Monthly Archives: October 2012

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Frank

With Halloween just a few days away, Caching Heaven would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Caching Heaven! (click to enlarge)

Halloween is one of the oldest festive events that is still celebrated. It is one of the most celebrated holidays, next to Christmas. There is much heated debate over Halloween. Some view it as a fun time where people dress up in costumes, go house to house trick or treating, and having themed parties. Other groups view Halloween as a time of evil spirits, ghosts, vampires, etc. that should be avoided. However, most people partake in Halloween without ever knowing its history and origins.

Druids still exist today and Halloween has its origins with the Druids. (click to enlarge)

Halloween is on October 31st, which is the last day of the Celtic calendar. Dating back to over 2000 years ago, Halloween was originally a pagan holiday that honoured the dead. It was referred to as All Hallows Eve. Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition. The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating. The day after, November 1, is All Hallows Day, also known as All Saints Day. On this day, Catholics celebrated their saints and Christians would try to convert Pagans to Christianity.

To get you started on finding some Halloween-themed caches, I have compiled an extensive list. I spent over an hour searching for as many as I could and these were the ones I have found. I am sure that there are many I have missed, so please feel free to find, or place, some of your own.

Caching at night, especially in a cemetery can be a creepy thing. (click to enlarge)

When I was in Sydney, NS the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to find a cemetary cache at night. While being in a cemetary at night doesn’t creep me out in the least (no comments, please), I am sure that many cachers will find this endeavour to be a thrilling and scary experience. For that reason, here are three cemetary caches that you should try at night.

Celebrating Halloween is a preference that is not always viewed as participating in an evil holiday. Many celebrate Halloween with the dark and evil aspects while others often celebrate it with no reference to pagan rituals or the occult. How about you? Do you plan to celebrate Halloween this year? Will you go caching this Halloween? Let us know using the comment section below.

Happy Halloween and Happy Caching!

Frank (Jewel)

Categories: General, Geocaching | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Being Puzzled By Puzzle Caches

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Frank

Puzzle caches are fun!

This week’s post starts off with an important question. What is your favorite type of cache? Traditional? Earthcache? Multicache? The predominant answer would be traditional. If we were to do a real survey, traditional would be the answer of choice for most. But what about puzzle caches? I would be willing to bet that very few would cite puzzle caches as their favorite. In fact, a lot of cachers out there won’t ever do puzzle caches, and if they do, they are done as a last resort. Pardon the pun here, but this really puzzles me.

Our Anniversary banner. We are even featured on the $50 bill. (click to enlarge)

I realize that puzzle caches take a bit more effort to get, but they are still fun to do. And in the end, it still counts as a find. As I see it, there are two main purposes to using puzzle caches over the traditional cache. First, puzzle caches are great for conveying information about certain places and people. Take for instance, our new puzzle cache devoted to the Canadian Coast Guard. It is called Canadian Coast Guard: 50th Anniversary Cache (GC3WGV2) and was created for this purpose. I could have easily created a traditional cache but I wanted to bring attention to the Canadian Coast Guard which is celebrating their 50th Anniversary. So, some of the puzzle questions that I asked had to deal with the history of the Coast Guard. The second main purpose to using a puzzle cache is when there is no room to place a traditional cache. Such is the case with three of my Music Is Life Series caches. Music Is Life Series: International Dance (GC31V53), Music Is Life Series: The CITY Beat (GC2YHZV), and Music Is Life Series: O’BRIEN the Celtic Fiddler (GC2YJ0P) are all caches that had to be placed near the music stores but placing them there would have violated the 160 meter rule for the spacing of caches. The only way to get these caches published was to create a puzzle cache at each music store and place the real cache somewhere nearby.

Geocaching in Canada!

While it is true that puzzle caches take more time and effort to complete, a well thought out puzzle can be a fun endeavour. You could even make solving the puzzle a family affair. Properly designed puzzle caches often result in the cacher walking away with several tidbits of information that they probably never knew before. We have another puzzle cache, which is actually listed as a multicache, that serves to enlighten cachers about all the soldiers that died in WWI and WWII. It is called Happy Canada Day! (from Jewel&Gem) (GC2Z4Z9). To find the actual cache, cachers must read all of the plaques at the war memorial to find the clues needed to solve the puzzle. In the process, one learns valuable information about those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free. This aspect of puzzle caches is, indeed, a valuable benefit. By the way, the reason this cache was listed as a multicache was due to a new cache reviewer who insisted on it being a multicache instead of a puzzle cache. There is one drawback, however, to puzzle caches. What happens when the information changes? One of our previously listed caches, Music Is Life Series: International Dance (GC31V53), is a great example of this. Just a few days ago, we were alerted to the fact that a cacher was unable to solve the puzzle due to missing information. The puzzle clues involved retrieving information from surrounding businesses. Well, apparently, some of the businesses are no longer there. I will have to revisit the cache area and create some new clues to replace the missing ones.

