A FUNNY STORY ABOUT OUR FIRST CACHE:
Over a year ago, we decided to start caching in our then place of residence, Burlington Ontario. A reasonable place to start was directly across the street from our apartment, in a small cemetery. Our first attempt was on a balmy night, it was perhaps around 11:00 pm which we assumed was a good idea because of the lack of muggle interference.
The cemetery is quite tiny and is in fact the oldest one that still exists in Burlington. Ironically, they built a bustling shopping plaza around it that holds a huge grocery store, and an Ikea... of course. And yet, there it still stands up on a small hill, guarded by a rod iron gate and surrounded by a gaudy parking lot.
We very stealthily approached the gate, climbed the hill and were just about to enter the cemetery, when I saw a dark shadow moving in front of the largest tombstone. I put my hand in front of Joe and told him that someone was in the cemetery. Now, this wouldn't be unsettling during the day in a modern cemetery, where people often visit the graves. But, this was an ancient burial ground, where the newest grave was from the mid nineteenth century, and it was quickly approaching the witching hour!
Joe and I slid down the hill and waited; he was quite convinced that I was seeing things. He bravely tip-toed up to the fence once more to get a closer look, and was appalled to see a body lying on the ground in front of a very prominent grave! The man lying on the ground, began to stretch and groan, so Joe and I did the only thing that made sense at the time, we got the hell outta there!
A few days later we returned during the day, and found our very first geocache! Luckily the man wasn't there, but there was an obvious patch in the grass where he had been sleeping. After reading some logs concerning that particular cache, I came to discover that many avid geocachers had encountered this man, and they dubbed him the GUARDIAN OF THE CEMETERY.
Here's Joe with our first ever geocache. It was contained within the gullet of a small rubber frog.
AN OASIS IN THE BIG CITY:
Last summer, Joe and I joined our friends Mary, Neil and Ted on an excursion to Centre Island in Toronto. Centre Island is a short ferry ride from the shores of Toronto, and is a beautiful Oasis for those looking for a little escapism.
It has lovely sandy beaches, beautiful and eclectic homes, an amusement park and of course many prime geocaches. Our goal was to spend the day, eat copious amounts of ice cream and get every cache on the island. We succeeded in all of our goals.
Cache number one was near this stoic looking structure. We made short work of the cache but unfortunately, the fire ants surrounding it made short work of us!
We made our way all over the island collecting a multitude of fascinating caches, but my favourite had to be the largest cache I have ever seen! It was a cart, a trading post of sorts, where residents of the island often left items to be shared and exchanged. The cache was the trading post itself! We searched for a souvenir, but decided to leave the items for future adventurers. I believe I left behind a toy dinosaur, which I hope found a good home. Below are some of the pictures we took!
I would truly recommend spending a day at Centre Island, even if you're not an avid geocacher, there are still plenty of stimulating events to keep you busy.
CACHING AT WORK (DURING MY LUNCH BREAK) :
One thing that I really enjoy about geocaching, is sharing it with friends. When Joe and I were still residing in Burlington, I was commuting every day down to the Niagara Region, where I worked as a graphic designer for a local newspaper. As a good obsessive little cacher, I would often find the general locations of nearby caches online, print out the map, then venture out during my lunch break with my friend, co-worker and fellow cacher, Jessica. Because it was my boyfriend who was in possession of the smart phone with GPS capabilities, we were forced to used other more analytical methods to find the caches. Our first find, was in a very ancient, and mouse infested oak tree.
It ended up being an awesome find! I traded a coin from Hong Kong for a Wolverine Hero Klix! (Joe was especially excited when I showed him my treasure!)
A few days later Jessica and I set out again. This time we brought our friend and first time cacher Priscilla along for the adventure. We set off from work into the nearby woods, dressed in our work clothes and prepared to get dirty none-the-less. We were terribly excited by this particular cache. The description said that it was in fact a series of carvings that a local chain saw artist had produced in a multitude of dilapidated trees. Our goal was to find the carvings and post pictures of them to the geocaching website. Here are a few of our pictures, of the majestic works of art.
CANADA'S OLDEST MAPLE TREE:
The last photographic journey I'm going to explore in this particular blog post, is of the cache located at Canada's Oldest Maple tree, the Comfort Maple.
On this particular day, I was out caching with Neil and Mary... Joe was indisposed at the time. We began our day at Balls Falls... heh heh... a lovely nature preserve built around a stunning waterfall. We spent most of our day hiking, and taking pictures, but before our journey home, I asked if we could stop by the Comfort Maple. I had never ventured there myself, but had heard that it was an incredibly serene place to go, and much to our excitement, there just happened to be a geocache nearby!
The Comfort Maple is indeed an impressive specimen. It's incredibly large, especially for a sugar maple, and is considered to be Canada's oldest. It still grows year after year, displaying a massive green canopy, even though it looks to be more concrete than tree.
I believe the bricks were put into place to help preserve it. They've apparently worked, because the tree still continues to thrive. Here is a photograph with me sitting on its roots, to illustrate scale.
The cache was very cleverly hidden, but we still managed to find it rather quickly. I have a picture of it, but I've decided not to post it, because it would certainly give away its exact position. So, you're on your own fellow cachers. My suggestion is to bring a picnic lunch, sit beneath it's expansive, shadowy canopy, and enjoy the beauty that nature has to offer. This magical tree may not be here in a few years from now, so please enjoy it while it still stands.
MMMMM SLEEP:
Lastly, before I turn in for the night, I wanted to leave you with this sketch I meant to add to my blog about travel caching. This is a drawing I did of Joe and Tumbler after we arrived home from San Diego. Joe passed out on the couch with our little dog, as he often does after an adventure.
Good night all, and happy caching!
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