Holiday Weekend Cointest

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

Ok so it's holiday weekend, and I am sure like me there are others who wish they were at some flash coining event like GW, but aren't.

 

In fact, this weekend, I shall not be going very far at all, GeoDog aka Caesar is unwell; he has a knee injury and was at the vet hospital yesterday for x rays and fluid to be drawn off his knee under anaesthetic. He's still pretty spaced from the drugs so I have lifted him onto my bed and he is resting. Hopefully he will sleep off the after effects and manage to eat something a little later.

 

So, that's our holiday weekend, nursing my canine pal and mucking about online.

 

So, without further ado, it MUST be time for a cointest ... but only for those not at GW 6. (Forgive me, but us stay at homers need a little action)!

 

What you have to do: Post a photo of an animal you have encountered while caching ... it might be an animal you have taken with you or an animal you have come across along the way. Please say a little about the circumstances of the photo too.

 

Who will win? I shall determine two winners, one by random draw and one for the picture I like the best, and the cointest will be open until 16:00 BST (British Summer Time) on Monday, so that is just over 48 hours from now.

 

The prize ...

 

A geocoin for each winner with an animal on it. I need to go get my box to check which ones I have extras of, but for sure, coins with animals on. (I'll edit and add the names in a bit).

 

Please one post per caching name per hour ... so get posting!

Edited May 24, 2008 by Dorsetgal & GeoDog

[+Geo.Error]

We did together with Error cache Safari GC1A0X8

We walked beside Safari animals[ the name of the safari park is Beekse Bergen]

and Error was suddenly rolling in leafs

 

 

We looked at him and saw he was he now under-cover, he was fitting by the safari animals

[+usyoopers]

[/img]

 

ooops...working on getting the picture in

Edited May 24, 2008 by usyoopers

[+BackBrakeBilly]

Ok, here is a little wonder we came across and just had to post the picture, I know...It's not a dog but we though she was kinda cute!

She was just waking up from a KittyNap...

[+Celtic Cache Trio]

I was scouting an area for cache hiding spots and had to pass one of my newer caches along the way so I wanted to stop and check on it. As it turns out it was missing but there was a trade off. I heard an animal "crying" so I went to investigate it. Turned out to be two baby raccoons. The one that was crying pretty much kept it's distance but the other one was very interested in what I was doing. While I was in the tree looking for my cache it come around under me and sat looking up at me. When I came down it came right to my feet and was playing with my laces and letting me pet it. I called my wife on the phone who rushed up with our camera and we got a ton of pictures. What an experience.

[paganfrog]

thanks for making this a fun cointest. i have lots of photos on my phonecam, but its a new gadget to me and i havent sorted out uploading the pics to my computer yet. i hope to get them sorted out later today. i want to join in on here.

[+usyoopers]

 

Got it! That in itself is really good for me, I'm not the greatest with technical stuff!

 

We don't have possums in the U.P. We were caching in Lower Michigan, trying to finish up the "A cache in every county in Michigan" (what a job that was!) We were in a swampy area when this little guy crossed the trail in front of us. The other yooper went mucking through the swamp to find out where he went, a swamp rat he called him, we found him hiding in this stump....isn't he cute!!?!

[+kdv]

Hurrah, a cointest! And this one seems perfect for me! This way I can share my most special geocaching experience yet:

Some time in March of last year, I went geocaching by myself here in Tuscany where I live. While logging one of my finds at the edge of a vineyard (GCR3EJ), I hear some rumor behind me so I turn around to see what it is. I see this 'weird' animal that I cannot really place. I have associations with a hedgehog, but it's definitely not that, since it's about the size of a smallish pig. The animal seems to be looking for food on the ground with its snout, and while doing so it comes closer and closer to me, without noticing my presence. It then stops at about 4 feet from me. By that time I had already taken out my camera and taken a few shots. At 4 feet it stops to rummage in the ground a bit more, so I snap away with my camera. Then after having taken all the pictures I wanted, I decide to back out slowly and quietly, since I still don't really know what I am dealing with. After a few steps the animal obviously hears me, as he puts up its spines and starts running away at quite an impressive speed. Unfortunately I did not manage to take any pictures of it with its spines up

