Saturday in the Assiniboine Forest

Another Sunny Day Of Enjoying The Forest

One more day of caching in the forest and the PartnerS were looking forward to it!  The sunshine was beautiful, with a light wind blowing.  The temperature at 11:00 A.M. was -8 with a windchill of -16c, was a little chilly out in the open, but in the forest it was comfortable.  We started our day hiking on the trails, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.  This picture was hiking across a clearing to start our adventure.

The GPS was cooperating today and so we didn't have too many problems finding any the caches that we were after.  We found our first one rather easily.  It was a nice cache hanging in a tree, it was very winter friendly, but not so well hidden in the winter time!  In the summer time it would be a more difficult find with the leaves on the trees to hide it a little.  But easy on the first one of the day is always a good thing!



First one of the day



We continued along the trail, taking in the scenery and enjoying the fantastic day!  For January 28 can you beat these temps and the very minimal amount of snow cover that we have on the ground?  If we had our normal snowfall we sure would not be bushwhacking in Assiniboine Forest right now.  We are so lucky to be able to be finding these caches at this time of the year, in the summer time this area would be infested with bugs and wet terrain.

Here is a some furniture that we discovered just "hanging around"

makes us wonder, who hauled this into the forest to hang in a tree?  So we shake our heads and carry on. 




MaaaWaaaaaahhhh!

 To this next little micro, that Gerry's eagle eye spied!  As you can see he is more then happy to add it to his list of "finds".  In this cache there was a picture of two people who wanted to travel around, so we took them with us down the trail to drop into another cache.
 

Down this trail and up that trail with some bushwhacking in between the 3 brave GeoPartnerS trudged on to the next one!  This one was kind of hard to see, it was above eye level and looking up into the sun made it hard to see.  We thought this was a real good "in plain site" hide.  But Diane's Sharpe eyes spotted it!  Miss Di can claim this find and she was more then happy to put into her "Yeehaw I found it" folder!

Who wouldn't love going for a walk down this wonderful trail?  We are off to the next one, it will be the 4th of the day.  We met up with a fair amount of dogs and their masters today out getting their exercise and fresh air.  The dogs really enjoy being out there running free.  Except 2 older dogs, who were not enjoying their long walk too much.  They were walking rather slow and resting a lot.  We can attest to the fact that as we age it gets harder!  So around the corner, up a hill and there we are approaching our next target.

In the woodpile!  We found this one quite easy, cute little container that looked like a flying saucer.  It was called Tinder Circle, how appropriate.  The container did not close too well as some of the tabs were broke off the round lock and lock container.  We did manage to close it better then we found it.  We left the picture that we picked up in a previous cache in this cache.  We figured this to be a good temporary home for the couple.

We came across this prime piece of real estate on our way to our next big find.  We liked the high ceiling in the spacious A frame and so we sat in it awhile and tryed it out for comfort, to see if it was to our liking, but we decided that it was a little too drafty and so we made a unanimous decision to forgo making an offer on the niffty little property. 

Our next two finds were ammo boxes which are so nice as there is alot of room for tradeables and for the log book.  The ammo cans also close up real well and keep everything inside dry and safe. 

The second ammo box called "Periodically Insane" was our first little milestone...our #50th  find...yeahhh.

This next one was a very good hide, we named it as a favorite.  The spot that it was hidden in was so very well camouflaged into its environment.  Diane spotted it, good eye for sure!  This cache is number 7  in a series of caches called "The Remember" series.  This series of caches is dedicated to a few of the thousands of Canadian Servicemen who gave everything to defend our way of life.  We need to gather the information in all of the caches and put information together and that will enable us to find the last cache in this series.

The information given in this cache was about this Lt. in the RAF:

-John Percy McCone

-Pilot....

-SE5A.....The plane was designed by British company R.A.F. (Royal Aircraft Factory).S.E. - Scout experimental (single seat fighters).

-C1054....registration number

-Lt 41 Squadron RAF

Born March 11 1891

Died March 24 1918
He was 27 years old.

Shot down by air ace Manfred von Richthofen in his Fokker DR.I. 

