The tale of the first cache I've ever done

[+Kabuthunk]

First, some backstory:

Various siblings in my family have been geocaching for some time now. At one point or another, they told me about this new hobby, and I became vaguely interested. Looking further into it, I discovered that this was quite a bit more widespread than first anticipated (although I wish there was more closer to my apartment ). In either case, the problem remained that as of this time, I did not, nor do I currently as of typing this, own a GPS system.

 

So, after much poking around online to decide on which GPS unit to buy, I eventually decided that for the purposes of camping/hiking/vacations/geocaching, I would save up and get the Garmin GPSMap 60 csx.

 

Anyhoo... in a state of boredom at work, I popped in my zip code and decided to see what was close to me. Well, I've done this before, but never really LOOKED at them... just the distance from my apartment (the closest being about 1km away. When I get a GPS, expect several to pop up closer ). I quickly discovered that one (I'll be seeing you blitz) was about a 1/2 block from the workplace I was currently sitting at (ahh, Shaw).

 

Hence... I noticed the mapquest mini-map located on each of the pages on geocaching.com. Clicking on said map, I was able to zoom in as far as it goes and get a general vicinity of the cache. However, having a previous history of knowing Mapquest can be horribly off at times, I was somewhat skeptical of my chances. It rated it as 1-star easy however, so it was worth a shot. The map gave me about how far down the road it's on, and what side of the road it might be on.

 

So after work today (well... Aug. 12th... it's technically after midnight as I type this), I pull onto that road, and give a quick scan. Note: It was dark, and really foggy, and rather ominous around there. I kinda like that... creeps you out kinda . In either case, there were pretty much only several places it could really be. A few quick glances around and my second guess turned out to be the right one. This cache now contains one more log entry, a chainmail Tetra Orb (see my profile on geocaching.com), and is minus one plastic skull-ring... to be kept as a memento of my first cache ever :} :} :}

 

Aaaand so, I'm now hooked on this more than before, even before owning a GPS system. Who knows, I might be able to find a few more before I get it

 

And that's the very beginning of my geocaching tale.

[+mr.chopstix]

Nice to see another winnipeger out there caching.

[+GreyingJay]

Nice to see another chainmailler, too

 

Do you get your supplies from The Ring Lord?

 

I thought about leaving a chain sig item (probably a small patch of 4-in-1, 1638 BrightAl) but it's just so time consuming

 

There are some good caches in Winnipeg. I only ever got to see about 6 or 7 of them in my brief stay there, but I enjoyed them.

[+Fergus]

I agree its nice to see another chainmailer out there geocaching. I leave chainmail balls as my sig item.

 

[+Kabuthunk]

Nice to see another chainmailler, too

 

Do you get your supplies from The Ring Lord?

Yes, yes I do (well, except the galvanized steel I made my first shirt out of). I'm 'Kabuthunk' on that board too.

 

And on a random note... 5 pounds of the 16gauge, 3/8" inner diameter rings make approxmately 236 Tetra Orbs . I've got my work cut out for me... well over 200 caches to go before I'm done!

 

Not even counting the micros

[+GreyingJay]

I can only imagine how beefy your hands will be by the end of that.. mine start to hurt just thinking about that!

 

At least it's 3/8". My first project was a belt made with 1/4" galvy... and I even cut the rings on my own... man, did that ever take a long time.

 

Nowadays I order 1438 Bright aluminum, but even so, I haven't actually had time to do much in the past few years. Fun to teach others to do, though.

[+Kabuthunk]

I know the feeling of self-cutting. My shirt and coif was made by self-coiling (as in... coiling wire around an eye-bolt twisted by hand), cutting it with a pair of nippers, and weaving.

 

BUT... the stainless steel I'm purchasing. I'll also be remaking the shirt and coif in stainless. Helluva lot harder to coil and cut, and if I buy it, the cuts are a lot better.

 

However, in regards to geocaching... I'll have to buy me a mess of 18ga 3/16" rings (at least I think that's the size I'm using for my Mobius Balls for micros. I'll double-check before ordering). I've only got about 6 micro-chainmail balls made, so I'll have to stock up soon.