Geocaching - All Quiet on the Western Front

Yesterday I had completed a milestone that I had my eye on for the last few weeks. I have cleared all the active geocaches within 50km of my home. I am slowing down my march towards 1000 as september looks to be a tricky month to maneuver a four day trip into. Instead it seems like I will be making my 1000th geocache the annual GHAGAFAP event (Golden Horseshoe Area Geocachers And Friends Annual Picnic) being hosted this year near London Ontario. Not quite as much a feat of accomplishment as I had been hoping to brag about (as all I really have to do to claim it is to show up), but I will share the podium with a few friends who will also be celebrating milestones that day. We will be doing some camping in the area that night, and pulling out the BFLs for a little night hunting.

The last cache I needed to conclude my 50km bubble was a series finale cache located around Orangeville, in the Hockley Highlands. Caledon is a really neat spot geologically, as you have both the Bruce trail and the oak ridges morrain intersecting.



This leads to some really neat mountains and hills. I finished off the day 10 points ahead, with one cache that I could not account for. The cache "Bailey's Bridge" has foiled me 6 times so far. This time was probably the most dramatic though. I thought that I had grabbed the cache twice while reaching under the bridge. Both times I pulled out a hand full of hornets and their nests. Good thing I am in shape now, otherwise the next geocacher might just find a stinger-ridden corpse at the site. I gave up after the 2 hornet clans (both of different species) began fighting eachother on the bridge. A really interesting sight, but I wasn't staying to see how it turned out. I will come back in the fall or winter when things have cooled down a bit.

Tommorow I am meeting some folks out on the Bruce trail to attempt a cache called "The Eagles Nest". We have all tried the cache before, and have all failed. The terrain is rated four out of five, and I would agree with that.. Almost saying it would be a four and a half. George and I went out here a while back and made it to the last stage, but were unable to find anything, so hopefully more luck will befall the group tommorow. I will probably try and replace a cache of mine as well tommorow that was stolen as a result of a careless finder being unable to put it back the way the found it.. There is a place for people like that. Pluto.