Steps, Streaks, and Naked Friends

Thanks for your patience folks, it's been a bit of a tough season to be focusing on getting content together, but we're back with some more for you all.

Future Blogs & Vlogs

We've talked about the idea of trying to get a new blog & vlog episode out for each Tuesday. It would be awesome if we can, but we've decided that we'll only be putting content out when that content features a geocaching adventure, per the promise of our title. As you all know, some weeks the caches are... well... average. Some weeks we're not going anywhere interesting, nor do we see or experience anything particularly interesting, and for those weeks we don't see a huge value in putting an episode & blog together. We value your time in reading and watching, and want to make sure we only ask for your attention when there's something interesting to share.

Caching Streaks

We sure hope you've all made it through winter and got some outdoor activities in - a little geocaching maybe? The LANMonkeys have managed to keep things going with getting at least one cache per day, and we just cleared 365 days of continuous geocaching. We know it's not the longest streak around, and we'd be interested in hearing from any of you about your geocaching streaks - long or short.

And if you are currently attempting a caching streak, what's your goal? 

364 Steps

This past week when we hit day #364 we made the opportunity (thanks to the longer evenings) to head to UBC and trek down to Wreck Beach to figure out how to find "364 Steps" (GC49C66).

Check out our latest episode of LMGA for a brief view of the beauty of that location and the fun of claiming a cache on our 364th day of caching in a row.

Wow, that was a lot of steps, and a very cool cache! Thanks very much to our caching friend Cuddlefish for creating that fun mystery cache, and giving us the "thumbs up" to use our experience at the cache in  that video.

Naked Friends

While we're talking about streaking and friends, here's the newest episode of LMGA, where Mr. LANMonkey finds the geocache "Naked Friends" (GC3CEVB) just out past the the starting coordinates for the "364 Steps" cache.

This was a tough find - the cache has a bit of a trick to it so read the description, hint, and logs carefully. Also be aware of the tides for this cache - here's an important website for investigating Vancouver area tides so you can be safe on your tidal caching adventures!

Friend-Caching

Speaking of caching friends, you've probably seen our good friends Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden in some of our videos before, and we've decided that it might be fun to share some more about them. We've placed a new geocache on Mount Seymour as a "tribute cache" to them, and created the first of our "Friend-Caching" videos - an interview with these fun cachers while out on a geocaching adventure with them.

We're looking forward to following this pattern with other cachers who've become our friends - and we're open to any feedback, ideas, and suggestions. Who will be the next to go "Friend-Caching" with the LANMonkeys?

Cave Caching Along the Chilliwack River

This past week, the LANMonkeys called up their caching friends and said "We've got an idea for an adventure..." After a phone call and a couple of emails plans were set and the first Saturday of 2014 was spent on a caching adventure along the Chilliwack River. So today's blog post is going to be about caches in the Earth, and about the Earth.

In the course of a very full day we discovered four EarthCaches, explored two caves for geocaches, found two of the "Back Roads Map Book GeoTour" caches, enjoyed some amazing scenery along the Chilliwack River, and had a fantastic time with great friends. In the end we made a total of 19 cache finds in an area that you could spend days caching in with all the different spots to go geocaching or just exploring.

Our caching location for the day was primarily the North side of the Chilliwack River, along the Foley Creek Forest Service Road, approximately 25 km's down Chilliwack Lake Road. Almost all of the area is accessible by pretty much any vehicle with decent clearance, but we went in Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden's 4x4 Jeep, and were thankful we did. Plenty of spots on the roads and especially the wood bridge decks were icy.

Caching in the Caves

As part of our shared goals to try and complete our D/T grids, we were all happy to tackle caches with difficulties of 5 and 4.5 and a terrain of 5 - but mostly the guys were "psyched" to go spelunking in search of geocaches in both Hands and Feet caches (GC2X9HP & GC2X9H1).


As the cache descriptions indicate, it is very important to not go alone when exploring caves, and to bring the proper gear. Catapult Jeff & Mr. LANMonkey ensured we were equipped with coveralls, helmets, headlamps, radios, extra light, a long climbing rope, gloves, and of course, a video camera.

The video in this episode was primarily shot in Hands & Feet #2 as it was a deeper and slightly larger caving experience than #1. Quarters were tight in much of the cave and of course, the only light source was our headlamps, which made it challenging for shooting an episode, but we really wanted you to be able to join the experience of looking for caches in naturally formed, small underground areas.  It was most certainly a unique and awesome caching experience, but it likely wasn't for everyone - consider carefully if you'll be able to do this one both physically and mentally before attempting, and PLEASE do not try it alone!