We put the container back into its hiding spot and noticed 2 cachers approching us so we stayed and met them and chatted a bit.  The cachers were Rookies7691 a dad and his son, also new to this game.

Up and onward to our next and last geocache of the day.  This was another find by Sis Di!

I love the excitement!

Then it's time to head back to the car, we have about a 1 km hike, again 3 tired geocachers head back with backsides kind of dragging! 

We decided to pick up a piece of wood to house one of the caches that we plan to construct when we decide to start to hide some of our own. This was the weather when we left and when we left the forest.

11:00 Mainly Sunny -8 73 -12 NW 24 101.4 24 -16
14:00 Sunny -9 66 -14 NNW 35 101.5 24 -19

Until our next adventures.

Have fun caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011

GeoPartnerS Signature

 This Is Me!

 Researching, reading, thinking and deciding what our theme will be.  We finally decided on "Ladybugs".  I found this wonderful ladybug blogger layout at this site.  We love it! It is so much fun, as is caching! 

We put these ladybug fridge magnets together for one of our tradeables.

This is our signature label printed on 1.75 x .50" avery labels.  We will use these labels on cache logs, so we have printed 2 tags on each label to keep the size small.  I can't wait to go caching to use some!

We have put these sig tags with our ladybug and protected them with little plastic bags.  This is our most common tradeable.  We  have some keychains and some jewelry from the DJ's Gemstones days, that I am giving away as well.  I have also made some bookmarks in the ladybug theme and printed them on photo paper and laminated them, they are pretty cool.

Click on picture to enlarge

Have Fun Caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011

Assiniboine forest caching #2

And Then There Were Two

Two of us braved the colder temperatures and slight wind today to go out on our adventure!  The temp was -16c with a wind chill of -26c, with light snow falling.   We started walking with a brisk pace and kept warm, the wind in the forest was at a minimum.  We were fine as long as we were moving, but as soon as I had to bare my hands, the first time to sign a log book my hands were ice cubes.  When my hands got cold I used Hot Hands2  this was the first time I used them!  They are amazing!  When the packet is exposed to the air it heats up, I put them into my mitts and wrapped my fingers around it,  the hot hands stayed hot for about 6 hours.  I will stock up on them from here on in.  We had a great caching day, getting 8 !  I don't have many pics today as my camera pooped out, bummer.  Gerry's "eagle caching eyes" were peeled today, he was spotting them right away.

We found 2 hides by the Boy Scout Troop placed while out hiking in the forest.  The one cache shelter was very unique and cool, a wood teepee, not sure if they used it as a shelter and then decided to shelter a cache inside. 

Another hide by a local cacher was placed in a quality piece of real estate, a well ventilated house for sure!  We looked this house up and down, round and round very carefully and thought that we would have to pass up on this offer today, but in the end we had success and put in our offer!  This was a cool hide, our first ammo box container.  Lots of room in it for tradeables.
We hiked and bushwacked until we were tired hikers and decided to call it a day and hike out about 2 pm. Backsides et al dragging we headed to our starting point and the car.

14:00	Light Snow	-14	80	-17	SE 26	101.1	3	-24
11:00	Light Snow	-16	73	-20	ESE 22	101.5	19	-26



Boy Scout Teepee

 The above were the weather conditions when we left and when
we came back.










Have Fun Caching
GeoPartnerS
Caching since 2011

So You thought you knew it all...

We knew we had a lot to learn

Sunday we went to a "hiding" seminar called "So you thought that you knew it all" The morning session was the beginners caching and hiding, it included finding, basic hiding and tools of the trade. We went through the different containers to use, one being Starfrit lock and lock available at different shops.  It is worth purchasing the containers that are sturdy like the Starfrit as the cheaper $Store ones will not hold up especially in our cold winters.

This is the rectangular loc & loc.  They are available at stores like Canadian Tire, Sears, probably at Wal Mart and Zellers.  This size container has room for some tradable along with the log book and pencil.  The main concern about containers is that be "water proof"

Pill bottles or waterproof film canisters are available from The Cache Box Store online if you don't have an alternate source. 