Back at home, I start googling and discover that I had been dealing with a porcupine, and that it's actually a nocturnal animal. So I guess it was quite a rare occasion to encounter one during the day (a very sunny one at that). If I remember correctly, the porcupine is also amost blind and deaf, which explains why it could come so close to me without ever noticing me. The encounter was a good incentive to go geocaching on my own more often, as I don't believe this would have happened if I was with someone, inevitably making more noise, like idle chitchat

Here is one of the pictures I took from close by:

 

Edited May 24, 2008 by kdv

[+Team FIREBOY]

Here is a picture of KYO the GEO doggie at a cache in Wyoming. Thanks for the cointest. I was really bummed about not being able to go to GW6.

[+hollora]

Thanks for the cointest. I didn't make it to GW6 either. Thanks for this opportunity to have some fun at home.

 

This photo was taken in March 2008 when my husband, who seldom goes caching with me, decided to come and bring his best buddy, our beloved Boxer ~ Buford, along for a ride. If Ralph came caching so did Buford.

 

We went to Rogers Point in beautiful Steuben Maine. Ralph and Buford enjoyed the beach while I seached for the cache. Little did we know, Buford would pass away less than one month later at 10 years of age. This is the last photo we ever took of him. He was my hubby's best buddy. Gone but never to be forgotten!

 

Ralph still comes caching we me on occasion but it's not the same without Buford!

[+Us 4 and Jess]

 

The cache this photo was taken was Britains Higest Pub, which is at Tan Hill, here is my write up from the cache page:-

Oh my what a place that pub was, I had a huge spider on my head half way through my Sunday lunch, it frightened the life out myself (it was on a fishing wire controlled by the Landlord of the pub!!) LOL, there were lambs running through the pub that really thought they were dogs and let everyone stroke them, there were loads of dogs and hens and all sorts, a full grown sheep chased Daniel across the car park because he rattled his bag of sweets!!

We did have a good laugh watching the lambs roasting them selves but laughed even more thinking Daniel had ordered lamb for his Sunday lunch when they ran through the pub and someone said theres your lunch but its a bit rare

 

Thanks for the cointest

 

Ohhhhhhhh forgot to say I hope Ceasar is feeling better soon, give him a HUGEEEEEEEEE cuddle from me.

 

M

Edited May 24, 2008 by Us 4 and Jess

[+gardengorilla]

Thank you for the cool cointest...I sure am bummed I am stuck at home, missing out on all the fun and trading. And to top it all off, it's been raining for 5 days now.

I am going to try and post a link to a video my son shot in Costa Rica. We rented a boat to get to a cache called Playa Blanca. On the way to the cache we got to see some dolphins swimming alongside our boat.

 

http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg136/g...nt=HPIM1049.flv

[+Tschakko]

A cointest, a cointest woohooo

 

Let´s get started:

 

This is the story of my 199th and 200th cache. I actually just wanted to do one, but it took me too far in the direction of the second that I did that one too. All in all I had to walk about 10 kilometers.

It´s been a sunny day and some fun caches I met many different things and saw interesting locations on my way. I could tell about natives living in the trees, that were besieged by the swedish people (proofed by the stone). Moose watching "missile silos" and odd signs.

This is some pics of the day in one pic:

If you like to see more or can read Germany, you are welcome to see the logentry at

Logentry

I hope you have as much fun looking at the images as I had taking them

Edited May 24, 2008 by Tschakko

[+grodan & fiabus]

On a cachetour in july 2006 we came across this little cousin of mine.

 

 

Not that big but there were alot of them.

