Geocaching in the Winter... part 1
Welcome to my second blog. This week I want to touch on geocaching in the winter. Up here in these parts (that would be Manitoba, Canada), we can and will experience snow drifts and bitterly cold temps (as I type this, it's -25C but feels like -34C or -29F). This is where the attributes 'winter friendly' and 'snow shoes required' become very valuable. I'm sure someone in a warmer, tropical location must giggle at the sight of these attributes when they hide and publish a cache. Knowing my sense of humour, I would hide a geocache in a desert and claim it's winter friendly. Snow shoes may or may not be required. But that's me.
Once the snow arrives and stays, any geocache that's on the ground won't be seen again until the spring. When you're doing a daily streak, you don't want to be wasting time on these ones. Unless you bring a shovel with you, which I don't think anyone does. Can you imagine how much digging you'd do if the coordinates were off? As a former streaker (I can't help but think of the Seventies craze and song by Ray Stevens every time I use that word), I would save the 'winter friendly' caches for the winter time and hope they are still there the day I come looking. This also posses a small dilemma. It's July, +30C outside and a new cache comes out. It's labeled as 'winter friendly'. Do I rush out for the coveted first to find or save it for when I need it in the winter? This has happened and I saved it for the winter when I needed it. Passed on caching in +30C temps for -30C, I'm freezing my fingers off signing the log sheet weather. I remember one cache that I found with another geocacher after an event as part of a geo-friendship challenge that we have here. It was dark and bitterly cold as we tried to find a nano after attending a nearby event. We passed that log sheet back and forth, trying to roll that piece of paper up tight enough to fit back into the nano. That can't be done with gloves on. What we put ourselves through for the sake of a smiley and a challenge cache.
Walking across snow drifts can be non-eventful, or you could find yourself with a very sinking feeling. I've done my share of sinking into the snow. Anywhere from ankle deep (usually when I'm wearing my runners instead of boots) to my belly deep (that's about 3 feet deep, give or take a few inches). I have sunk that deep, while crossing a snow filled ditch to get to ground zero. The only way out was to lift myself up slightly and roll myself out of the hole I was in. Thinking about the geocache was the last thing on my mind at that moment. I was more worried if a passing motorist saw me, a grown man, rolling around in the ditch like a walrus. I don't think I found that particular cache that day.
If you're lightweight, then this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Almost two years ago, I teamed up with two other geocachers to attempt an island cache. Doing an island cache in the winter is much easier when the water is frozen and you can cross on foot. We were successful and went on to find other nearby caches. While myself and missionMode (another male) were sinking into the snow filled ditches, there stood AngelFreak, a slender female on top of the snow. She didn't sink once.
One advantage to geocaching in the winter is the geo-trails left in the snow. One particular evening during a snow storm, I needed my find for the day. I ran a recently found pocket query, and looked up any caches found that day. There was a few. I picked one and drove out to attempt that one. Fortunately the trail from the previous finder that day was still there. Followed the trail to where I saw a small area trampled down. That must be where they stood. Will I see the cache if I stand there too? Yup. Found, signed and replaced. Just recently I made my way over to Selkirk Park to find a bunch of newly published caches. It was there that I bumped into another cacher, Kurt B, and we found the remaining caches together. We followed the trails in the snow when we knew we were close to ground zero and the trail split off from the main trail.
More tales of caching in the winter to come in future blogs. For now, as my oldest boy would say, peace out. Enjoy and remember, geocaching is meant to be fun. Happy New Year to everyone out there. :)
Welcome to my second blog. This week I want to touch on geocaching in the winter. Up here in these parts (that would be Manitoba, Canada), we can and will experience snow drifts and bitterly cold temps (as I type this, it's -25C but feels like -34C or -29F). This is where the attributes 'winter friendly' and 'snow shoes required' become very valuable. I'm sure someone in a warmer, tropical location must giggle at the sight of these attributes when they hide and publish a cache. Knowing my sense of humour, I would hide a geocache in a desert and claim it's winter friendly. Snow shoes may or may not be required. But that's me.
Once the snow arrives and stays, any geocache that's on the ground won't be seen again until the spring. When you're doing a daily streak, you don't want to be wasting time on these ones. Unless you bring a shovel with you, which I don't think anyone does. Can you imagine how much digging you'd do if the coordinates were off? As a former streaker (I can't help but think of the Seventies craze and song by Ray Stevens every time I use that word), I would save the 'winter friendly' caches for the winter time and hope they are still there the day I come looking. This also posses a small dilemma. It's July, +30C outside and a new cache comes out. It's labeled as 'winter friendly'. Do I rush out for the coveted first to find or save it for when I need it in the winter? This has happened and I saved it for the winter when I needed it. Passed on caching in +30C temps for -30C, I'm freezing my fingers off signing the log sheet weather. I remember one cache that I found with another geocacher after an event as part of a geo-friendship challenge that we have here. It was dark and bitterly cold as we tried to find a nano after attending a nearby event. We passed that log sheet back and forth, trying to roll that piece of paper up tight enough to fit back into the nano. That can't be done with gloves on. What we put ourselves through for the sake of a smiley and a challenge cache.
Walking across snow drifts can be non-eventful, or you could find yourself with a very sinking feeling. I've done my share of sinking into the snow. Anywhere from ankle deep (usually when I'm wearing my runners instead of boots) to my belly deep (that's about 3 feet deep, give or take a few inches). I have sunk that deep, while crossing a snow filled ditch to get to ground zero. The only way out was to lift myself up slightly and roll myself out of the hole I was in. Thinking about the geocache was the last thing on my mind at that moment. I was more worried if a passing motorist saw me, a grown man, rolling around in the ditch like a walrus. I don't think I found that particular cache that day.
If you're lightweight, then this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Almost two years ago, I teamed up with two other geocachers to attempt an island cache. Doing an island cache in the winter is much easier when the water is frozen and you can cross on foot. We were successful and went on to find other nearby caches. While myself and missionMode (another male) were sinking into the snow filled ditches, there stood AngelFreak, a slender female on top of the snow. She didn't sink once.
One advantage to geocaching in the winter is the geo-trails left in the snow. One particular evening during a snow storm, I needed my find for the day. I ran a recently found pocket query, and looked up any caches found that day. There was a few. I picked one and drove out to attempt that one. Fortunately the trail from the previous finder that day was still there. Followed the trail to where I saw a small area trampled down. That must be where they stood. Will I see the cache if I stand there too? Yup. Found, signed and replaced. Just recently I made my way over to Selkirk Park to find a bunch of newly published caches. It was there that I bumped into another cacher, Kurt B, and we found the remaining caches together. We followed the trails in the snow when we knew we were close to ground zero and the trail split off from the main trail.
More tales of caching in the winter to come in future blogs. For now, as my oldest boy would say, peace out. Enjoy and remember, geocaching is meant to be fun. Happy New Year to everyone out there. :)
AngelFreak standing on the snow drifts where myself and missionMode sunk.
Kurt B and myself grabbing the newer caches in Selkirk Park. Geo-trails in the snow cut down on the search time.
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