Great Canadian Geocaches

[+Juicepig]

I saw today that the Discovery channel had a feature "geocache of the week", and put a driveby with a generic coastal picture of 2 people enjoying a beach (it is not on the coast..). While I have not done this cache, from the description and the logs I dont really think this is one of the amazing "GREAT" caches of geocaching ( no offence hillbilly105 )

 

I would like to see a post where we can showcase the ACTUAL great caches of this country. As with Couparangus' Pub post - lets have a few rules..

 

RULES (follow them, or someone will come and bite you) :

 

1. Cache must be in Canada, and active at the time of posting

2. Cache must showcase an amazing place, thing, or hike. Essentially something other geocachers will find interesting.

3. your "ARTICLE" must have atleast 100 words, and have atleast one picture

4. Name and GC number should be included

5. Put some thought into it

 

Feel free to comment on other peoples choices!

Edited August 26, 2008 by Juicepig

[+Juicepig]

Since I already had this one written up for another site, I will start off by Nominating "Screaming Skulls - GCPJNV" by THE GO GETTERS - N 45° 35.480 W 079° 30.629

 

Travelling west down an old dirt colonization road, you would never guess there is anything really spectactular or special down this road. Then you start to see faces in the bush.. and before you know it a field opens up and hundreds of concrete faces and statues, some more then 30 feet tall.

 

 

Your surreal adventure begins in the small parking lot near the castle.. watch for peacocks..

 

 

You are invited to enter the private property so long as you behave yourself. The Owner lives atop a giant spire on the property made of concrete, surrounded by castle walls with animal bone windchimes, and giant spider webs made of iron re-bar.

 

 

The man who lives here is an artist, Peter Camani. He calls his estate the "Midlothian Ridge", and welcomes donations and praise . The grounds are a few hundred acres, even though the cache itself is fairly close to the parking - I bet you can't help but stop and wander for a few hours.

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2008 by Juicepig

[TheMadMapper]

Theres a new one

http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/showd...s.aspx?sid=9502

[+brenda&&rew]

I think this is a good idea Juicepig. I will contribute too... just not right now 'cause I don't have enough time to post the info you would like. I am leaving for holidays and will post something when I get back. Thanks for thinking of this. I am looking forward to seeing what others add as well!

[+VO2WW]

I would like to add my Geocache GCWJZ3, "Extreme East" to the list. This cache is located at the most Easterly point in Canada. Some including the Canadian Government say the most Easterly point in North America. This is not correct as Greenland is really a part of North America which few remember from their geography lessons in school days.

The cache is a fair hike from the provincial capital, St John's but you can drive there and than it is but a few hundred meters from the parking lot. The sunrise can be fantastic here if you are an early riser. If you are a whale watcher you are in the right spot to see them from land. If you are a birdwatcher you are in a great spot at any time of year.

Don't take my word for the above, go read the logs, check the pictures and see for yourself.

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2008 by VO2WW

[+M3J]

Gotta say, kinda funny...when I read the forum post, two of the ones I thought of were Screaming Skulls and Extreme East. Did them both last year and both are great choices.

 

Having cached in all ten provinces, I have seen some real nice ones and it would be really hard to narrow it down much. The GWN Geotour stop in both Victoria and St John's are great caches as are a bunch we did in the Rockies this summer and a bunch around the Muskokas like Ted's Hole in the Wall by boat.

 

I guess, if I had to choose just one of my highlights, it would be GCJE0C Mirrorview on Fairview. This cache is along the Lake Agnes trail whcih takes you 340M up from Lake Louise up to lake Agnes and the tearoom up there. It was a bit of a challenging 3.8km hike up to the teahouse but the view was incredible, even with the very overcast day. The occasional lookouts over Lake Louise and to the west were spectacular. The teahouse at the top is a wooden cabin at the edge of a cliff with a waterfall right beside it and Lake Agnes right behind it. Lake Agnes is a small glacial fed lake and when we were there at the beginning of July, there was still snow on the hillside beside the lake.

 

The food and tea was very good (it should be for those prices!). It was certainly cool up there though so the family was happy to start back down after a 30 minute break. On the way back down, we passed by Mirror Lake again and I started to look for a trail to the cache site. Not finding one right away, I started back up the main trail again about 100M to where I had seen a side trail. This took my oldest and I to the rocks where we clambered across to the general cache area. Knowing the cache was above the posted coords (its a traditional but the posted coordinates take you to a point where you are supposed to look uphill for the cache site...been some controversy there), we stayed high to avoid going down and back up. We found the cache pretty easily actually and after signing the log, joined up with the rest of the family and had a much easier walk back down while looking at the faces of those heading up....yeah, our faces looked like that 90 minutes ago!!