Hunting for puzzle caches does, indeed, reuire a bit more work and effort to find. But this should not be considered a bad thing. Sure, it is always easier to get out and find those traditional caches. With puzzle caches, it takes longer to find caches which results in a longer time to increase your numbers. A cacher once said to me that caching shouldn’t be just about the numbers. If it is, you end up losing the fun aspect of geocaching. Well-designed puzzle caches create a different type of fun, but it is still fun, none the least. If you haven’t tried any puzzle caches yet, I would encourage you to try some. Take it from someone who hated puzzle caches, you won’t be disappointed.

Twenty caches form a musical note. (click to enlarge)

If you do enjoy puzzle caches and are interested in lots of them, check out the two puzzle cache series located off the coast of Bell Island. For more information on these puzzle cache series, check out Music Is Life: Mega Series! and Newfoundland Who’s Who!, two blogposts on the series’. Also, what is your view on puzzle caches? Do you love them, hate them, or are neutral. Let us know! Use the comment section below.

Happy Caching!

Frank (Jewel)

Categories: Geocaching, Ramblings | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

International EarthCache Day!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Frank

This Sunday is International EarthCache Day!

What are you going to be doing this Sunday, October 14th? Some people will be going to church. Some will be doing household projects. Others will be enjoying the great outdoors. Geocachers will, of course, be geocaching. Some geocachers might do a combination of geocaching along with one of the activities I just mentioned. If you go geocaching, however, you might want to go find one EarthCache. Why? Because it is International EarthCache Day!

Topsail Beach Cusps, a newer EarthCache (click to enlarge)

According to Geocaching.com, "each EarthCache teaches visitors about the playground all geocachers enjoy – the earth. An EarthCache takes adventurers to a unique site showcasing geological features. EarthCaches can reveal why a giant boulder came to rest in the middle of a prairie or how a river flows in two opposite directions in one day. Instead of finding a container at an EarthCache, geocachers learn and report their geology discovery to log a smiley."

There are a total of 14 earthcaches on the island and 5 earthcaches located in the Big Land, Labrador. Here is a list of all 19 of them.

So make sure that you find an EarthCache this Sunday. I am sure there will be a souvenir in it for your efforts. Personally, I am in Sydney, NS without a vehicle. Therefore, I will not make it to an EarthCache this weekend. What a bummer! Oh well! I will still be caching, however, weather permitting.

Let us know what EarthCache you found and how the experience was. Simply leave a comment below. Oh, one more thing. Help out our earth by making Sunday a CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) day!

Happy Caching!

Frank (Jewel)

Categories: Geocaching, Happenings | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Even Travel Bugs Need A Vacation Sometimes!

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Frank

As I write this post, the familiar RDF (rain,drizzle, fog) continues for the third day in a row. It is a blunt reminder that our beautiful summer has come to an end. And with the end of summer comes the end of vacations for most of us. The peak season for hotel bookings has come and gone. Some hotels and motels even close after the summer. One type of hotel, however, never closes and is available 24/7. The hotel I am referring to is a travel bug hotel.

A well-decorated TB Hotel. (click to enlarge)

I realize that, most likely, everyone who reads this blog knows what a travel bug hotel is. Just in case I am wrong in my assumption, however, I will digress to explain it to you. A travel bug hotel is like a central place or repository for dropping off any kind of trackables. It provides a convenient place for someone, who is looking for a trackable to move, to drop by and pick up one. For Geocaching.com’s premium members, all we have to do is do a pocket query for caches that contain trackables and simply go to them. Travel bug hotels, however, remain a better option for finding, picking up, and dropping off trackables. Simply put a watch on a travel bug hotel cache, and you will receive an email every time there is activity on that cache. It’s that easy! Or is it?

Perhaps better trackable education is needed. (click to enlarge)

While travel bug hotels are a nice concept, I find that there is a huge downside to them. On the best of days, trackables go missing. New cachers pick them up and either forget to log them as taken or don’t know that they have to log them. Other times, cachers ignore any kind of code of ethics and simply take them. They are never heard from again. For more reading on missing trackables, read our previous blog post called Putting the "Un" in Trackables. Travel bug hotels have the potential to cause large numbers of trackables to go missing due to the fact that they usually contain large numbers of trackables. I recently had to report five trackables in my own travel bug lounge as missing. I am trying to track who could possibly have them but the task is really difficult. I have often considered archiving my travel bug lounge. Somehow, we have to better educate cachers on the importance of logging trackables.

