Geocaching (Halifax - Day 1)
May 14 was my last geocaching day for quite a while, as work stepped in and filled in the rest of the time, getting rid of even my geocaching plans for the long weekend. It wasn't until the middle of my business trip to Halifax that I was given an opportunity to go out and cache, and that first night (May 24) was cold and rainy, and I wasn't addicted enough to geocaching to venture out.
May 25, 2007
One of the reasons I chose this hotel was that it was near parks, and there were lots of geocaches nearby. In fact, the first one I went after was just a few blocks from the hotel, and after a week and a half of not caching, I was itching to go. I got to the general area easy enough, but then I had to wait. There were two guys having smoke break, ever so slowly and leisurely.
I sat on the bench, mere feet from the hiding spot, and waited ... and played some Free Cell ... and waited .. and finally when I just couldn't take it anymore, I just went to look for it. The find was an easy one and I went through the motions pretty quickly. Unfortunately, in my moment of glee, I forgot to take a picture of the spot. I actually came back to it later, and ended up taking a picture with some people nearby. The flash went off and suddenly, they were heading towards that hiding spot .. GPS receiver in hand. I should have stayed and chatted with them (as I rarely get to see other geocachers when out geocaching), but I was so eager to get more caches done that I just smiled and walked away.
The next cache was a short walk away in a bigger park. (I think it was called Commons Park). I checked all the possible hiding spots in the area, but to no avail. The GPS signal eventually led me to a parkette/island in the middle of the street. It was a quick find after that.
I also have the vague recollection of looking for a cache that was hidden in a giant shrub, and finding a frying pan, a bird's nest with baby birds, but no container.
The next one was in a cemetary. I have to admit that I thought about giving up right there and then, as I don't like to disturb the dead (so to speak). Of course, I didn't know it was in a cemetary. In fact, I checked a couple of places outside, as I didn't think that people would hide stuff in cemetaries. On this day, I basically spent a lot of time picking up trash, what geocachers call CITO (Cache In, Trash Out). The description said that I was supposed to look for some sort of world record, but I could find no plaque. The hint made it sound like it was related to snakes, but the tree limbs that looked like snakes held only disappointment. I even looked under fallen grave stones, but just could not find anything. I finally had to give up and head for the next cache.
This cache was to be my final one before dinner. I took the long way round to it, and all the construction in the area (Museum of Natural History) had me somewhat concerned that I would have to mark this one as "Did Not Find" (DNF).
I checked a couple of potential locations, and took pictures of the giant tree frog on top of the building. Then I walked right by where the cache was, trying to stay upwind of the horsey smell (due to the riding school next door). When I finally did get near the spot again, I had to wait for two football players to walk by. I finally got it, opened it up, and realized I had left my pen back at the hotel!
That ended happily with a 57c contribution to the nearby hospital in exchange for a pen, I dropped off my first ever travel bug and went to dinner, which was a good thing, as I was getting really, really hungry, and the last page of the log was covered with the word, "Timbits". I don't know how I managed to walk by the hospital again without going there for Timbits.
After dinner I picked up an engineering compass from Crappy Tire and headed out to the last cache of the day, even as the light was slowly starting to fade away. I made my way to the general area of the cache, and realized that I didn't quite have the patience to read the compass properly. I was frustrated and ready to head back to the hotel. I crossed the street and noticed that the distance to the cache was actually still getting smaller, and there, in a hole in a tree, was the cache. I quickly signed the log. In fact, in my haste to get back to the hotel, I think I ended up leaving the pencil that came with the cache in the grass.
May 25, 2007
One of the reasons I chose this hotel was that it was near parks, and there were lots of geocaches nearby. In fact, the first one I went after was just a few blocks from the hotel, and after a week and a half of not caching, I was itching to go. I got to the general area easy enough, but then I had to wait. There were two guys having smoke break, ever so slowly and leisurely.
I sat on the bench, mere feet from the hiding spot, and waited ... and played some Free Cell ... and waited .. and finally when I just couldn't take it anymore, I just went to look for it. The find was an easy one and I went through the motions pretty quickly. Unfortunately, in my moment of glee, I forgot to take a picture of the spot. I actually came back to it later, and ended up taking a picture with some people nearby. The flash went off and suddenly, they were heading towards that hiding spot .. GPS receiver in hand. I should have stayed and chatted with them (as I rarely get to see other geocachers when out geocaching), but I was so eager to get more caches done that I just smiled and walked away.
The next cache was a short walk away in a bigger park. (I think it was called Commons Park). I checked all the possible hiding spots in the area, but to no avail. The GPS signal eventually led me to a parkette/island in the middle of the street. It was a quick find after that.
I also have the vague recollection of looking for a cache that was hidden in a giant shrub, and finding a frying pan, a bird's nest with baby birds, but no container.
The next one was in a cemetary. I have to admit that I thought about giving up right there and then, as I don't like to disturb the dead (so to speak). Of course, I didn't know it was in a cemetary. In fact, I checked a couple of places outside, as I didn't think that people would hide stuff in cemetaries. On this day, I basically spent a lot of time picking up trash, what geocachers call CITO (Cache In, Trash Out). The description said that I was supposed to look for some sort of world record, but I could find no plaque. The hint made it sound like it was related to snakes, but the tree limbs that looked like snakes held only disappointment. I even looked under fallen grave stones, but just could not find anything. I finally had to give up and head for the next cache.
This cache was to be my final one before dinner. I took the long way round to it, and all the construction in the area (Museum of Natural History) had me somewhat concerned that I would have to mark this one as "Did Not Find" (DNF).
I checked a couple of potential locations, and took pictures of the giant tree frog on top of the building. Then I walked right by where the cache was, trying to stay upwind of the horsey smell (due to the riding school next door). When I finally did get near the spot again, I had to wait for two football players to walk by. I finally got it, opened it up, and realized I had left my pen back at the hotel!
That ended happily with a 57c contribution to the nearby hospital in exchange for a pen, I dropped off my first ever travel bug and went to dinner, which was a good thing, as I was getting really, really hungry, and the last page of the log was covered with the word, "Timbits". I don't know how I managed to walk by the hospital again without going there for Timbits.
After dinner I picked up an engineering compass from Crappy Tire and headed out to the last cache of the day, even as the light was slowly starting to fade away. I made my way to the general area of the cache, and realized that I didn't quite have the patience to read the compass properly. I was frustrated and ready to head back to the hotel. I crossed the street and noticed that the distance to the cache was actually still getting smaller, and there, in a hole in a tree, was the cache. I quickly signed the log. In fact, in my haste to get back to the hotel, I think I ended up leaving the pencil that came with the cache in the grass.
Labels: geocaching
posted by Frank Yao | 11:05 PM
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