 

I'll post some pics when I get home tonight.

[+anakerose]

My contributions to the Great Canadian Caches has to be the Othello Tunnels caches in Hope, BC and the caches along the Kettle Valley Railway in the Myra Canyon above Kelowna, BC

 

Othello Tunnel Caches

Othello Tunnels GC80CB (Traditional)

Cash, Cache & the CPR/KVR aka Most Expensive Mile GC10WQZ (Mystery)

Alien Tunnel GC16P2Y (Letterbox)

 

Myra Canyon Caches

K.V.R. #5 - Ruth (formerly Kettle Valley RR) GC5CE8 (Traditional)

K.V.R. #4 - Out With The Old, In With The New GC15CED (Traditional)

trestle tunnel GC849A (Mystery)

K.V.R. #3 - Trestle Trek GC13CPA (Traditional)

K.V.R. #2 - Old Camp GC12GZC (Traditional)

K.V.R. #1 - Myra Panorama GC12F9V (Tradional)

 

Othello

During the 1900’s the CPR decided it needed a route to the Lower Mainland from the Kootenays. Andrew McCullough was hired to survey and complete this tricky section which ran through the Coquihalla canyon, through Tullameen valley to Princeton, up through Falder and Summerland to Penticton, north through Naramata and over the mountains above Kelowna to McCullough Lake and south along Hwy 33 to link up with the Kootenays.

 

Just east of Hope, McCullough faced a canyon in which a mile long tunnel was suggested. He decided to blast straight through the canyon with a series of 5 tunnels (4 being closed, and one open air). Something of this magnitude would never be considered today because of the sheer cost. It’s amazing what McCullough was able to achieve using the technology of the era.

 

The Coquihalla Subdivision was plagued with avalanches and slides throughout it’s use and was finally abandoned in July of 1961. A lot of the sections are still visible from the highway, but most has fallen into disrepair and is no longer safe to travel. It’s a shame this part of BC railway history has been abandoned and is now being reclaimed by the surrounding forests.

 

There are 3 caches to seek on this portion of the railway. You can access it from Vancouver, take the Highway 1 exit into Hope, turn right onto Old Hope Princeton Way, left on 6th Ave, right on Kawkawa Lake Road. Make a right onto Othello Road and follow to Tunnels Road (there’s signs).

 

If accessing from the Coquihalla Highway, take the Othello exit and follow Othello Road to Tunnels Road.

 

Myra

Heading from Penticton to the Kootenays, McCullough was faced with the Myra Canyon. This ‘M’ shaped canyon boasts the largest collection of trestles on the route. Most were destroyed in the Okanagan Mountain Park fire in August of 2003, but since then a dedicated group of people have rebuilt and reopened this amazing stretch of the Trans Canada Trail.

 

It’s recommended that you start on the eastern side of the canyon because the road to the western side is quite rough and is poorly maintained. To access the site from Hwy 97 (the main road through Kelowna):

From the west: Turn right on Gordon Drive and head south to KLO Road. Turn left and follow for awhile to a ‘Y’ in the road near the E. Kelowna ball fields. Bear right, this road is now McCullough Road. Follow McCullough road past the golf course. There will be a crossroads with Reekie and Rose, you’ll need to turn right (there used to be a large tree stump on the corner, not sure if it’s still there). Keep driving on McCullough road, you’ll pass through Gallagher Canyon Golf Course. You’ll come to a narrow section of the road which leads you down into a ravine, keep going. You should be able to see Layer Cake Mountain and the Pillar before you turn right on Myra FSR. Follow the FSR to the railbed and parking.

 

From the East: Turn left at Dilworth and follow down Benvoulin to KLO Road and turn left. Follow the directions from the West description from there.

 

[+Couparangus]

How about a list of the top ten in each province?

[+Juicepig]

How about a list of the top ten in each province?

 

That would limit each province to 10 caches

 

I will put a list of top caches in the OP in each province

 

(actually - looks like I can't edit posts more then a few hours old... nuts, guess you will just have to read through them!)

Edited August 28, 2008 by Juicepig

[+res2100]

Top ten caches of all time in Ontario according to...ME!

 

The Falls Tour : 2004 Final - Archived

2nd Annual Great Potato Head Multi-Cache Hunt - Archived

That side of the bridge (Part 1) - Archived

After the Gold Rush - Archived

Keppel Croft Gardens Cache

Determination - How bad do you want it. - Archived

BFL Bootcamp II - Creepshow

BFL Boot Camp II - Interstellar Navigation

Chedoke Trail Treasure

RACK'EM UP

[+Juicepig]

should i increase the size of the font in the rules section? oh yeah.. still can't modify my original post..

