LMGA - Ep 015 - Parksville BC

Welcome to our show notes for Episode 15 - Parksville Caching. In this episode we travel to Vancouver Island on BC Ferries and enjoy some amazing views along the way. Then we catch a quick cache on the way into the town of Parksville.  Next we head further up Island to pick up a power trail that connects the old and new Island Highways (GC3CY8J), and on our way back to Parksville cached some more and saw some sea lions frolicking.

We were later off to Coombs Market to get some caches and visit with the goats.

We hope you enjoy this fun episode with some amazing scenery. The second episode of our trip to Parksville will get released shortly to share with you the rest of our fun caching trip to Vancouver Island.

Thanks for checking this out; please provide us your feedback!

Cache safely, and cache often!
Team LANMonkey.

LMGA - Ep014 - Parksville's Top 5 Geocaches

Welcome to the show notes for episode 014 of LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures.

Join our adventure to discover the 5 most popular geocaches in beautiful Parksville/Qualicum British Columbia. Amazing creativity, fun adventures, and everything that makes family geocaching great.

Episode 014 was filmed on location in beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia over the Easter long weekend. 

Just a short drive up the Island Highway from Nanaimo, and a couple hours north of Victoria, you’ll find Parksville BC. Parksville is a tourism and outdoors oriented area where geocaching abounds, as well as many other different recreational activities including hiking, fishing, camping, golf, spas & resorts, and many other options. There are recreational and educational activities for people of all ages from Rathtrevor Beach to Coombs market, and dozens of options in between.

In this episode of LANMonkey’s Geocaching Adventures, we’re going to highlight the top 5 geocaches in the Parksville area, and do our best to not spoil them for you, but hopefully entice you into coming out and enjoying them!

The top 5 cache count-down is:

5. WOOZLER AT THE BEACH GC15QX0

4. the clever cache - by ITWL GC3KZ8P

3. Da Vinci's Cryptex - by ITWL  GC3CVJG

2. the secret vault of "SCRAT the SQUIRREL" - by ITWL  GC3EZ6F

1. Made in Canada, eh!  GC2Y8Q8

 We welcome your feedback on this episode, and your ideas for future episodes. If you enjoyed this one, please be sure to "like" it so that we can continue to provide the content you want!

As always,

Cache safely, and cache often.

Team LANMonkey

Congrats to teammelbert - find #1000

Driving into work today & listening to the PodCacher podcast episode 415, I tuned in a bit more closely when I heard Sandy mention the name of a geocaching team I recognised as being from our neck of the woods.

In their regular section congratulating geocachers on milestones either emailed or phoned in to the PodCacher crew, the first mentioned was find #1,000 for teammelbert. The description of the find was highlighted by the fact that mel & bert (and baby melbert!) chose GC429MW "Memorial to "jrhere"" as their milestone cache. Classy move teammelbert, and congrats not only on 1,000 great memories for you all, but mention of local geocaching goodness around the world on the podcast.

PS: love the photos and the choice of going above & beyond the traditional paper sign!


Cache safely, and cache often!
Team LANMonkey

It's Not About the Numbers - Except When it is...

We try not to make a big deal about the numbers when it comes to geocaching, except for when we hit fun milestones.

Last night Mrs. LANMonkey & I were out in the rain trying to keep alive a streak of consecutive finds so that we can claim a "challenge cache" we have our eyes on.  So we made a quick find of one not too far from home, called "Swing On By!" (GC3G2TE) by JMFB.

Cute container, great little suburban location, QEF (Quick Easy Find), and that find made over-all number 850 for us, and number 300 for 2013. We thought is was cool the way those numbers aligned.

Anyhow, if you haven't found this one already (it had been dormant for a while last fall) come on and check it out - and while you're there, have a swing nearby.

As always, cache safely & cache often!
Team LANMonkey

Lynden, WA & First Event

Happy Geocaching Tuesday!

In the latest instalment of LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures we visit Lynden Washington with Manta Rayz. We explored Berthusen Park where we found a number of caches and really enjoyed the amazing beauty of that park. Then we travelled through rural Lynden picking up a few caches here and there, and then grabbed a couple of the urban ones. It was on a Sunday afternoon after church, and we could not believe how QUIET Lynden was on a Sunday in March - lots of parking for those park & grabs!

