Excellent Midnight Adventure

The much anticipated TOMTECs Excellent Midnight Adventure was indeed Excellent. It turned out to be very similar to an episode of "the amazing race" except we were the ones competing, and it was the middle of the night in the barren northern winter woods of Canada. First off I would like to thank Tomtec (Dan) for hosting an amazing event. It was sweeeet, and definitely the most fun I have had in a long time. I want to thank the holy order of the BFL for the organization, administration, and creepy secretive ways that added to the nights fun.



The night started off at a small pub in the town of Bolton Ontario called the Black Bull. We ate, we drank, we were Merry. My team mates consisted of Swifteroo, Earthquake, and a friend I had conscripted and trained for the event, Wiggity_wack (aka Nelan). Nelan was trained hard the day before in the Oak Ridges Moraine. We did a lot of hiking, I made him do all the retrieval, which involved being birthed by a tree, and climbing another tree about 30 feet tall. He succeeded, and I considered him well prepared for team Lethargy (yes, actual team name).



After dinner there was a draw for a mighty BFL from the holy order of the BFL. To enter, you must eat 5 things that aren't normally eaten. Nelan and I laughed at the weakness of the items, as we had done Llamalympics many times before, and it had involved things that definitely would not be allowed on the property of the Black bull for health and safety reasons. In the end we had no problem eating the hot sauce, raw sardines, dog bacon snacks, spinach, and stale Tim Horton’s donuts. We qualified for the draw, but alas, we did not win.




Now for the main event; I will describe this in detail, as someday I hope to make something better, and don't want my memory skewed with time. The race began in the bar. We were each given identical jigsaw puzzles, and told the initial coordinates were located on the back of the puzzle. We were second to complete the puzzle, gathered our things and rushed out the door (after settling our dues with the barkeep of course). We had some trouble acquiring a GPS signal in the parking lot. 4 people in a car, 5 GPS receivers, one driver (poor guy). After initially heading off in the wrong direction, we headed out of Bolton towards our first goal, out in the country. We found the first clue in someone’s mailbox (marked G.Cache). We rushed off towards the second clue. It gave us two sets of coordinates, and implied that the second one was the one we were looking for. Nelan and Swifteroo headed for the first, I headed for the second. At their set, they found a key and 5 sets of coordinates. Nelan got on the FRS radio, and radioed for my return. We sped off in the direction of the coordinates. While en-route the car went air born, dukes of hazard style, over a railroad crossing. The car seemed ok (later found out that we had destroyed the transmission pan, but that’s another story).




We arrived at the specified parking coordinates, 3rd place so far. Many people were still looking for the second stage, and were quite lost. We could make out their confused banter on the radio. The purpose of the key soon became evident. At each of the 5 coordinates there was a locked ammunition box. 2 keys were available for each box (10 teams). We found and tried all five boxes, and of course it was the last one. After making quite the hussle to make up for lost ground, we followed the coordinates to the next stage. A 12 foot fence. We were carrying for speed at this point, all our gear was back at the car, including the mandatory rope and climbing equipment that would have been quite helpful for this stage, as the clue for the next stage was on top.



This clue brought us to an old firing range, the eerie night and the pock-marked buildings gave quite an atmosphere. We were looking for Spike (Holy order of the BFL member) in one of the broken up buildings. To him we gave the tag received atop the 12 foot fence (human ladder created at the expense of my back). He gave us the option of 2 trivia sheets, one to the east, one to the west. We headed west, and found various plaques along the trail giving us information that often had nothing to do with the questions asked. We completed our trivia questionnaire, and rushed back to spike of the mighty holy order of the BFL. Upon presenting this wisdom to he we were endowed with a mighty riddle, to which I gave 3 immediate answers, only one seemed relevant at the time. We followed my hunch, and seemed to be going in the right direction. A path through the bush, guided along only by the occasional reflective circle nailed to a tree. We ran along the trail, knowing we were in first place, and hoping that the pain in our legs and backs would soon come to an end, or be killed by the wet-cold. The moraine was icy that day my friends..

After running and falling and kicking and tripping, we finally came to a crossroads at the end of the trail. It gave us some coordinates, and told us we were looking for an ammo box at an old barn. Following the coordinates, and loving every minute of the unending run we found the barn and spread out. Upon finding the ammo can we took the next clue, and closed the can up quickly (2nd place was rounding the hill, their flashlights could be seen, their panting could be heard). On the form were a set of variables. Number of fencepost on the Perimeter fence, number of windows in the upper level of the barn, number of reflectors on the stalls, etc. A multiplication and addition were done to retrieve the next set of coordinates and off we went, knowing that we were being trailed. This clue led us to a post, in the middle of a farmers field. Upon the post lay the words: "Like a needle in a haystack, you must find the ammo can in the hayfield". after about an hour of searching, we decided to walk shoulder and shoulder with the team trailing us across the field until we found it. wow.



It led us to a light post, which seemed quite out of place in the middle of the forest. There might have been a road under the snow, but certainly nothing that had been used in a few months. We took our prize stickers and returned to the holy order of the BFL to claim our victory, and hot chocolate. The Oil drum fire at the order was quite inviting, end everyone thought this was a great event.. Little did we know that the pain would last in excess of a week. Running 10km while being pursued would seemingly due that though! Still, very sweeeet.

Oh, and in other geocaching news I made front-sports page news in Bracebridge! Weird eh?