Geocaching Explained

The sport of Geocaching explained. A simple little task to enlighten the uninitiated.
To begin, there is always the debate about whether or not Geocaching is, in fact, a sport. The more athletic types refute this claim, but in the simplest terms, Geocaching requires physical travel (ie: body movement), it has rules, and requires specialized equipment. There are also official competitions. By my definition, this meets the criteria of a sport. For further debate on this matter I direct you to the online definition of "sport" on Dictionary.com.
With that debate fully out of the way (forever), I will now explain the sport.
Geocaching involves the finding of objects (either placed or previously existing) using the items geographical co-ordinates. That is to say that cachers acquire the geographical location of the cache from a listing, and use technological devices to physically locate it on the earths surface. Think of it as a global scavenger hunt. This, of course, requires a GPS (unless one is really good at carrying distance from a known datum using other means).
Other devices and information can be employed to assist in the locating of the cache (maps, hints, voodoo, etc...), but primarily, one relies on the GPS.
So as a minimum, to participate you must have:
- a GPS
- a computer with internet connection
Not too much really.
Advanced equipment includes thing such as:
-digital camera (to record virtual caches)
-4-wheel drive truck (to get those out of the way ones)
- pirated mapping software iof local region to use as reference material
etc.....

So with the above (and perhaps a dog or two), you are now ready to go out and find some caches. Firstly, you you must go to the geocaching web page, and get the coordinates for the caches you seek. This being done, you must then enter said data into GPS unit. Now hit the road.
Caches come in a variety of sizes/shapes/containers/forms etc...and thus the difficulty of each specific cache can be (and is) ranked according to two factors: how well it is hidden, and the difficulty of the terrain.
This is perhaps the biggest divide between caches (in my opinion). Some caches are extremely easy to get to, but very difficult to find at that location, while others are relatively easy to find, once a difficult location is reached. This is also largely the difference (in my observation) between urban and rural caching. There are many caches hidden within the urban environment that are extremely easy to get to (take bus, get off at stop, look for cache near newsstand), but extremely hard to find (small magnetic container under newsstand). These present a challenge for those who like to look for things, but I prefer the second type. Those caches that require a moderate hike to a scenic spot, without much of a search. This is rural caching at it's pinnacle.
There is a good reason for this difference. Traffic. Urban caches need to be well hidden so that those not involved in the sport do not find and destroy/vandalize them. Out of the way caches are not likely to be stumbled upon. Unless you like to fight you're way past giant spiders!
Caches can not only be found, but can be placed for others to find. There is a process for this, but it is simple (although a commitment to maintaining the cache is required).
Kira and I (and Sasha, and Kara) recently placed are first cache near a local waterfall. This is my kind of cache. Not to difficult to find (small thermos at base of large stripped cedar), but a pleasant walk. Once you locate which trail it's on, you're pretty much guaranteed a find (we gave hints).
















Hints are necessary in this game, because otherwise frustration would lead to cachers killing people. Seriously. GPS's work great in open fields, but in dense forests or steep terrain, they tend to crap out. The trick is to make it findable (yet appropriately challenging).
So is this the sport for you?
If you have a dog, this is the sport for you (I have found more trails to walk Sasha on in the last three weeks that in the last 5 years.
If you like traveling and looking for things this is the sport for you.
(As an aside, it should be mentioned that geocaches exist in most countries on earth. There are 6 in Cambodia, 11 in Laos, and 22 in Bolivia for example).
If you're looking for a justification for purchasing that GPS you bought...this is the sport for you (seriously, either the manufacturers of GPS's thought this up to create a market, or it was consumer response to the purchasing of an otherwise useless toy).
SO thats Geocaching in a nutshell. Try it. Go out and find one of BC's 5772 caches. Get off your lazy butt...it's more fun than TV....seriously.

Port Alberni Garden Tour.

It was a cold and windy Mother's Day here in the Alberni Valley, but we bundled up and braved the elements to go look at the best my home town has to offer (in terms of green thumbs). The choice to move the tour to such an early date was a much debated topic (Alberni is about 2 weeks behind where it should be this year due to the unseasonable cold), so it was interesting to see people gardens a little before their prime. On the other hand, since so many of the homes had fabulous Rhododendron gardens, it was a good showcase for the earlier varieties.
Our first stop was Cherry Creek...home to many fabulous gardens. The highlight of this leg of the tour was a pair of houses that backed onto each other with shared constructed streams, and many other glorious water features. This stop also provided us with an idea for making concrete beds for the vegetable garden. See how the L-shaped beds makes access easier?
The unifying factor about the Cherry Creek stops was the scale. All of these properties are multi acre areas, owned by wealthy retired folk. Impressive but not practical as an example of what an average city dwelling Joe like myself can do. I really like the concept of diverting a stream into a constructed channel, running it through three waterfalls, and building gazebos next to tranquil pools, but as there isn't a stream handy, I'm stuck with no place to put my waterfall. It is nice though.















































The next grouping were the "in town" gardens. Three made the cut, but only one was truly worthy of a visit. The other two were a little too landscaped (mallscaped) for my tastes. Good suburban landscaping, but it was difficult to tell if the owners had a real knack for gardening, or just good landscapers.
The third home was a nice cottage style garden on a small steep lot. I would give anything for a small. steep lot. you can do so much with a hill. This place was also the only stop on the tour that had a good variety of perennials, the others relied a little heavily on landscaped features and shrubs (again the park sized yards were a factor). This place was funky, had two dogs, and was clearly inspired.

Also, it had a tree growing in it that by all scientific accounts should be dead...awesome!




















The final stops were in the mega wealthy area of Sproat lake...big homes with big yards. This home must of had over 500 varieties of Rhododendrons (but little else). It would also sleep 160 of your closest friends. Impressive, but again, out of my league.

All in all, a good day.

Gardening Green, Saving the World, and All That...

So in order to help Canada achieve its Kyoto commitments, I decided to go for zero greenhouse gas emissions in the yard this year.
That means no power mower. I'm selling that this weekend at my fencing club's garage sale. I got my self a reel mower (the push kind). Its got many benefits: its quiet (so I can listen to my MP3 player without going deaf, I can simply stop pushing whenever I discover a gift from the Bean on my lawn (always sucked to have to turn off and restart the power mower every time an obstacle needed removal), and of course, no ozone depleting emissions. It also gives you a bit of a work out (especially if you let the grass get long). Also, not that I'll ever prove this point, but I can mow at 6:00 am on a Sunday without pissing of the neighbours.
Also gone is the gas powered weed whacker (It broke last fall and would cost more to fix than replace). So I've got by self a 12 volt battery powered trimmer. Sure it doesn't have enough juice to do all my yard on one charge, but it spreads out the joy, and again no harmful emissions.
I'm not sure what prompted me to do this. Could be concern for the environment, guilt over the new 6 cylinder 4-wheel drive I bought last fall, but mainly I think I just really hated my lawn mower.
So I challenge all you to go green in the garden...it's not that difficult and provides excellent incentive for just getting rid of the lawn.


For the last two weeks, I've been grass seeding ditches and stream crossings at work. A very manual and simple task. But important work. The humble grass seeder is often ridiculed or over looked, but l;ook what happens when you don't grass seed those ditches!!!