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Bicycle Caching Summer 2007 Southern Ontario


Couparangus

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Greetings all!

 

I thought this would be a good time to start a topic on some cycle caching for the Southern Ontario area for this summer. Historically these "events" have been well attended and enjoyed by all participants. Its a great way to up your cache count quickly and we always have a laugh. Generally we stick to bicycle-friendly routes and avoid any hardcore off-roading.

 

Let's get something planned soon!

 

Cheers!

Coupar Angus

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I wouldn't mind seeing the next one be in not-Toronto.

He he, I'm still waiting for that Don Valley ride! Yeah, there are a couple bicycle designed caches in the surrounding areas... I think some were posted in the last thread. Maybe we can plan some different rides for a couple weekends during summer.

 

TOMTEC

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I'm up for any or all of the above ideas., especially the out of Toronto cycling routes.

 

In the meantime though, why don't I toss out a starting suggestion.

Meet at Sunnybrook Park (Leslie and Eglinton area)

10am, sunday May 26th (the week before Spring Fling III )

 

Head south on the Don valley trail to the waterfront.

East on the waterfront trail past the Beaches to Victoria Park ave.

North on Victoria Park to Taylor Creek park.

West down Taylor Creek Park to rejoin the Don trail

North on the Don trail back to the parking lot at Sunnybrook.

 

The only problemI know iof is the piece of the Don trail between Queen St. and the waterfront trail. That section of trail was closed in 2006. anyone know if it's been reopened yet?

 

BTW, if we feel up to it, we can add the Leslie St. Spit as a side trip on the Journey.

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I set up a rail trail cache a couple weeks ago, and a bookmark list that includes it and other caches along the trail between Camridge and Paris. A very flat trail with a couple nice lookout areas, and very little crossing of major roads.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...bf-8ee6050ca831

 

The trail continues on into and through Brantford after Paris alond the SC Johnson trail. (about 14km) and the Gordon Glaves memorial pathway (12km) with another 32km into Hamilton. I only know of the Cambridge to Paris portion, but I'd love to go the entire way, but would likely need a lift back to Cambridge to catch the bus if it went all the way to Hamilton.

 

I have a brochure about the trail I picked up while setting up the cache. I could try and scan it.

 

There's also some bicycle caches north of Waterloo. This series of 8 just showed up this week.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...80-638cff9ee250

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It would be handy to have an online calendar for planning stuff like this. I just threw out one idea and picked a date for it to get things started. I have no intention of leaving that as the only cycling date this year, so don't worry too much if you can't make it to one.

 

I like the idea of doing some of the Kitchener/Waterloo area trails. There are a lot of nice cycling trails out that area, with plenty of caches along them. The Elora-Cateract trail is another good one, although sort of lacking in caches as of the last time I looked. Here is a good spot to go to to check out the Grand River trails. I've also got cycling trail maps for Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga, and Oakville in PDF format if anyone is interested in them.

 

what I'd suggest is that everyone interested in doing a cycling trip pick a route and a date, and post it here. anyone interested in it can then negotiate to work out the best route and date for everyone.

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I have an idea. Chris-Mouse organized the Hamilton one, who would have imagined using the Linc as a bike path, and I organized the Toronto Island one, the rain was not my fault, really it wasn’t. How about we have someone else pick a date and location, and who ever can go, goes? That way we can give everyone a chance to pick a place they think would be good.

Edited by Keith Watson
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If you decide on the Bridges one I posted, any weekend is good, weather permitting (I really dislike cycling in the rain, more for the safety factor than any sort of wetness issue) I'll be there.

 

This is another series in the Waterloo area that has many country stops, although I'm not sure how bicycle friendly it is. Again, pick a date, and I'll be there. June 10 is the only NO date for me.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...b7-32a886554f3d

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Since my weekends are tight before the end of June ( Multiple Weddings, Births in Family, Anniversaries, Multiple Birthdays, Allegany Geo-Bash, Spring Fling, etc etc etc), I'm going to step back and watch what is decided, and make the call based on that.

