Nor-Way to Go! Episodes 3 & 4 of Geocaching Adventures

It's time to share our insider info on Geocaching Adventures Season 1 - Episodes 3 & 4 from artful Oslo, Norway.

In case you've missed those episodes, you can watch them here!

Episode 3 - Norway to Go!

 

 Episode 4 - Art Attack!

Where Did We Go?

We explored the city of Norway; in episode 3 we explored entirely on foot from our hotel near Munchs Gate and Keysers Gate, right by the virtual cache "Grass Roots Square" featured in episode 3. 

Most of what you'll see in episode 3 is from walking through City Hall area and down to the waterfront near the new virtual rewards geocache "Oslo City Hall - V&V #27."

We followed the shoreline to the South-East and that's where you'll most of the sights we shared in that episode.
 
Some of the key places we visited are:

• Grass Roots Square
• Sehesteds Gate
• Spikersuppa
• Oslo Radhus (City Hall)
• Akershus
• Vippa

In episode 4, we used the Oslo Hop On - Hop Off tour bus to explore our way around a larger part of the beautiful city.

The tour buses run a standard pattern; effectively a loop that is clearly illustrated on their website. 

In the 4th episode we took you along to:

Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Statues Park)
Norsk Folkelmuseum
Norwegian Maritime Museum
Oslo Opera House
Jernbanetorget

What Geocaches Did We Find?

Here's a list per episode of key geocaches we found. Good news - there's been several more virtual reward caches placed in Oslo since we visited. OK, good news for YOU planning a trip there, or perhaps for us, since I'd love an excuse to go back!

• GCJ3CA AG#20 - Akershus Castle and Fortress 
• GC4WRAR Akershus festning's berggrunn   
• GC7B979 Grass Roots Square 
• GCH7FB Ibsensgate (formerly Ibsenringen)
• GC3PQCE Iddefjordsgranitt i Monolitten
• GC1AE04 Kon-Tiki - Catch #60 
• GC2PN8J Norsk Folkemuseum   
• GC3X2NJ Marble at the Opera 
• GC1BA8Q Phantom of the Opera   
• GC7B6KV The City of Tigers 
• GC2J6WN The Nordmarkitt Lions   

Want to Know More?

If you have questions, please post them in the comments section below, or use Twitter @LANMonkeyGC and I'm happy to do my best to answer them.

If there is something else that would be helpful or interesting to you, please make sure to leave a comment. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to share it on social media and use @LANMonkeyGC so I can thank you.




LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures are written by Jay Kennedy, outdoor adventurer and photo-journalist. All content is affiliated with the Wander Network. Experience his adventures on Twitter and Instagram by following @LANMonkeyGC, and subscribing to LANMonkey on YouTube. He is also a regular co-host of the Caching in the Northwest geocaching podcast.



 

Geocaching #GeekoftheWeek - gslink

Thanks for your patience everyone!

And now LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures proudly presents the next Geocaching #GeekoftheWeek - gslink!

gslink - also known to listeners of the Geocache Talk podcast as Gary Slinkard - has over 160 geocaches placed, and over 1,000 found. Most notably in the Texas Geocaching community, Gary annually hosts "The Great Hunt of Hunt County" geocaching event.

Most recently, Gary has joined the ranks of Geocaching authors with the publishing of his book "Hide & Seek: Life Lessons of a Geocacher." Follow the link to check out more about his book on Amazon; available in ebook and printed copy.

Gary has worked in IT for over 25 years and lives in Greenville, Texas which is just an hour east of Dallas. He grew up in San Antonio Texas and anyone who's heard him on the weekly Geocache Talk podcast Sunday evenings can attest to the fact he is indeed a Texan!

Gary loves to travel and will often be found on a #GeocacheRoadTrip with his wife of 28 years, "SlinkyMama."  Combined with his Geocaching activities, Gary has also been participating in Weight Watchers for the past two years and has lost 100 lbs!

