Geocaching and Camping part 1

Good morning everyone.  Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.  Happy 4th of July in advance to my American friends.  This week's fun fact is the cache with the most logged pictures in North Dakota.  That would be "Painted Canyon Overlook" GC238GK.  This Earthcache has 611 pictures posted so far to go along with 699 found logs and 118 favorite points.

Last weekend I was able to attend the North Dakota Camping and Caching event at Icelandic State Park, just outside of Cavalier, North Dakota.  I'm going to split the adventure up into three parts.  This week is my journey to the event that took place on Friday, June 22nd.  Next week will be part two, and the fun that was had on Saturday, June 23rd.  Finally, part three, the farewell and journey home on Sunday, June 24th.

I was made aware of this camping and caching event back in January with a conversation I had with GeoJangie via messenger.  This event is an annual event and I had seen this a couple of years ago on the geocaching map.  The North Dakota Geocaching Association moves this event around the state from year to year.  This year, it was being held just two hours away from home.  How can I pass this up.  I have a tent that I purchased two years ago and never unpacked.  Now is my chance to use my tent.

As the date drew closer, I was debating if I should take a day off to travel there.  As fate would have it, I had an opportunity to work some overtime at work, in exchange for a day off with pay.  I'm in and I know what day I'm taking off.  With the Friday now booked off, I was able to load up my car in the morning and make my way South to the border, then the event.

Of course, when travelling, there is always a need to stop to find geocaches you haven't found yet.  There are quite a few I don't have yet along highway 75 going to the Canada/U.S. border.  If I stopped to get all those, I'd be lucky to make it to the campground by nightfall.  I also had a couple of goals I wanted to meet as well.  One was to find six geocaches before arriving.  The seventh would be the kickoff event and my 4,500th geocache found.  The total would also boost my find count for June 22nd to over eleven, as I slowly fill in my date found calendar to have eleven or more finds for each and every day, (this goal will take me a few years to complete).

I had to be picky as to which geocaches I wanted to get.  I chose to focus on the ones in the town of Emerson and general area.  Emerson is just North of the Canada/U.S. border.  Just outside of Emerson is the remains of Fort Dufferin, which was constructed in 1872 and was the gathering point of the North-West Mounted Police.  It was also the immigration station for steamboats entering Canada from North Dakota.  A couple of miles South is Fort Daer.  This fort was established in 1812 by the Hudson Bay Company as a fur trading post.  It was abandoned in 1821 when it was determined that the fort was on the wrong side of the border.  Fort Daer can be found in Pembina, North Dakota, but a couple of the buildings can be found just outside of Emerson on the Canadian side of the border. 

Now for the fun part, crossing the border.  When I'm questioned by the border guard, I give the most simplest, straight forward answer I can that requires no further questions and explanations.  Border Guard (BG): "Destination?"  Me: "Icelandic State park."  BG: "How long are you staying?"  Me: "I'm camping for two nights."  BG:  "Camping alone?"  Me: "Yes."  BG:  "Are you meeting anyone?"  Me: "No."  LOL. 

One more cache to find before I make my way to Cavalier.  A newer Travelbug Hotel in the Pembina cemetery.  This cache was published last month and the First to Find was claimed by three Winnipeg cachers, Geo-Smart, Jean Deniche and klblue.  It was a well stocked ammo can.  With my sixth find done, it was non-stop to Cavalier for some food.  As I headed West on highway #5, I could see dark clouds to the West, and it was definitely rain.  That didn't look good.

It was spitting when I arrived in Cavalier, Googled where I could find a grocery store (which was a couple of buildings past where I had stopped), got what I needed and headed to the park.  Now it's raining.  I'm at the park gate, window rolled down as I need to talk to the young attendant at the booth, while it rained into my car.  As the kid did what he needed to on the computer, I was wiping the inside of my door off with napkins (I always keep a stash of napkins in my car, what geocacher doesn't?) as I, and the inside of my door was getting wet.  With that done, it was off to my camp site. 

Fortunately it stopped raining when I pulled in to my spot.  I had planned on making my campsite very noticeable.  I think I succeeded. 

The first person to greet me was my camping neighbour, eyeinthesky.  We had a good chat, then I moved on to the host campsite where I would find Trycacheus, one of the hosts for the weekend.  This would be the location of the kickoff event.  A quick headcount came up with approximately 50+ geocachers and family members. 

As I had planned and it worked out that the kickoff event was my 4,500th find overall. 

It was at the kickoff event that I would finally meet GeoJangie.  Prior to driving out, I was trying to figure out how long we've been following each other on Instagram and the best I could figure is almost four years.  Little did I know at the time that this would be the only time I would have the chance to talk with GeoJangie in person.  Sadly, no pictures of our first meeting.  For those who have been following along, Angie is a blogger and writer.  You can find some of her work here > http://geocachingjangie.com/2018/06/28/north-dakotas-2018-camping-and-caching-event/

After a long day of travel, finding geocaches, and meeting new people, it was time to turn in.  A busy and fun day would await me in the morning.  That was my first day of the NDGCA Camping and Caching event.  As mentioned at the top, day two is the next blog next week.  Until then, be safe, enjoy, and have fun.