We'd really encourage anyone in the Vancouver area who hasn't visited there yet to make sure you get accross the border (with your passports!) and have fun. The border guards all seemed familiar with Geocaching and gave us no grief at all; easy trip, fun trip!

This past weekend, Mrs. LANMonkey, Manta Rayz, Piggy & I attended our first event - "In Memory of Scooby." The event was held in Fleetwood Park in Surrey and was a lot of fun. As this was our first event, we met lots of you geocaching folks, and had a great time. As it was billed as a "dog friendly" event, that made it just that much more fun!  It was a well planned and executed event, and it was great to put some faces to a number of cachers who we've heard of one way or another before.

So, as always, cache safely & cache often!
Team LANMonkey

Little Treasures at Little Oak - The Interview with the CO

In March Mrs. LANMonkey & I finally found the geocache "Little Treasures at Little Oak" (GC3R8ER), and that made our 700^th cumulative find.  We did not complete this challenging and popular cache on our first or second attempt, nor without a little help.

Reading through the logs, we knew that others had gotten hints from the staff, so we made sure we visited during their business hours. Once at ground-zero we resumed our searching, and Mrs. LANMonkey asked if we should check for a hint with the fellow inside. Once she had done so, it confirmed for us that we were searching in the correct spot, we just needed to be more creative in how we searched… and we made the find. Immediately there-after the fellow came out to share in our post-find joy, and we discovered that he was, in fact, the Cache Owner (CO).

We had a great conversation, and I thought it would be nice for the caching community to learn a little bit more about the CO and his cache, which is one of the top five most favourite caches in the Langley area.

LM:        How did you first get interested in geocaching?

CO:         I was on vacation on the Shuswap with my family a couple years back. There was a booklet with the "99 Things to do in the Shuswap" and Geocaching was one of them.   I had heard about it in bits and pieces prior to that. I downloaded the iPhone app and within minutes my boys and I were off on an adventure. We were hooked instantly.

LM:        What prompted the idea to make the "Little Treasures at Little Oak" geocache?

CO:         I'm a fan of the "clever urban hide". The kind that has hundreds of people pass each day without a clue that it exists. When we chose this location for our new office I knew instantly that a cache would be part of it.

LM:        Could you share with us some of the most interesting or amusing stories you have of people visiting looking for that cache?

CO:         There are so many! The ones that are trying so hard to conceal what they are doing ... the ones that look forever and refuse even the most subtle hint.  It has been a ton of fun for everyone here at the office to watch people look for the "treasure."  I love the moment that the cache has been discovered after a good search … there usually is an audible expression of joy!

LM:        Have you ever had to explain this cache to "muggles" and if so, what kinds of responses have you gotten?

CO:         I thought we would be doing more of that. The cachers get a lot of strange looks as muggles pass by. Once again that is part of the fun for us in the office. A few times I thought it was a muggle getting curious only to find out it is a fellow cacher who has previously found the cache willing to lend a hint or two

LM:        What advice would you share for anyone considering hiding a cache at their business or residence?

CO:         We didn't do it for any other reason than to have a bit of fun. I really appreciate the effort that others have gone to just to give my boys a thrill when we are out caching.  We really just wanted to return the favour. I never thought it would result in so many great conversations with fellow cachers. I think the message this says about our business is that we love being part of the community and that we don't take ourselves too seriously.

Check out Episode 012 of “LANMonkey’sGeocaching Adventures” on YouTube for more footage and facts about the cache “Little Treasures at Little Oak” and as always; cache safely and cache often!

Thanks for reading,

Team LANMonkey

Happy Easter!

Team LANMonkey wishes all our readers and followers a very blessed & Happy Easter - we hope that you were able to get at least a little time for the "ultimate Easter egg hunt" - Geocaching! But most importantly time with your loved ones and time to celebrate "the reason for the season."

As a special Easter gift, we'll be publishing two episodes of our YouTube series this Tuesday - the Kelowna Airport TB Hotel & Fort Langley/Cache #700.

Thanks for all your interest & support - cache safely & cache often!