Canuck and Finn were kept very busy at the registration table getting everyone logged in:

It was a great time as we mingled about, chatted, laughed and relaxed with friends old and new. Stories were swapped, tales were told and plans were made for the upcoming months. The atmosphere, added to by the ambience of the pub, was one reminiscent of trappers coming in to town after a long winter. Mmmmm… there are a lot of similarities:

(more…)

We decided to go to Shubie Park since there had been some new caches placed since we were there last. Shubie is one of our favorite local parks with lots of intertwined trails.

We started our trek near the camping area and then down through the lock system, into the no-leash area that circles Lake Banook. The caches we were looking for today were in a series following a trail that skirts a highway and one that we had never walked to the end of before. We followed several different trails back, making the round trip almost 11kms (7 miles).

Here are some more photos:

(more…)

Groundspeak has just posted the official event page and we are ecstatic!

The event will be held in Dayspring, just an hour or so away from Nova Scotia’s capital city of Halifax on July 10th, 2010 and it is being held in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Geocaching in Canada.

On June 28, 2000 the first Geocache in Canada was placed in East River, Nova Scotia, just miles from the event site! GCBBA is still active and attracts many Geocachers every year who wish to visit this historic cache. Make this cache, and event, a part of your summer plans!

For more information visit the official event page, the event website and follow us on Twitter.

Keep on cachin’!

Our hike took us up the Jodrey Trail, then out on to the Look-off Trail and then we came back down the Woodlands Trail and then on to Borden Brook Trail.

The Look-off Trail is a short trail, only 1.6 km (1 mi.) that ends at a viewing station that offers views that makes the whole trip worthwhile. You get a great view of the Minas Basin as well as Five Islands Provincial Park which is located about 24 km (15 mi.) across the bay.

The Jodrey Trail is a 6 km (3.7 mi.) long trail that skirts the 183 m (600-ft.) sea cliffs with numerous viewing stations along the way overlooking the Minas Basin. This trail winds through a sugar maple, yellow birch and beech forest and near the park’s only bog. At Indian Springs Brook, a cairn commemorates the gift of 162 ha (400 acres) to the park by the late Roy Jodrey.

(more…)

As with Geofests of the past Atlantic GeoFest 2009 was held at Blomidon, a Provincial Park located on the cliffs of the North Mountain, overlooking the Minas Basin, here in Nova Scotia. With over 1800 acres of natural attractions, majestic trees, trails and wildlife the park is the perfect place to let Geocachers out to play.

The cachers began to arrive on Friday afternoon and continued to arrive into the early evening. With the forecasted storm, many of the expected attendees regrettably did not arrive but those who did proved to be faithful campers who showed what Caching Campers are really made of!

Friday evening was spent relaxing around the GeoFest Café, chatting into the wee hours of the morning. Several cachers who missed last year’s event took part in the ‘Night Cache’ which was set up specifically for the annual Geofest.

(more…)

The 950 square kilometer (590 sq mi) Cape Breton Highlands National Park with its spectacular highlands and ocean scenery is located on Cape Breton Island, on the northeast tip of Nova Scotia, Canada. The world-famous scenic highway, the Cabot Trail, runs through the park.

The event was part of the park’s First Annual Geocaching Weekend, of which the highlight was the introduction of the park’s new Geocache series, the ‘EcoCache Geocache Challenge’, and the release of the cache coordinates.

The Ecocache Geocache Challenge is a five part series of Geocaches that the park developed with the help and support of the Atlantic Canada Geocaching Association to introduce people to our natural and cultural heritage.

Each of the caches takes you to a different trail within the park and in order to complete all five Geocaches you will hike between 17 to 21 kms and drive from Chéticamp to Ingonish. Total time for this series of Geocaches will be 6-9 hours. (They do not have to all done in one day! )

When you complete all five of the caches, you receive a limited edition Parks Canada Geocoin.

(more…)

Santa Fe is New Mexico’s state capital and the fourth largest city in the state.

It’s about an hour’s drive North of Albuquerque by car but since we didn’t have a car we hopped aboard the Rail Runner Express at the Alvarado Transportation Center on 1st Street and Central Avenue in Albuquerque.

This turned out to be one of the best values that we had ever got, anywhere. For only four (4) bucks you get a fantastic hour and a half ride from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. You just sit back, relax in the comfort of the smooth riding and quiet Rail Runner and sight-see all the way there!

(more…)

One of the places that we wanted to visit while we were in New Mexico was the Sandia Mountains via the Sandia Peak Tramway.

The Sandia Peak Tramway is the world’s longest passenger aerial tramway. It also has the world’s third longest single span. It stretches from the Northeast edge of the city of Albuquerque to the crestline of the Sandia Mountains at 10,378 feet (3163.21 meters).

We almost didn’t get there but once again the awesome New Mexico Geocachers came through! We weren’t renting a car on this trip and while making our plans we couldn’t find any information regarding any type of public transportation to the Tramway. We inquired on the New Mexico Geocaching website forums about this and were told that we were correct, there was none. This was disappointing. Then came a post from nclinnm saying that she would be happy to pick us up ad take us there! (We told you they were awesome!)

Here are some photos of our day:

(more…)

The New Mexico Geocachers are so hospitable and accommodating that we’re still talking about it!

Here’s how it all began…

A couple of months ago we made plans to visit New Mexico, in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area. One of the first things we did after our flight and hotel arrangements were made was to seek out some caches. We found from past experience that there’s no better place to start than at the local Geocachers website so we went to the New Mexico Geocaching website forums.

Once there we found a thread that was started by Goldfinch& Lady Goldfinch from Lansing, Michigan who would be visiting around the same time as we were. They were inquiring if there were any local events during their visit. Now here is where the New Mexico Cachers really start to show their true colors – since there were no local events in that time frame they quickly put together one to coincide with their visit and appropriately called it An Albuquerque Welcome!

Here’s a couple photos from the event:

(more…)

Locally, the term ‘Dingle’ is also synonymous with the Dingle Tower, the landmark ten-story tower located in the park, which serves as a memorial to the development of parliamentary institutions in the British Empire, now the British Commonwealth.

Situated on Halifax’s North West Arm the 95 acre park has a couple of small beaches, a boat launch, large picnic areas and several walking trails that skirt the water’s edge and meander through second-growth woodlands. The trails are groomed and graveled, for the most part, with lots of interconnecting pine needle covered footpaths.

The Loop Trail takes you around a small drumlin where, in addition to Spruce, White Pine, Red Pine and Hemlock trees, you will find a smattering of Jack Pine, the third of the three native Pines in Nova Scotia. The Jack Pine is not as common as the other two and this is one of the few places in the province where you can view them. You can identify the Jack Pine by their twinned needles and curved cones. Here’s a couple of photos of Jack Pine:

(more…)