We have a Travel Bug Departure Lounge near the airport. (click to enlarge)

Despite their status as travel bug repositories, a travel bug hotel is still just a cache and cachers still visit them looking for that find and, perhaps, an elusive bug or coin. There are several travel bug hotels and lounges on the island. We have our own travel bug departure lounge located near St. John’s airport. It is called YYT-TB St. John’s Travel Bug Departure Lounge (GC) . The purpose of the lounge is to enable cachers to drop off trackables that they wish to leave the island on a flight. It is also a spot to drop trackables that arrive on a flight. Here are a couple more travel bug hotels located around the province.

In principle, travel bug hotels are great places for moving trackables. If cachers were more educated or played by the rules, they would be great in practice as well. For now, I will leave my TB lounge as is and hope that no more trackables go missing from it. Time will tell, however, if it will survive in its present role.

How do you feel about travel bug hotels? Please take a moment and take our poll.

If you would like to make a comment on this post or any of our posts, please do so. We welcome your valuable input.

Categories: Geocaching, Ramblings | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Caching Three Stars – September

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Frank

As with previous months, September didn’t result in any stand-out caches until towards the end of the month. The latter half of the month resulted in a cache with a great view, a cache that isn’t always easy to get to, and a great event cache, all making it into our caching Three Stars. If you haven’t found them yet, I encourage you to do so.

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View For The Gods

What a beautiful view! (click to enlarge)

Our winner of the first star for September was just featured in our last blog article entitled Milestone Marker 1500!. The cache is called View For The Gods (GC1YRJQ) and was placed by Ron 30207. Originally, we had no plans to go get this cache. In fact, we never even knew it existed. We had been in North River helping our friends put off a geocaching event (check the second star). The event occurred on Saturday and we never got the chance to go caching. Therefore, we decided to do some caching on Sunday. My son, tinyseeker, and I went around to get all of the event caches first. Then, our friend Dora (Diego and Dora) joined us to get all of the caches in the Clarke’s Beach area. It was then, that we decided to attempt this one. When we finally navigated the streets of Clarke’s Beach to find the entrance gate leading to the cache site, our GPSr indicated that we were only 650 meters away from the cache. We didn’t immediately realize that we would have to walk 2.4 km to reach ground zero. The long walk was well worth the trip. We were treated to a magnificant view of the Clarke’s Beach and surrounding area. It took us 40 minutes to make the trek in and 30 minutes to make the trek out. It would have been great if we could have stayed a little while, but we had to get back for an awesome cooked Sunday dinner, prepared by Diego.

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Cabin Fever — Caching Meet and Greet — 2012

A great turnout for the event. (click to enlarge)

Our second star is special to us for the simple fact that it was an event hosted by our friends with a small bit of assistance by us. We realize that, since we assisted with this cache, we might be accused of showing favoritism to this event. We hope you all realize that our assistance was in a logistics manner. Most of the layout and details of the event were done by Diego and Dora, the event hosts. The event was called Cabin Fever — Caching Meet and Greet — 2012 (GC3V1A6) and was held at Dora’s family cabin. For a detailed description of the event, please see our blog post devoted to the event called Cabin Fever: An Event To End The Summer!. This event struck the right balance of caching, food and fellowship. The event involved a couple of hours of meet and greet followed by a BBQ. After everyone had the chance to socialize a bit, they were sent on their way to find 20 caches. A few even came back for a bit more fellowship. It was truly a well organized event.

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Water Challenge

This little land strip is not always here. (click to enlarge)

Water Challenge (GCG2ET) , a cache placed by Alastair Allan, turned out to be a very interesting cache and gets the nod as our third star for September. The cache, itself, is just a regular cache with a logbook and trinkets inside. Its hiding place wasn’t too difficult either. In fact, getting to the cache was fairly easy too. It was easy, however, only because we attempted it at the right time. As the picture shows, there is a thin strip of rocks leading to the cache area. We attempted the cache during low tide. The rocks are exposed then. At high tide, you would have to use rubber boots and wade across to the other side. We thought this cache was ingenious and we raise our proverbial hats to the cache owner for this interesting hide.

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Favorite Places – St. Mark’s School

This sign seemed out of place until you read the cache description. (click to enlarge)

We love caches that are placed to provide some kind of memorial to what an area used to contain. It is for this reason that we had to award Favorite Places – St. Mark’s School (GC3QHWJ) an honourable mention. The cache was placed by wademercer and got our attention when we seen a sign, that read “Teachers Only,” standing in the middle of a completely overgrown area. There wasn’t much evidence that anything used to be here but whatever was here had to involve teachers. After completely reading the cache description, we found out that there used to be a school here but it was closed years ago and then destroyed by fire. The area had become overgrown with trees and shrubs. Obviously, this area was the teacher’s parking lot and, with a little imagination, you could picture how things used to be.

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