Geocaching in Canada

Geocaching in Canada Forum for the discussion of geocaching in Canada http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:21:01 -0800 30 West Coast Cachers Where are you? http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=236355 Hi, I was just wondering where all the West Coast Cachers are? .. Do you like to Cache alone? or with a fellow Cacher? Im new to this.. (relatively speaking) and confess.. Im HOOKED! LOL.. .I have a few friends that Geo-cache but are not always available to when I am. Is there a place where Cachers can connect with a group or even a fellow Cacher for Cache outings?]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:36:32 -0800 236355 Lost Geo Cache http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235898
In the months that followed (Between October when I hid the cache, and spring) my computer crashed and I lost all Cache data (both on my computer and my GPS). Since than, every chance I get I look for the cache - where I think I left it, is there any way Ground speak with still have the location of this cache? It was either October 2005 or October 2006.

]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:33:33 -0800 235898 I had an idea can someone tell me if or how it would work http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235876
This last Monday was a day off school for my daughter and I was playing with my new Iphone looking for..you guessed it...apps. I stumbled onto the geocaching app around 7am and it got me going. Ended up online researching and by 8:30 I had us registered and told my daughter to bundle up we were going on an adventure. As we were heading out the door my bestest friend on the planet called and he had the day off too. I told him I was going to the store to get some tradables for geocaching and to meet us on the corner for an adventure. He grabbed his Iphone and hit the door running.

We spent the morning and early afternoon walking to 2 caches near our home and I fell in love with this..game, hobby, sport immediately. It was fun, good for you and took us through some really pretty trails. Later I told my husband about it and expected him to give me a hmmm..thats interesting dear speech. I got what I expected and went out to a grocery store with my daughter to sell Brownie cookies.

An hour and a half later my husband shows up and says..let's go on one of your treasure hunts.

You would have to know our family to really realize and appreciate what kind of miracle this entire day was. We dont go out...ever. We don't own camping gear, we don't hike, we dont own a dog, we are utterly and completely inactive. Our family of 4, owns 3 computers and 3 televisions. Get it?

In 6 days we have been out 3 nights trapsing through bushy areas around our place, walking paths, talking being outside and loving every minute. We have found 6 caches, not found 2 and placed one of our own. Not a crazy creative one but that will come, for now I just wanted one close to home in one of our favourite spots when we do walk.

OK so...on with the idea.

I was at a craft store the other day and they had Christmas ornaments on sale. One type of which was a plastic ball that separates into 2 halves which you can put things inside or build a scene or whatever crafty thing you can think of. A light went off in my head. This is what my thought process was like.

I imagined 12 such balls. Each made sort of like a cache but with no log book. Each placed in a different tree in a different town. Each with 2 small gifts inside ..one for a child and one for the grown up who brings the child. I want to place them in evergreens with a theme like..trimming the trees...record thier locations and post them for people to find.

Is this sort of one time cache allowed? if not is it something I could post here on the forums and expect people to hunt down? I want to separate them by quite a ways because I would hate the thought of one person finding them all...it would totally defeat the idea.

I brought up the idea at dinner the other night and the family and our friend all jumped right into the idea, and I thought of it as a small gift to give back to a community who literally has given us a miracle.

Plans are in the works for the next 3 weekends straight of different areas to discover thanks to..all of you.
]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:40:47 -0800 235876 How many? http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235724 How many active geocaches are there in Canada? Anyone know? Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:36:50 -0800 235724 <![CDATA['Caching 'through the Snow']]> http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235722 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:57 -0800 235722 team cache québec http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235620 ]]> Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:58:55 -0800 235620 How to publish our cache for everyone http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235489
I don't not what to do.]]> Sun, 8 Nov 2009 10:38:58 -0800 235489 Canada County Maps for GSAK FindStatGen http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235177
I have completed creating maps for FindStatGen for all of the Canadian Provinces. If you want this map to appear in your FindStatGen statistics, please visit the GSAK forum here for instructions/download.

For now, Nova Scotia is missing because I am waiting for another user to reply to an email regarding the map. After he/she replies (or after a week without a response) I will publish the Nova Scotia map.

Hope everyone enjoys this!
-Kyle]]> Tue, 3 Nov 2009 16:31:08 -0800 235177 Help in Kamloops http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=235155 Tue, 3 Nov 2009 10:52:29 -0800 235155 Barrie Geocachers http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234932
New to geocaching and wondering if there are any members active in Barrie that would want to go find a few of things. Hoping maybe there are some people in my age range (18-25) that would like to go on some treks?

-Adam]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:44:52 -0700 234932 where to buy gpsr http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234730

Anyways I am looking to buy a Garmin Oregon and want to watch prices but I trying to figure some places that sell them. I am in the GTA so anywhere around there would be good. I have already checked the Source and MEC but not sure where else. Or whether there is a good inexpensive place.

Are the prices much cheaper in the US? Is it worth waiting to go down there?

thanks,

Toon Al]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:12:44 -0700 234730 Fairly new to Caching, Moncton, New Brunswick http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234547
Also, what would you suggest for good caches in Moncton? I'll be soon introducing an aquaintance, nothing like some good caches to get the bug!]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:58:28 -0700 234547 Funny, crazy, silly geocaching adventures http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234467
Thanks so much!]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:50:27 -0700 234467 British Columbia Will Ban Hand Held Devices Jan 2010 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234410
(This includes other devices like GPS)

http://www.theprovince.com/news/legislatio...9476/story.html

http://www.bclocalnews.com/breaking_news/65282982.html

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_islan...s/65636427.html]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:58:03 -0700 234410 If you want your TB or Coin moved. http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234366 Theweelanderz are driving to Florida! If you would like a TB or Coin to come with us, please leave it in my Health Cookied One cache and let me know you've put it there. The container is about the size of a two fists. If it's bigger than that please leave it in Team C.O.B.R.A. Series: End of the Road, this is an ammo can.