The film canister at the right hand edge is available for purchase from the cache box store for .99 cents.  If you purchase it with the geocaching label it is $2.49.  The Cache Box Store has a big variety of containers and other supplies as well as coins and travel bugs.

inside a rock

rock

nano

bison tubes micro

mini decon

So as you can see the types of containers vary a whole lot, use your imagination and the sky is the limit.  The important factor again is that they be waterproof.  Lee Valley is one place to buy bison tubes. A note on these, you may need to replace the o rings to keep them water proof in our changing temperatures.  Princess Auto is another place to purchase rare earth magnets along with other supplies, watch for supplies to come on sale.

We also had a section on painting your own containes in camouflage, there are a lot of sites on the internet that explain that process.  There are also many videos on U Tube about the process.
If you are using new metal containers that are hidden in plain view, make sure you age them.  You can rough them up with some dents, you can dry brush lite grey paint to age.  The containers can not be new and shiney or they will jump out at people looking for it.  If a container is shiney and new you can use flat black or flat grey spray paint, stand back about 2 feet from container and spray it lightly.

There is also a technique called blending and dazzle the picture on this website is one example.  It is breaking up the lines so it makes it hard to see and hard to determine what it is or what direction it is moving in.

Another hiding tecnique was using ghillie suits, get a net at the dollar store and use the flora from your cache area to disguise.  The problem with this is there is a lot of maintainence as wildlife, weather and time will destroy your camo.  Using fake flora will work but will not blend in so well.

UTube Video on camouflage and hiding geocaches
How to Camouflage a Geocache ver 2.0  


Places People Shop At

Toad Hall Toys Located Downtown Winnipeg
Princess Auto  3292 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3K 0Z1

(204) 831-8275

Lee Valley   1395 Ellice Avenue

Canadian Tire 750 St James St
Wal Mart  1001 Empress St

Cabelas 1300 Ellice AvenueWholesale Sports 1225 St James St

EBay

There are many places on the internet to order supplies from as well

I have some of those places on my side bar in the shopping area.

There are offical geocache stickers available from two caches in Winnipeg

Stick'em up, eh? 
For the large stickers

Stick'em down, eh? 
For the small stickers

Have Fun Caching
GeoPartnerS
Caching since 2011 

assiniboine Forest Along the harte trail

On The Trails And Off The Trails

We were looking forward to our Saturday caching trip all week! When we set out Saturday morning about 11 A.M. the temp was -10C and no winds, not sure if the temps came up during the day at all because when I got home at 4 P.M. it was still -10.  But was comfortable for walking the trails and through the bush. Our goal for the day was to do the caches along the Assiniboine Forest section of  The Harte Trail.  This part of the trail runs parallel to Wilkes Ave, the CPR Line also parallels the trail. 



 

This picture is the start of the trail, a groomer went ahead of us making it easy to walk, on the trails at least!   There are 5 caches placed along the trail by a MBGA member  to celebrate International Trails Day on June 5.  June 5th marks the official  opening of the Harte Trail extension, 6.5 km of trail running from Shaftsbury Blvd to the Perimeter Hwy. 


                                                      

First of the Harte Trail Series

These geocaches were all pretty close to the trail and not too difficult to find.  We were amazed at how nice the trail was and how much we were enjoying it.  Thanks to geocaching for bringing us here to discover it.

This is Gerry's find on the Trail Series, yeah! We are always so happy when we make a find.

This is Diane's find and this is what excitement looks like!  That about finished that series and so we still had some time to get a few more.                          

There was a Letterbox in the area and I wanted to get that one.  Letterboxes are not common in Winnipeg and I was anxious to see it.  Getting to this one proved to be a whole lot more work, we had to do some bushwacking from this point forward!  But it was so worth it in the end.  In the letterbox were some tradables and also 4 animal stamps and a stamp pad so we stamped our journal and left our signature in the log book provided.  We will have to work at making a signature stamp for GeoPartnerS to be able to leave our stamp as well.  The next 3 caches that we went to involved going though the bush.  Getting slapped in the face with branches, climbing over fallen trees, crawling under fallen trees, this way, that way, stumbling and falling!  Was a little hard work but did provide some good laughs!