[+M3J]

Huh....thought I could edit my post and addd pics. Oh well, here are the pics from Mirrorview on Fairview:

 

 

The boys at the halfway mark

 

 

 

Mirror Lake

 

 

 

Lake Agnes Falls

 

 

 

Overlooking Chateau Lake Louise from 1000 feet up

 

 

 

Lake Agnes

 

 

 

Janice on the tearoom deck

 

 

 

Closing in on the cache

[+Team Three Boys]

is this cache of the week on t.v? WHen could i see it?

[+SYOTT]

We CAN'T forget about the cache that started it all GCBBA 1st cache in Canada

[+Juicepig]

We CAN'T forget about the cache that started it all GCBBA 1st cache in Canada

 

when i do that one I expect it won't be a favorite - NEAT yes, favorite? unlikely

[+M3J]

We CAN'T forget about the cache that started it all GCBBA 1st cache in Canada

 

when i do that one I expect it won't be a favorite - NEAT yes, favorite? unlikely

 

Rather blah actually. Just remember the bug spray in there. The only pic I have of us grabbing it has my then 13 year old with a giant grimace as he is being bitten by a swarm of skitters.

 

Still cool to have it in my list of oldest caches though.

[+simplyred]

Although I have cached in 3 provinces and 2 states, I've really only cached enough in Ontario to give an opinion. I like views and uniqueness, my favorite caches have all been with great views or something unique about them.

 

Frazer Bay Fishing Cache GCPXNJ

 

Traveled 125kms by car to Boat Launch, 14.5kms boat ride to trail head, 800m hike up 200m mountain to top. One of the most beautiful views you'll ever see, from the blue waters of Lake Huron to the white quartzite mountains all around, truly one of Ontario's greatest caches.

 

Lion's Head Lookout GCM0KT

 

1.5km hike to the lookout, with lookout spots all along the trail. Looking at Lion's Head from one of the near lookouts, you'll see the lion's head in the rock with the trees making the mane. Overlooking Lake Huron, the view is spectacular.

 

"The Devil Made Me Do It!" GC51E8

About 800m walk from the road, this easy trail take you to the Devil' Rock. A lookout 300ft over the Ottawa River. We just did this one, there is even a longer trail that will have a great view all along the trail, will go back some day and try it.

 

Cheltenham Badlands Earthcache GCNXFF

 

A roadside cache, but it is so unique, the formations here are just awesome.

 

Well those are some of mine and can be found in My Favorites Bookmark list., which brings me to say, I wish more people would use their Bookmarks List. All my favorites can be found there and found many by checking out others bookmarks. So please bookmarks your favorites for all to see.

[Barnie's Band of Gold]

Now these are CACHES!! Do you think we'll ever see a silly roadside micro on the list? I certainly hope not.

[+res2100]

Here's my submission for the best active cache in Canada.

 

GCP9DM - Keppel Croft Gardens Cache

 

This is a 2 stage multi-cache located on the Bruce Peninsula about 15km east of Wiarton. This cache has been in place for over 3 years and I am really surprised that only 25 people have found this cache during that time and only 1 person in the past year. Keppel Croft Gardens is a really neat place where you can visit their own version of Stonehenge, Analemmatic Sundial, Zen garden, tree carvings, and so much more (rockeries, xeriscape gardens, pebble borders, ponds, a shade garden, a thyme and lavender garden, trough gardens with alpines, and a selection of unusual trees and shrubs, a number of art installations and several other creations that you will find amusing). Following the dried riverbed and heading across the field to the cache gives you an amazing view towards Georgian Bay too. I have found over 4200 caches around the world and of all of the active caches, this one is at the top of both my and my wife's list of favourite caches of all time. If you head up to the Bruce Peninsula and don't take a couple of hours to stop here, explore and enjoy Keppel Croft Gardens, then you are certainly missing out on an amazing spot.

 

Here's just a few pics that we took of the amazing things you will find when you visit this cache:

 

[+Juicepig]

GCA2E0 - First Killarney Provincial Park Cache

(yah, stupid name.. but GREAT spot!)

N 46° 03.676 W 081° 23.873

 

From George lake campground it was about 20km round trip with 7 portages over waterfalls and blue mineral filled lakes. The La Cloche mountains are white quartzite, and the foothills are smooth red and pink granite. In the fall this is no doubt the most naturally colourful place in canada.

 

It isn't the easiest place to get to, most of the finders were likely just hikers that found the cache, joined the game.. then realized all caches weren't all quite as beautiful as this spot