Thanks and happy caching.
]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:29:27 -0700 234366 Caches placed to be released for Events http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234272
Recently CacheMinder, CacheViewer and I had a discussion about a trend that has been growing in some pockets of Ontario with respect to caches to be released in conjunction with an Event Cache. Some of the results of that discussion are outlined below and we are requesting the assistance from those involved.

First and foremost, we all appreciate that people enjoy geocaching and the social aspect that Events afford. We do understand that there is a desire to create some new caches to be enjoyed and discussed. As we have witnessed from our "behind the curtain" position, sometimes this works well and sometimes it is a tedious process for everyone. It is clear to see the main factor for success, and it is summed up in one word.... coordination! While we do not wish to single out any specific areas, having a local organizer to wrangle the potential caches helps to streamline the process.

But let's get the heavy handed bit out of the way first

- Event Listings should not "encourage" or "reward" people for placing new caches. That could actually be viewed as an Agenda as well as run afoul of the Group Caching concept which is discouraged in Listing Guidelines. In short, if you are hosting an Event then the Event is what your Listing should be focused upon. But as mentioned, we understand that new caches often are placed to be enjoyed at the time of the event and often make the Event a success.

Often the biggest issue is proximity to other new caches placed for the upcoming Event and it is really hard to tell people that their new cache is too close to something that they cannot see or find on the website. Try to imagine the frustration and confusion

of relocating a cache 5 or 6 times because everyone else is also tying up spots in the same area, and imagine the Reviewers having to say again "Nope, too close to another cache you can't see." Another issue we are seeing is waiting until a few days before the Event to submit your cache. In the Listing Guidelines is this section:

QUOTE

If you are placing a large number of caches to be published on the same date (for example, on the day of an event cache), please submit the cache pages for all of the caches at least ten days in advance of the release date. Leave a "note to reviewer" indicating that the cache is to be released on the date specified. This allows your reviewer adequate time to review the submissions or to arrange for help from another reviewer. (Note: Caches placed in connection with an event must be placed with the intention of leaving them in place after the event, temporary caches are not accepted.)

One solution that worked incredibly well went like this. Everyone that wishes to have new caches for the upcoming Event would submit all of their coordinates for each of their caches by email to one "Event Coordinator" and as each was received the coordinator would draft a basic cache listing with the coordinates, compare to what already exists and if available then they would use www.geocaching.com/adopt to transfer the listing back to the person wanting to place the new cache. While this does not guarantee success it does have many benefits.

What we are asking for is some consideration when it comes to submitting listings for future release dates, often in conjunction with upcoming Events. If you are hosting an Event where this might happen, consider having someone on the Event committee to manage this aspect... and please give the Reviewers lots of time to help get the caches reviewed.

CD]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:16:07 -0700 234272 Numbers in Canada http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234234
Does anyone know how I can find out how many caches there are in Canada and how many there were in Canada in 2001 at this time?

And how I would find out how many cachers there are registered with geocaching.com now? And is there a way of knowing how many cachers in Canada?

Or do you know the answers?

I was interviewed today for a geocaching story that is going to run in an outdoor canada magazine (i forget the name right now, will look it up and add it later) and did not know those answers but said I would find out today.

Thanks!]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:15:32 -0700 234234 Newbie in Niagara http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234184
Earthsign]]> Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:44:39 -0700 234184 Canada County/Region/Division Boundaries http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=234179
I have completed writing a macro and map file for the FindStatGen GSAK macro. It is an Ontario counties map file (so you can see which counties you have cached in - you can see it demonstrated in my profile).

I want to expand the macro to include counties of other provinces but I do not want to take the enormous amount of time that it takes to create the detailed county polygons if they already exist.

If anybody has county polygons made up for any provinces/territories other than Ontario, I would be willing to take them and make a GSAK FindStatsGen map for that province and an accompanying macro.

The polygons must be contiguous, (meaning that the coordinates of the border of County A must be the same as the coordinates of the border of County B if county A and B were side-by-side.)

They should be fairly accurate so that caches near the borders between regions are tagged as being in the correct counties.

The file(s) can be in CSV format, KML format or XLS format. If you have them in another format, please send them to me anyway and I can attempt to convert them.

You can email them to cacherky.m.guy [-at-] gmail [-dot-] com and I can see if they are what I need to to make up the maps

Thank-you and have fun caching everybody!,
Kyle Mills]]> Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:27:18 -0700 234179 <![CDATA[Caches for adoption (York Region & Hastings County)]]> http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=233596
The following caches of mine in York Region are up for adoption;

GC1BJMW - Bond Lake: The Powerhouse
GC1A52D - Fleury Park
GC1GQRV - Hidden Oasis
GC192Y7 - Wilcox Micro
GC1DH1V - Mosquitoville - Oak Ridges

Also, the following caches of mine in Hastings County are up for adoption;

GC1YACQ - Not quite finished...
GC1FG42 - King of Bowers Point
GC1H453 - Trail of tribulation
GC15K7H - Coby's Cache
GC1EYWR - Taking history for Granted

If the caches don't get adopted they will just be archived. I thought I would throw it out there to see if anybody would like to take ownership of them first. All that I ask when I sign them over to a new owner is that I get to post a find for it.

Thanks!

]]> Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:27:47 -0700 233596