Does anyone have some examples or personal experience that they could share? In terms of letters asking permission, I've got some examples from other places around the world, but again if anyone has a local example, I'd appreciate some pointers. Cheers! A>

My caches with external links have the same problem. Adding rel="nofolllow" to them didn't change the behaviour. No linking seems to work, the html munger munges it pretty good. Caches: GC18XFD GC18EJ5 A>

There is one cache outside Halifax NS that has a small device in it that lets out a cat 'meow' when the cache is opened. Given that the cache is located somewhat off the beaten track, and given that NS has various species of wildcat, it is a bit of a momentary rush of adrenaline if you're unaware of the device. In fact, when my wife and I opened it up, we both scurried back about 10 ft to evaluate exactly what was going on. I'm sure it would have looked pretty funny if there were anyone watching, and we had a good sheepish laugh about it. Anyone looking through the logs of the cache, though, would have expected something. Given that this was one of a run of 40 for the day, we weren't too careful about reading all the logs. In the end, we didn't see anything wrong with it, and still get a chuckle over the experience. A>

We've been caching since April, just after our son turned two. Now, with 200+ finds, only 40-ish of those were without the toddler. The biggest thing we've learned is that the boy is boss. When he's hungry, eat. When he's tired, let him sleep. If he's done, we're done. Bring lots of snacks and drinks. Don't fall into the "one last cache" trap and stay out too long. Patience is key. Be willing to give up looking for a cache that's taking too long and the toddler is getting bored. Keep it interesting for them. Let them open the Lock-n-lock. Let them look through the swag. Let them keep swag (make sure you've got a good selection of trade items, and wipes to clean off the newly acquired swag). Make it an adventure. Our boy loves going to look for "treasure". He loves "going for a walk in the woods". He loves The Backyardigans, and often sings the "Treasure, treasure, find some treasure!" song from the "Pirate Treasure" episode. You will be limited to the terrain you can tackle. Many urban caches are stroller friendly. We use a backpack for some of the less urban caches, and let him walk for many of the others. For the most part, anything rated higher than a 2 is pretty tough with the toddler. Bring a partner. Usually one of us is looking for the cache while the other is keeping the toddler engaged. Caching solo with the toddler is *really* tough. It's not just about the hunt. You'll discover playgrounds you never knew about. Stop and let them run off some steam. You'll discover "attractions" you never knew about. Enjoy them. Sometimes you'll abandon the hunt because the toddler's discovered something more interesting. Did I mention patience is key? We average about 4 caches per caching day with the toddler but a good day is about 8-10. Of course, that's a function of the cache density in your area too. Anyway, that's my experience. Your mileage might vary!

We use one of those "Universal" cell phone holders that latch on to the centre console air vent. Our Vista Cx fits in the holder fine, and the holder is easily removed from the vent when we don't have the GPS in the car. The holder was $15 or so, but I bet you can get them cheaper if you look around. Ebay? A>

Geocacher-U has some things that you can print out, including a few FTF certificates: http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/printables.html A>

Testing, testing, testing