 

grodan Karin

[lorca.nl]

on 06-04-2008 we did walk the cache Little Paradise GCRWVQ and it was a beautiful day.

when we begin to walk the cache we hear a falk.

we look up and we saw 3 falks flying and they flown above our head the hole cache.

it was a funny cache because i was more looking up then where i was walking so i stumblel a lot time`s onm my face.

my hubby did`t see the humor of it but me i had a lot of fun looking at the birds....

 

so here a picture of one of the falk

[+The Walkabouts]

Out caching with the family at Crosswinds Marsh in Michigan. Beautiful area, lots of wildlife, even a pair of nesting eagles, and as the picture shows, plenty of baby geese.

 

[+Nochipra]

I don't have any pics while caching but I just wanted to wish Ceasar a good recovery. Take care, we are stuck at home too, WAAAAAAA!!!!

[+Geo-Gophers]

Really sorry to hear about Caesar, he couldn't have a better nurse by the sound of it though.......poor wee man.

 

This is a great idea, really enjoying all the pics.........especially seeing some very different types of animals from those that we get here in the UK!!!!

 

The pic below is of one of the red squirrels that we saw when we were at the "Bloomin' marvellous" cache in Cumbria (March) this year. We had read the cache description and it mentioned red squirrels. We had actually drove away from the cache and I said to Andy, lets go back at just sit for a while.......so we did and boy were we rewarded!! I honestly never wanted to leave, got very little caching done that afternoon lol......just happy to sit quietly and watch. We went back another day and saw them again......and spoke to a really nice woman who goes along that road regularly to feed them. It was without a doubt one of the most memorable caches we've done......

 

Edited May 24, 2008 by Geo-Gophers

[+PengoFamily]

We had a travel bug that was in a race with another to visit certain zoo's in Canada and the US so we took it when we went to Toronto to the Toronto Zoo. We saw many types of wild life and had to protect the travel bug from many vicious predators. LOL Here is a pic of the travel bug (which is a giraffe) in front of the zoo.

 

[+nashuan]

Hey Dorsetgal & GeoDog:

 

Hope the little one feels better I found my very first cache just yesterday, but didn't spot any critters, so I'm not submitting an entry. Just wanted to say thanks for holding the cointest for us stay-at-homers, and I love the pics I've seen so far. Keep them coming!

[ATMouse]

 

We had some friends visiting the area and we went to Letchworth State Park and cached some. This little fellow was fluttering about, but he finally settled down on the bed of Wolf Creek and I got his picture.

[+LadyBee4T]

I sure hope that Caesar starts feeling beter soon. He is a beautiful dog!

 

While doing a letterbox hybrid cache called The Philosopher's Stone (HP#1) and based on the Harry Potter series, we had the opportunity to take pictures of a LOT of birds. We had a wonderful time as the walk was around a lake on a boardwalk and close to a mile with a lot of wildlife in evidence.

 

[+Tschakko]

This story is about a grodan we met during a nightcache. The cache was a really great one, took us about 4 hours. We had a lot of fun, the stages were really great

Kalkhügel (Nachtcache)

Although it was a scary cache to fairy tale lovers, as we found the frog trying to kill himself on a street

near his

and just a few stages later we found the shoe of cinderella in the dark dark forest

as you can see, it doesn´t look good for cinderella

[+Trekks]

This little Bobcat and several others were sitting at the Bear Valley Lodge in Eastern/Central Oregon right down the road from Aydens Cache GCZ35W. The lodge owners assured us they were friendly.

 

 

[+usyoopers]

We were caching on Mackinac Island when we came across this BIG slug!

 

[lorca.nl]

last week we did the cache 8 Zaligheden GCKK58 here in the Netherlands.

it was a great cache and we see a lot of cows, they told us that they saw a little green man and that he presented him self as the Geo Leprechaun and we did`t believe the cows....

... he was here o boy i was so happy and we hoped that he was still here and that we found him.

so after a little tolk whit the cows we go further and we did found the cache.