EarthCaching in 2014

We are also grateful to Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden for being willing to stop at four different EarthCaches in the area that they had all ready completed so that the LANMonkeys could discover them and learn as well. If you're not familiar with EarthCaches, they are a form of "virtual" geocache where you are not looking for a container with a log sheet to sign, but going to specific coordinates and stepping through a brief field-lesson in geology.  Watch this older episode of LMGA we filmed last fall when we were placing our first EarthCache to get an overview on EarthCaching.

In addition, check out the resources at the Geological Society of America's website EarthCache.org for the most comprehensive source of information about discovering and creating EarthCaches.

Speaking of EarthCaches, did you know that Friday, January 10th is the 10th anniversary of the first EarthCache? Educational and fun events are taking place world-wide to celebrate this anniversary on the 10th, 11th, and 12th. For a complete listing of those events, check here.  If you are in the Greater Vancouver area, it's not too late to sign up and come join us at the MetroVan Geocaching EarthCaching event at 7:30pm on Friday, January 10th.

Baby, it's Cold Outside; So Geocache Indoors!

I didn't think you could geocache indoors, but this fall we discovered library geocaches; the perfect companion to December! Check out our latest FYI episode right here for a two minute crash-course on finding geocaches in your local library.

Well, as I said in the video, you'll need to search the Geocaching.com website to see if there are any puzzle or multi icons at or near your local libraries, and then read through the cache descriptions. Generally, library or any indoor geocaches won't be a traditional cache type as you can't really put the coordinates in the exact spot in the building where the cache is located.

Of course, now that I've asserted that so strongly, I'll be proved wrong. But I'm OK with that!

Now if you've had enough of the cold and are seeking warmer climes, check out LMGA Epsisode 36 - Geocaching in Las Vegas. After we returned to Las Vegas from completing our adventures in the Mojave Desert, Mrs. LANMonkey & I spent a day checking out the many virtual and traditional caches along the Las Vegas Boulevarde strip. We took a little break from the caching to enjoy a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice, and then later that same evening caught up with Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden (yes, them *again*) to watch the Bellagio Fountains from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris Hotel, and then went to find a LPC (Lamp Post Cache) on the top of a parkade that had a surprisingly awesome view of the neighbourhood.

I don't often recommend LPCs, but this one I would - not for the cache itself, but for the remarkable view near it.


Before we close out this Geocaching Tuesday, let me also share with you that our friends at

Podcacher shared a "field report" we recorded for their podcast episode #447 at about the 30 minute mark.   It was pretty neat to get an email from local caching friend brightblades this past Monday letting us know he heard us on there. Thanks for the heads-up brightblades!

I hope you're all keeping warm and caching safely, and caching often!
The LANMonkeys. 

PRED Trail, Mojave Desert, & other news...

Welcome to another Geocaching Tuesday!  We missed you guys, but we've been pretty busy around LMGA HQ lately.

On the geocaching front, we've uploaded our latest episode, which features a bike-caching adventure where Mrs. LANMonkey & Manta Rayz joined me to complete the PRED series of 40 geocaches along the Pitt River north of Pitt Meadows BC. Check it out, and enjoy the scenery - let me know what you think about bike caching - is it your style?




For a complete change of scenery, we recently returned from a geocaching adventure in the Mojave desert with our caching buddies Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden. We cached the "Heart of the Mojave Desert" series as well as the back-half of "Route 66" and a number of other caches preceding and ante-ceding those trails. Truly an amazing and fun time with great friends - watch for the next few episodes of LMGA where I'll feature different aspects of that trip.

While we were caching with them, Catapult Jeff & Iron Maiden made their 10,000th cache find - that's CRAZY! I'll be featuring that event in an episode coming very soon so watch for that too!

Right after we got back it was off to the "Caching in Space" event held in Burnaby, BC. A well hosted and fun event that the weather actually cooperated for. Our sincere thanks to our hosts for the evening, KNL Caching, goaliegirl38, and jeepgurl1970. You guys did an awesome job!

Last bit of caching news, is that this Thursday I'll be joining the Caching in the NorthWest podcast as a guest. I'm very excited and honoured to be joining The Bad Cop and WitzEnd for an episode of their podcast. Thanks gents, I'll try not to embarrass you!

So that's all our quick updates for now, but in the meantime we're working hard at LMGA HQ producing tons of new content from our recent travels, events, and fun so watch for it each and every Geocaching Tuesday, and maybe even a few surprise episodes in-between.

Until next time, "cache safely, and cache often!"
The LANMonkeys.