 

I suspect I'll be missing the first ride, but maybe I can catch a second one. I'm available every other Friday, as my employer gives us a Friday off every two weeks. I also have some vacation time left to use up.

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There seem to be muggle issues already on the Bridges series, so I don't know what is going to happen with that, although replacements are promised. I've dropped the owner of the Country Roads touring series a note about the feasability of biking that one.

 

I guess I'm the organizer via Russian volunteer system for the Waterloo region one.

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OK. Let's try this.

 

May 19th, the Saturday of Victoria Day weekend, at, say 9:00 AM, at the first stage of the Bridges of Waterloo Country cache. Rain date: May 20th. They are all either micros or small caches, so no swag will be needed, just the GPSs and the bikes.

 

If people solve the puzzles in the last six of the series, send them to me via PM or mail through the site, so we can plan other caches that are likely only a short diversion from the path.

 

1. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...80-638cff9ee250

2. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...69-b4508bf07fd4

3. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...7d-05e2e3757800

4. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6a-846a9cc54f68

5. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...91-6759f519e943

6. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...55-a3f8c73ff228

7. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...55-a3f8c73ff228

 

Nearby and only 0.28km from the start of the series.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...78-17b429b1c7d8

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I'm just researching the rail-trail betwixt Barrie & Orillia too. Which I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago.

I see 28 along the railtrail and including all those in Orillia, and 8 on sideroads if we make a loop of it. This may be too much for some players so we wouldn't necessarily have to hit them all.

 

This one is good for me because I have exactly zero finds in this area.

 

Thoughts?

Edited by Couparangus
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I'm just researching the rail-trail betwixt Barrie & Orillia too. Which I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago.

I see 28 along the railtrail and including all those in Orillia, and 8 on sideroads if we make a loop of it. This may be too much for some players so we wouldn't necessarily have to hit them all.

 

This one is good for me because I have exactly zero finds in this area.

 

Thoughts?

 

Hey, that sounds like a great trail to explore. I'm game to go for it, just pick a time.

Even if we don't hit all the caches, the distance shouldn't be a problem. Last year's Hamilton cycling trip involved some 40km of cycling, including climbing the Niagara Escarpment, but nobody was overly tired at the end of it.

 

That does give me an idea though. Last year the first priority after the cycling was to find some place to eat. If we schedule the cycle trip for some time in June, what are the chances of someone in the COG group being willing to point out a good eating spot in Barrie by hosting a pub night there?

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Sorry, I've kind of stopped following this thread. Is the intent to ride from Orillia to Barrie in June along the North Simcoe Railway?

 

There are tons of places to stop and eat in Barrie. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the NSR ends close to the west end of the city. It would actually be about a 10 minute drive back into Barrie from the trail. A good spot to park for pick-up would be Fort Willow. Sunnidale Rd takes you back into the city where you can make your way to Bayfield and pick and chose from restaurants.

 

I'd still like to join you but we'll have to see what my schedule is like for the month. Plus I've done most of the caches along the way; except for the NSR series.

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Since we've already had a couple of drop outs, for May 19/20, I'll move it forward to May 26th with a raindate of May 27th. I may take a trial run out there over the next two weeks to look for nearby eateries or to check out the parking situation by the first cache.

 

I made an error in cutting and pasting the list above, so here is the correct final:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...85-e885cb87dda6

 

I also attempted translations to the puzzle caches - these are other possibilities, as they are less than a kilometer from some of the caches:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...3a-6457a2d45f2a

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...28-5bdd50e797f2

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...b1-16ad12e26118

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...e3-71a73966cde0

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...91-9b6b59201f33

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If you are thinking of a place to eat in Barrie - Moose Winooskis on Bayfield street is a great place for an "outdoors" themed pub night.

 

MW's is at N 44° 24.468 W 079° 42.348

Here is the website - http://www.moosewinooskis.com/

 

The date is too close to "baby" time for me, so I can't promise i will be there, but I am interested! Maybe I will even place a cache or two along your route

Edited by Juicepig
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Here's what I heard back from the cache hider concerning the bridges series. Either way, I'm still up for doing the series next weekend as long as the weather is nice. I would like to have some idea of how many others will be coming so I can check out parking.

