The Art of Getting Your Numbers UP!

For all avid geocachers, getting your caching numbers up is the penultimate goal! It's this irrational desire within each and every one of us, to show our supremacy over our fellow cachers and close friends alike. Joe and I often reflect upon our first attempt at collecting a cache, a few blocks from our former residence. The thrill of sneaking around in the middle of the night, stealthily climbing in trees and over fences, and acting strangely casual when muggles came sniffing around, was truly intoxicating! We were hooked from the get go, even though our fist cache eluded us!

It was supposed to be in a pagoda-like structure situated in a lovely little area, directly outside a bustling bank! We knew the cache was quite small, and we knew it was magnetic, so we of course assumed that it would be attached to this giant metal structure. For three nights straight, we combed over the area, meticulously inspecting every nook and cranny. But unfortunately night after night, we came home empty handed. Finding a geocache couldn't be that difficult, could it? 

Joe checked the logs for that particular cache, and nothing insinuated that it had gone missing. So, he messaged the owner of the cache to help us out. The owner, being the jerk-face that he was, said that the cache was still there and that we were lame nubes with zero finds, and therefore lacked the appropriate experience to find a stupid magnet stuck to a hunk of metal! A few days later however, the owner logged this cache as missing. VICTORY WAS OURS! A year later, we have 174 caches found and 1 cache hidden under our belt, and very VERY few failures. 

The Bruce Trail - A Perfect Place To Get Your Numbers Up!

A month ago, our friend's Neil and Mary messaged us to go caching with them in Orangeville. Apparently Neil had found a string of over 100 caches lining a section of the Bruce trail. The geocaches were so close together that it presented a good opportunity for us to collect a huge number in one day. So, off we went with Mary, Neil and their adorable little baby Ryan, for a day of caching frenzy! How many did we manage to get that day out of the possible 100 or so treasures you may ask? 3! The mosquitos were so bad that Joe came home looking like he had the mumps, and even though I only had one bite, it was right on my lip and swelled up to the size of a chocolate covered almond! So, we decided to come back on a less damp, mosquito ridden day, and that day was last Saturday.

As you can see by the map below, the trail is lined with a multitude of caches in very close proximity to one another. The green squares indicate the caches we still have yet to find. The yellow happy faces at the bottom of the map, are the caches that we've already found. As you can plainly see, we still have a lot of work to do!

We started our day last Saturday on the Bruce Trail just off of Mississauga Road. We figured we could work our way towards the caches we had already found to bridge the gap, and then if the day was going well, we could start going north to collect a few more. Our first cache of the day was called, "Resting in Loving arms", and even though it had quite an auspicious name it proved to be a rather disturbing find. 

I assumed the geocache was situated in the loving embrace of a nearby clump of trees. So I veered off the path and into the woods. Sure enough within minutes, I could see a small camouflaged container shoved between the trunks of three intertwining trees. I could SEE the cache, but there was NO WAY I was going to stick my hand in and retrieve the cache, because at the base of the tree was a pile of bones, picked clean by god who knows what kind of predator! When I yelled out, "Hey guys there's a pile of bones here!", Neil asked if they were chicken bones. I said, "No they look like a pile of small femurs!"

Now I'm no expert, but there are definitely some vertebrae, and potentially arms and legs in there. If anyone can identify these, drop me a line. The skull was missing so there was very little else to help us identify them, and I wasn't about to touch them in any way. In any case, we logged the geocache online and went on our merry way! (BTW, if the owner of the cache put these here, not cool man!)

The day progressed rather nicely. Overall we managed to snag an additional 8 geocaches. Most of the caches lining this trail are named after geographical locations and were placed there by the same person. We found Barbados, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. To be honest the majority of the caches were rather uninspired, easy to find and were in yogurt containers. So, either the person who placed them there worked at Yoplait or was a HUGE yogurt enthusiast. As pictured below, we did manage to find one really interesting geocache, that was built into a carved piece of wood and gingerly placed in the crevice of an old stump.

Strike a pose Joe!

