Geocaching with Geocacher Ken

 Good morning everyone.  It feels weird not starting off with some stat about an old cache or a high favorite.  I'll have to come up with something new to occupy this space.   On to the matter at hand, the photo contest.  First up are the entries for August.  First up is FITO 81.  He found a cache at Cala Reona in Cartagena, Spain.   Next is MWDL with their 500th find on a mini power trail, just North of Winnipeg. Thank you to both entrants.  Here are the prize package options the winner get to pick from. Prize package #1:  a trackable medallion and a pathtag donated by Hakliva.  You can catch her monthly adventures here >  Hakliva Prize package #2:  a trackable Christmas tree and a pathtag donated by Hakliva. Prize package #3: a Cache Canada trackable and a pathtag donated by Hakliva. I entered the names into the wheel of names... Gave the wheel a spin, and the winner is.... FITO.  Congratulations.  I'll be in touch to get your prize selection and your mailing address. Ther

 Good morning everyone.  For the past sixty-four weeks, I have been showcasing the oldest and most favorite geocache in every State, Province, District, and Territory.  Wouldn't that have been awesome, spending a week geocaching in each location?  This week I look back at that fictional journey and all those oldest in each area with some interesting comparisons. We all know that Mingo is the oldest active geocache in the world.  Sticking with our tour, there are three other States with old caches placed in May, 2000.  Oregon (may 12), Illinois (may 13) and New York (may 26).  Every month from May, 2000 to June 2001 has at least one oldest cache, except August.  I'm also not including Canada's oldest just yet.  The bulk of the oldest per State caches can be found in the months of May, June, September, October and December, 2000.  January, February, and March, 2001.  Each has a minimum of four oldest caches. The youngest of the oldest cache per State is in the District of Col

 Good morning everyone.  Today is the final stop of our epic cross country road trip, finding the oldest and most favorite geocaches in each State, Province, District, and Territory.  What a trip it has been.  We started 64 weeks ago.  Today we wrap things up in Alaska.  The oldest geocache is 'Centurion Guards' GC68.  Hidden in September, 2000, this traditional has been found 119 times, and has 50 favorite points.  The most favorite is 'Camp Skagway No. 1'  GCGJ2Q.  This virtual was placed in July, 2003.  It has 3,063 logged finds (a good chunk are probably from an Alaskan Cruises that goes that way), and has 423 favorite points. I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle this blog about my 8th geocache birthday.  I've talked about how I got started.  I've talked about my first to find on the different types.  I don't really want to rehash and recycle the same story.  While I was out geocaching earlier today, I was walking along a trail in a park.  It did

 Good morning everyone.  Today we make our final stop on Canadian soil.  The Yukon Territory.  The oldest geocache is 'Scout Lake Road cache' GCA13.  Placed on April 20, 2001, this geocache has been found 19 times and has 8 favorite points.  The most favorite geocache is 'Is this the smallest desert in the world?'  GC2G4WW.  This Earthcache was placed on October 3, 2010.  It has 655 found logs and 154 favorite points. Picking up from two weeks ago, I'll be discussing the different ways to solve the mystery puzzle caches.  Before I begin, let's do a fast recap of part one. Start with low difficulty level puzzles.  Read the entire description including title, attributes and hint.  Ignore challenge caches for now.  Google is your best friend.  Attend puzzle solving events.  Join puzzle solving groups.  Don't be afraid to reach out. One thing I touched on was writing down the posted coordinates.  If a puzzle you are trying to solve is asking you to solve all 15

 Good morning everyone.  We continue our trek across the North with a stop in North West Territories.  The oldest is 'Yankee/Doctor Bay'  GC1280.  Hidden July 13, 2001, it has three found logs and no favorite points.  In reality, this cache has only been found twice, with the second find being in September, 2006.  The third log is clearly an armchair log when you dig into it a little further.  The most favorite cache is 'Welcome to the Northwest Territories'  GC2Z66D.  Hidden on June 16, 2011, this cache has 156 logged finds and 26 favorite points. It is time to reveal the entries for the July photo contest and announce the winner.  There was a total of five entries.  Let's take a look at those. First up is FITO from Spain.  He had to climb a tree in the Dehesa de San Sebastian de los Reyes area to find that one.  I might hire him to do the tree climbing caches around here.  I don't climb trees. Next is Stonagal.  He's doing an Earthcache inside Canada's