 

I'll re-search with the coords that were confirmed to look for other caches in the area, as well as in the recommended eating area.

 

Hey Homer,

 

(Edit concerning the caches location. I don't want them published publicly)

 

The start and finish are within a kilometer of each other so parking at the start or finish will work.

 

How many cars do you think there will be?

 

If 3 or 4, then there is some grassy parking at the start and some on-road parking at the start.

 

If lots of cars, then some could park at the start and some could park at the covered bridge parking lot and bike to the start.

 

There is no real restaurant on the route, but since you do have cars, you could head into Elora.

 

There are outdoor pubs which would’t mind your business.

 

If you have any trouble, call my cell phone 519.XXX.XXXX (HomerJFong note: Edited for obvious reasons)

 

Good luck

 

Ps: there is a trick to the final. It is not at the published co-ord’s. If you go there, you will find a re-direct to the real final. If you use the co-ords in stage 6, it will take you right there.

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With the start just over 48 hours away, here's an updated forecast:

 

High of 21 degrees. Mainly sunny with 0 percent chance of rain and just a very slight breeze.

 

If you're definitely coming on Saturday, drop me a PM or e-mail and I'll send you the co-ordinates for all stages of the series.

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It isn't going to matter. That sunny, beautiful forecast this morning has changed to a cloudy day tomorrow with a beautiful 80 percent chance of rain. Blech! Not the weather I want to be biking around in the countryside. Sadly, when the weather looked so nice for Sunday, I booked myself for something on Sunday.

 

The next eventless date is June 9th.

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As luck would have it I was able to tiptoe out of the house at 12noon and do some caching. I rode the trail from Barrie to Orillia and back. Well, I cheated and turned around 3 miles shy of Orillia. I'd be hip to doing it again to finish it off as I missed a couple. It was 36.1 miles total, definitely at my upper limit.

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As luck would have it I was able to tiptoe out of the house at 12noon and do some caching. I rode the trail from Barrie to Orillia and back. Well, I cheated and turned around 3 miles shy of Orillia. I'd be hip to doing it again to finish it off as I missed a couple. It was 36.1 miles total, definitely at my upper limit.

Mini Me's Mindless Multi is on that trail and is designed to start in Orillia and takes you to the Barrie border. You can pick up several caches along the trail as fillers. I would suggest you do stage 1 and then drive to the stage 2 parking and start riding from there. That will get you out of Orillia proper and into a large parking area to start the ride.

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Another rail trail that has several caches along it, north of Barrie, is the North Simcoe Rail Trail. Start at NSR1 – Chip Wagon and finish with NSR Final – Crossings. Check out our bookmark NSR Series.

 

And then there is the Thornton-Cookstown Trans Canada Trail. Start at CT1 - Pining for Cookstown and finish off at CT8 – Downs End which is located right beside Georgian Downs. There are 2 Tim Hortons along this trail and a couple of pubs as well as The Downs. See our bookmark CT Series.

 

Going from Orillia to Coldwater is the Uhthoff Trail. There are several caches along that trail.

 

And yet another rail trail goes from Collingwood to Meaford. There are several caches along this one as well.

 

So if you want to get out of the city and cycle some trails and find some caches along the way you have choices.

Edited by IsqubaAndNawty
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Let's try again. Maybe the forecast won't change this time and things will go perfectly.

 

Saturday June 9th, meet at Cambridge-Paris Rail Trail Bike Tour (GC125F7) and complete it and the caches on the bookmark list below. The trail is very flat and is hard-packed dirt for much of the way. Very minimal crossing of streets, especially after you pass the Footbridge. There's plenty of legal parking at the trailhead.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...4d-5e598ff4537b

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...bf-8ee6050ca831

 

I'm not available for a June 10th rain date, but if others want to consider that the rain date, I wouldn't object.

Edited by HomerJFong
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