All in all, we had a fantastic day, but in the end the excessive heat and pesky insects made us turn back early once more. We'll be back however, perhaps in the fall when the mosquitos won't tear us to shreds. The draw of conquering this string of geocaches is far too enticing to give up on. It may take us multiple tries, but I'm confident that one day that long green string of unattained caches will be replaced with smiling yellow happy faces, and our numbers will take a healthy leap forward. Happy caching!

Below are some more pictures from that day. GOOD TIMES!

Neil and Joe displaying the same caching technique!

Mary looking sad from all the nasty bug bites!

The Scarborough Bluffs - A Slice of Paradise Near the Big City!

The Scarborough Bluffs is a stunning geological wonder, situated along the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just outside of Toronto. The Bluffs is a 14 km long escarpment formed during the last ice age, and is an impressive 65 m (213 ft) at its highest point. Last weekend, Joe and I decided to check out this unique feature, with the hopes of enjoying a fruitful day of hiking and caching. The above picture is of me standing on a small pathway, jutting out above one of the precarious cliffs of the Bluffs. It's truly hard to believe that something this incredibly gorgeous could exist right beside Canada's largest city, on the overly polluted Lake Ontario. We were both made speechless by the crystal clear azure coloured water, and sandy white beaches below. 

Our journey began last Friday, which of course was the long weekend here in Canada because of Canada Day. We set out early in the afternoon and despite the heavy holiday traffic and the various festivals lining the waterfront, we made decent time to the Bluffs. On our way, we managed to snap this notable picture while speeding along the Gardiner Expressway. Believe it or not, it's rather difficult to snap a photo of another vehicle while travelling at 100 km an hour, but when an authentic looking DeLorean fully equipped with a Flux Capacitor passes you by, you must take the opportunity!

We arrived in the general vicinity of the Scarborough Bluffs around 2:00 pm. We weren't entirely certain where to go, where to park or where the best vantage point was situated. Even with the aid of Google Maps we were a little confused, because ultimately Goggle Maps does not show you elevation. So, it will indicate that you have reached your destination, even though you may be 200 metres directly above your intended destination. In this case however, this fact seemed to work to our advantage. 

We easily found parking along side a small, unassuming municipal park, which had some tiny signs up indicating sheer drops up ahead. When we traversed the park, we were shocked to see that we were indeed standing on top of a very high, and stunningly beautiful cliff, overlooking the blue-green waters of Lake Ontario. 

Amazingly, even though the Scarborough Bluffs have the appearance of being comprised of Limestone, they are in fact compacted sand. So, I would imagine that they erode at a ridiculous rate! This lends to the spectacular geological features that make the Bluffs so unique. It also makes walking along the steep edges a slippery and precarious undertaking!

Below is a photo gallery of some of the gorgeous views:

After admiring the view for quite some time, we decided to try some caches in the area. The first Cache was entitled "Suicide", so for obvious reasons we decided to skip that one. We had no interest in marring a beautiful day, by having to take a trip to the emergency room. The second cache, was a multi, which we again decided to skip because hitting up multiple points along 14 km of sandy cliffs, in 30 degree weather didn't seem feasible. So, I'll be honest, we didn't actually do any geocaching on this particular day, however if you are an avid geocacher, who is perhaps a tad braver than my boyfriend and I, this is a perfect spot to feed your obsession!

From our vantage point, we could clearly see Scarborough Bluffs park far below. It was clamouring with people and bustling with fun July 1st activities! Joe and I looked at a map online to see how we could get down, and it seemed to require quite a lengthy drive through heavy traffic. So, we decided to hike along the ridge and see if we could find a relatively safe way down. Within 10 minutes or so, we discovered a path leading down a rather steep hill. We chanced the hike down, and very shortly found ourselves at our desired destination!

Again, we were not disappointed by the unbelievable sight of the stunning white cliffs! Below are some of the gorgeous snapshots we took from the park:

Joe and I had a marvellous time at the Scarborough Bluffs, and we would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to have a glorious, inspired time just outside Canada's largest city. It feels more like an exotic holiday than a short jaunt. Treat yourself to the Scarborough Bluffs, you won't be disappointed! ;)