 

and we were so happy because the Leprechaun was still in the cache.

of course i make a picture if the cows who told us the great news.

 

well here they are...

[+grodan & fiabus]

The other week we met this fellow. Mallard the cachekeeper.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

 

 

He wasn´t shy at all.

 

grodan Karin

[+gardengorilla]

The contest is great! I love seeing all the wildlife pictures....keep them coming.

Get Better soon Caesar!

 

Here is another picture of our caching experience in Costa Rica!

White faced monkeys:

 

My son, Sam climbed the trees after them and they started hissing. Then he grinned big, and growled back and they submitted to him... It was strange that he just knew to do that and they respected him as the bigger monkey (or is that gorilla )

[+LadyBee4T]

We were working on caches for one of the cacihngplace games. We went to Belle Isle which is located in the Detroit River and the geese, swans and ducks were all over the shoreline. Here is one of the pictures I took that day of the sunset over the Detroit skyline at Celebrate Belle Isle--Pit Stop. Belle Isle used to have Indy car races there years ago hence the name.

 

[paganfrog]

heres a picture i took a few days ago

 

 

the day i took this i failed to find 3 different caches. this picture was taken at the area of the first cache i tried that day. i swear i was so close to finding that cache. i was rummaging through the rough grasslands and i noticed there was lots of these tiny metallic green beetles sitting in the leaves. it looked so pretty they were like little precious jewels sitting amongst the foliage. i wanted to get some nice photos of them but after this one and only blurred image of one little green beetle (im not very good at taking photos) i suddenly noticed i had a tick crawling on my hand. so obviously i started freaking out and panicking. i dont like anything spidery or vampirish.

after that my pleasant trip out to find a few caches went downhill. i was all on edge and upset and was unable to focus on my goals.

it may not be a very clear photo but it was a small beautiful sight that remains in my mind.

[+MustangJoni]

Caught this cute little guy while Hedge Hopper and I were doing the virtuals in Rocky Mountain National Park. That was a beautiful drive!

 

[+Tschakko]

The following picture is from the cache Bambi

The cache itself was that close to the Animals I almost could touch them.

Looks like I always meet Bambies on my adventures (at least then I am fast ebough to take pics )

Edited May 24, 2008 by Tschakko

[lorca.nl]

when we were in france last september 2007 we did the cache Mont Saint Loup GCW7VH.

it was not a very difficult cache but it was on the top of a mountain...

we had 2 little camping bikes and we must go up the mountain, i can tell you that was not so easy.

everybody had vey good bikes (mountainbikes) and we were on the little bikes..

a lot of people look us very whit a strange face but we were cocksure and we keep climing.

when we were on the top everybody was suprised that we made it, we were happy.

so we found the cache and we have to go down to.

with a high tempo we went down and where cycled we almost between in

 

that`s right between this little fish.....

we could slow down still on time

[+mousekakat]

 

A couple of moo-cows and a gorgeous sunset at a cache we hit last year

[+usyoopers]

Neither of us really like snakes very much, we had just found a cache and were heading out when we (almost) walked right over this one. He looked harmless enough just sitting in the sunshine. We stopped to take his picture, he didn't seem to like that one bit at all, he came slithering right at us...I took off at a run!

 

[+Geo.Error]

We were in ireland at howht, were busy with the cache howth harbour when we heared this dog bark

 

 

We where curious and looked.... and wow big seals where in the harbour, what a suprise

 

[+Geo.Error]

In fact, this weekend, I shall not be going very far at all, GeoDog aka Caesar is unwell; he has a knee injury and was at the vet hospital yesterday for x rays and fluid to be drawn off his knee under anaesthetic. He's still pretty spaced from the drugs so I have lifted him onto my bed and he is resting. Hopefully he will sleep off the after effects and manage to eat something a little later.