Heading off the beaten path



 We found a few different and unique caches here, you look at an object and think it doesn't fit but my brain does not say look! Until I am told to look and voila, there it is!  Another cache hidden high in a tree with fantastic camo covering.  We do not as a rule look up, but as cachers we have to start to watch and really pay attention to our environment as a cache can be hidden in the least likely places.                                             

This cache was higher then you would expect a cache to be and it blended in so well with the trees.  Could have been hard to reach but there happened to be all kinds of broken trees with built in hooks to use as a tool.  Very nice hide!  At about 2 P.M. we decided to call it a day, so we got back onto the trail and put the coordinates to our first cache of the day which was near the car into the trusty Garmin etrex and it told us we had a little over a 1 km hike back to the car! ACK!  So the hike out was not so enjoyable to the tired and worn out GeoPartnerS, whose behinds were dragging.  But the day was so worth it, we did have fun and enjoyed the day a lot. We managed to log 9 caches to add to our collection, which is now at 36 finds.  Yeah Us!  We also wrote down the tracking number of a travel bug and learned that we can log it on geocaching.com as a "discovered" travel bug.

This is a photo of the letterbox stamps we made into our journal.

Until Next Time

Have Fun Caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011

We Have to Keep Plugging

Adventures In Assiniboine Park Second Time Around

Temperature was +4 mostly cloudy with little to no wind and high humidity but it felt very nice out.  We only went for 3 today and we found 3.  We had a walk about in snowy Leo Mol Gardens and enjoyed it, we saw a rabbit and some squirrels but didn't get a chance to take pictures of them. The park was very quiet today we didn't have to worry about muggles!  We were only watched by a maintenance person who stopped to observe what we were doing wandering about with an offical looking book! Hahaha.

  

This is what "looking in all the wrong places"

looks like!

This is what "finding it" looks like

Dianes 1 find of the day

Jeannines # 1 find

 



My # 2 Find

Here are some of the beautiful deer who share the park with us!

Have Fun Caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011



Participaction Just get up and do!

PARTICIPACTION

You can walk

Let's get up and moving, do something fun, something that doesn't feel like exercise.

Most of the time it's hard remove ourselves from the couch being glued to the television unlessthere is something that is far more exciting to do. Geocaching! If you have not heard about Geocaching, it's a world wide treasure hunt, using a GPS and geographical co ordinates. You need to sign up at geocaching.com . You choose a unique user name and create a profile. On geocaching.com you can search for the caches near your home or in the area of your choice. Caches are hidden objects, sometimes they are micro, some times they are larger. There will be a log book to sign and there may be tradeables in the cache, you can take an object and leave an object of equal or greater value. There may be travel bugs in a cache as well. A travel bug has a unique tracking number and is tracked on the web site. If you retrieve a trackable log into the website and log the trackable and keep it moving please. Do not hang on to it. Keeping the travel bug moving is the object of the game. When you have access to your computer then log your find with your feed back to the cache owner.



 

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<>Run

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Exercise


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Skate

                                                                

Or Cache

I have links to information sites as well as fun sites on Geocaching on my side bar. 

 

 

Have Fun Caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011



Caching In Assiniboine Park





Fun In Assiniboine Park

Thursday was shaping up to be a very mild sunny day so the female half of GeoPartnerS decided to go caching with her sister.  Our adventure started out with tempertures of about +4 and light cloud.  So we headed out!  We "struck out" on our first try, not good for the newbie sister cacher!  So we decided to go onto our next site.  Success....Yeahhh! We ended up nabbing 5 in a row.  We cached until mid afternoon, by then we were at +7 with bright sunshine and light winds.  We did a lot of walking and were very tired cachers!  I think the treasure hunting world has one more addicted hunter.  I also saw my first travel bugs but decided to leave them in place this time.



RECORDING IT!





FOUND IT!











One More Find!



Watching people having fun
skating on the duck pond

It was a beautiful day to be out
in the park



Have Fun Caching

GeoPartnerS

Caching since 2011