Good morning everyone. Top favorite mystery cache in Canada is Ex Libris (GC4GZGB) in British Columbia. Active since 2013, it has been found 722 times and has been given 282 favorite points. Top favorited mystery cache in Manitoba is Water World (GC4MA6Y). Active since 2013, it has been found 138 times and has received 99 points. Top American favorite mystery cache is HQGT Ode to the Golgafrinchan Phone Workers (GC32A0H) in Seattle, Washington. Active since 2013, found 7,313 times with 2,740 favorite points. For North Dakota, Factory Outlet (GC576Q1) by trycacheus is the top favorited mystery cache. Active since 2014, found 114 times and has 71 favorite points.
How did everyone do for finding caches in April? I found 41 caches. Not exactly a big number like I use to do in the past. Having my area mostly cached out will lead to fewer finds as I rely on newer caches to be published. Last year, I did run out when I got the notification for a newly published geocaches nearby. So far this year, I have been meh to doing that. I've been feeling blah and not really into a geocaching groove for a number of months now. Spin-off effects to some negative drama from late last year. One evening, as I was getting ready to pack it in for the night, a new puzzle cache was published close to home. It looked like an easy puzzle to solve. I quickly did just that on my phone. I didn't even use the checker (I don't think the puzzle checker is available on the phone app), I ran out trusting my answers. I was rewarded with my first FTF of the year.
How did everyone do for finding caches in April? I found 41 caches. Not exactly a big number like I use to do in the past. Having my area mostly cached out will lead to fewer finds as I rely on newer caches to be published. Last year, I did run out when I got the notification for a newly published geocaches nearby. So far this year, I have been meh to doing that. I've been feeling blah and not really into a geocaching groove for a number of months now. Spin-off effects to some negative drama from late last year. One evening, as I was getting ready to pack it in for the night, a new puzzle cache was published close to home. It looked like an easy puzzle to solve. I quickly did just that on my phone. I didn't even use the checker (I don't think the puzzle checker is available on the phone app), I ran out trusting my answers. I was rewarded with my first FTF of the year.
(nothing like an FTF to get your groove back)
I also did some puzzle solving and finding the finals. I love solving a good puzzle as long as it's not a certitude puzzle. If you haven't seen a certitude puzzle, to get the final coordinates, you need to find a key word, enter that word into the certitude checker and you get the final coordinates. The keyword can be anything which is why I don't like certitude puzzles. I prefer a puzzle where you need to figure out the solved coordinates. I have seen a few puzzles of late where you have to put a jigsaw puzzle together to get the coordinates. That type of puzzle I enjoy doing.
I also did a maintenance check on one of my few remaining caches. I archived a good chunk of them last year. This one is outside of my work and is my very first cache hidden. Unfortunately, it's not the original container. That went missing some time ago. I was happy to see this one still hanging around when I went out on a coffee break.
(maintenance check done. Cache is good to go)
There was more puzzle caches found.
Not everything I searched for was found. There are two newer caches near the Red River. In the time it took to publish the caches, the river rose as it does every Spring with flooding waters. GZ is surrounded by water and I wasn't about to make any attempt to get to GZ. I'll wait until the river goes down and things dry up.
(I believe the birdhouse looking thing on the tree is the geocache. I'll find out for sure when I return after flood season is done)
There's another puzzle final that I have the coordinates for but I don't have the right TOTT. A reachy stick won't work unless I have some sort of step ladder to get me closer. Another cache to come back to when I do have the right TOTT.
(I think that bolt looking thing on the left is the cache container. I didn't see anything else that looked like that on the framework)
Then there's that one cache that takes forever to find, and yet others can find it within a minute. After completing the Paranormal Adventure Lab cache, Auntie Mo and myself attempted a traditional cache. We arrived at the same time as two guys on bikes arrived and took a seat on a nearby bench. We tried to be stealthy with our search and the two guys figured out that we were geocaching. Turns out, so are they. It took the four of us about 45 minutes before I spotted the cache. I've never met the two geocachers before but the name I recognized. Blazer45 and his brother.
(searching for a needle in a haystack)
(the needle in the haystack)
I also did a couple of multi-stage caches. Both were fairly easy and fun to do. There isn't enough multi-stage caches. Traditional and Mystery caches are the two most popular caches that are placed. Letterbox and Multi-stage caches don't get the recognition they deserve.
(one of the finals to a multi-stage cache I did in April)
April also saw the conclusion of GCHQ's Cache Carnival. I won't be doing a whole blog on this as I didn't go out of my way to find caches for this promotion. The basis behind this promotion was to find caches with a certain amount of favorite points and to give favorite points. We all love finding caches that have plenty of favorite points. It's usually an indication that that particular geocache is worthy of finding. Anyone who has been following me and knows me, knows how I feel about virtual souvenirs. They're great to earn, but you can't really show them off. Who sees the souvenirs you've earned? I think the chances that you'll creep someone's FB page are higher than checking out another geocacher's profile page and the souvenirs they've earned. For the record, I did earn four of the souvenirs. The fourth was a surprise as I earned a few favorite points on a couple of my caches. One of which had been archived since last fall. Hmmmmm. Thank you to whoever gave the favorite points. Greatly appreciated. I did give a few favourite points myself.
I've been doing more Munzee in April as well. I hope to find more in the coming months and deploy some of my own. I did have a starter pack, but I've moved so much since I got that starter pack that it's been misplaced. There are aspects of Munzee that I like. You have to actually be at the Munzee and scan it for it to be logged. No armchair logging like you can get with geocaching. The Munzee can be in plain sight to everyone and no one will think twice about it.
May challenge of the month: As mentioned last week, I have seven dates that I want to find geocaches on. May 4th was one of those dates and I did find two newer caches in the afternoon. Both were fairly quick finds. There was also a bunch of newer caches published on Saturday as well. I have more options for the remaining days that I want to find a geocache. I'm also trying to figure out how I'll time my find count to coincide with the North Dakota Camping and Caching event. That could take some strategic planning.
That's all for this week. Until next time, be happy, be safe, enjoy each day, and most importantly, have fun. Peace out.
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