 

Sorry to hear that you are sick, ceasar

 

 

We hope you are soon better and a big kiss from us all

[+Tschakko]

 

I am "uncle" just afew minutes ago

 

My hamsters Schnucki and Sammy, which I did not take right to the cache, but I had them in the car while caching once, the just became kids, i counted at least 6 of them Each of them not bigger than a bean

Couldn´t take a picture, ´cause they would eat them if I disturb them too much, will add one later on...

[+MustangJoni]

Here is another one from Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

[+mousekakat]

 

Had a good time with this cache, we looked everywhere for the stupid thing, turned out it was in an easy location pretty much right in front of our face! We sure were getting frustrated, though, lol!

 

Get well, Ceasar!!

 

Naomi

[lorca.nl]

in the begin when we started GeoCaching we did the cach Muizenbeet GCH2YB.

Lorca was the whole way sniffing on the ground but what she smell we don`t know.

 

i think that it where al the mouses because the cache called in english MOUSEBITE...

[lorca.nl]

 

i hope that all the funny foto`s and story`s make you feel a little bit beter

[+Geo.Error]

We are looking for a metal tag, information to go to the next waypoint, when we discover this toad on a tree

 

[+usyoopers]

Can you see the Lampreys at the bottom of this stream?? Here is our log from this cache-

 

June 23, 2007 by usyoopers (730 found)

Yes, this does seem to be a very remote, seldom visited spot. Having had our fill of walking on stoney beaches, we took the second most direct route and followed 'we two want to play too' directions and try our luck fording the river. The road was good; there seemed to be a path to the co-ords to ford the river, but the path soon diminished into a tangle of underbrush. We took off our shoes & socks and had fun sliding on the rocks on the river bottom. We hung on to each other in the uneven footing. Finally on the other side (it really wasn't that bad) we dried off our feet and put on our shoes to climb the BIG sand dune right in front of us. Following the GPSr through the brush and tangles (we were both wearing shorts) we bushwhacked our way to the beach where we could sooth our bloodied shins in Lake Superior. We found the cache quite easily and were in awe and wonder in the remoteness of this place. I had just described in the log how there was NO possiblities of Muggles out here and no stealth was needed... when we heard... thump.....thump. Car doors! NO WAY! One hundred yards away a young couple walked to the shore and layed themselves out on the beach... I guess no remote spot is really that remote. On our way out we walked past their red Pathfinder with a couple of kayaks on top.

We followed the GPSr back to the river crossing, bloodying our shins and legs even more, but kept our shoes on this time. Made the crossing much more sure-footed. We also found a nest of lampreys, but those things creep me out. I took a picture, but refuse to touch them. The rest of the trip back to the GMC Cachemobile went uneventful, but it IS the last time we saw our GPSr. Mrs. Usyoopers had it in her pocket at the river (I usually carry it, but I gave it to her so I could take pictures.) It may have fallen out when we got into the truck... we just don't know.

 

So, if someone finds a blue Garmin e-trex legend at or near N46 41.224 W085 26.393 ,drop us a line, we would like to get it back. The boot screen does have our name, address and phone number.

 

[+6 Feet More]

My favorite animal encounter in a long time happened recently at a cache located not far from my home near St. Petersburg, FL. Word was that there was an eagle's nest nearby. Sure enough, I not only saw the nest and the two baby eagles (they weren't that small, either!), but I was able to get this shot in a nearby tree.......

 

Edited May 24, 2008 by 6 Feet More

[+Geo.Error]

We did the cache Safari and we walked very close by this deer.

 

[+MountainRacer]

 

Found this little guy on the Appalachian Trail last spring. He was very obliging and photogenic.

[+gardengorilla]

My husband and I rode these camels to a cache by the pyramids of Giza:

 

[ATMouse]

 

On one cache trip we must have run into a ton of froggies! We had to be careful where we stepped. It was easy to reach down to get one to pose for us!

[paganfrog]

awwwww so cute