However, even more importantly than their accomplishments in Geocaching, writing, and podcasting, gslink and SlinkyMama are the proud parents of three sons; Joshua and Caleb who are 27 and Nathan who is 21.


You can catch Gary every week on the Geocache Talk podcast and watch him live on YouTube Sunday evenings at 6:00pm. 

Do you know someone who deserves being recognized as a Geocaching #GeekoftheWeek? Let us know by commenting on this post or tweeting your nominee to @LANMonkeyGC #GeekoftheWeek

Alaskan Caching Cruise - Day 5: Glacier Bay

Well this took a little longer to get posted, but here we are.

OK, back to the adventure. Departing our most northern port of call in Skagway, we next headed further north into Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. As we first made our way into the park the clouds and fog were thick and we were quite concerned we'd not see some of the amazing sights we were hoping for.

Never-minding the weather, like a true Canadian, I bundled up after breakfast and went out on the lower bow viewing area to enjoy the salt air on my face and the beauty of the North.

As we continued northward, naturalists from the US Parks Service on board the ship (live, from the Crow's Nest coffee lounge) began sharing stories of the area, local heritage, and wildlife.

We passed grey whales, puffins, and increasing chunks of ice as the bay and fjords slowly narrowed on our way to Margerie Glacier.

At first the glaciers we could see (Reid, Lamplaugh) seemed quite distant from the boat, but were still spectacular to view. Would this be as close as we'll get to the glaciers here? We had hoped to get up close to Johns Hopkins Glacier but had been told that due to seal calving season we couldn't enter the fjord.

The ship took a slow and steady pace continuing northwards, and the weather continued to get better and better, and the views increasingly beautiful.

And soon we were able to take in the sight of the Johns Hopkins Glacier dipping into the Pacific - even from a distance a spectacular sight that brought a hush to the outside of the ship - all you could hear were shutters snapping and admirers whispering to each other.

The striped colours created by rock stripped from the mountains moved along in this glacier brought so many of the earthcaches (glacial erratics, anyone?) I've worked through before to life in a vivid and unforgettable way.

And onwards yet we cruised past more amazing glacial sights as us lucky passengers were held spellbound by these arctic wonders.

And soon we had arrived at our final stop; our most northerly waypoint of the cruise, Margerie Glacier. Extending through both Canada and the US into the icy waters of Glacier Bay, this was not only an amazing place to stop, but the ship was able to actually get very close to the glacier.

We stayed here for about an hour at this point. The sun was out in full, and many were debating whether to grab lunch, or just stand on the deck in amazement. Well, Mrs. LANMonkey and two of her new Geocaching friends decided the best option was to quickly go back to the cabins, and then return ready to complete the Earthcache here.
 

Oh, did I mention they were working on the Earthcache from the hot tub?

Now THAT'S cruise-ship geocaching in style!

So after enjoying ourselves at Marjorie Glacier, it was time for lunch as our ship began it's way back south. South, and eventually home, but not before one last Alaskan port of call.

Next stop?

Ketchikan!


Thanks for reading our blog, and stay tuned as the adventures continue!

Cache safely, and cache often.

Alaskan Caching Cruise - Day 4: All Aboard!

Having enjoyed our brief visit to the Yukon town of Carcross, it was almost time to climb aboard the White Pass & Yukon Railway train and head back to Skagway.

But before we get to that, a little bit of trivia for you. The town of Carcross was originally called "Cariboo Crossing" but because too many other towns were similarly named the residents elected to rename their community since the name confusion seemed to result in a lot of lost mail on it's way to them. 

One of the (many) great stories from this cruise was hearing from cacher IndigoDave from Ontario about how he and his new bride spent a summer in the 70's working in Whitehorse - and that Dave's job was as brakeman on the White Pass & Yukon Railway! So not only did he have experience with this line, but he was allowed to ride the engine all the way from Carcross to Bennet, BC. 

To hear that full story from IndigoDave himself, take a listen to this episode of the Caching in the Northwest podcast where we played the audio interview I conducted with Dave. Get it? Conducted? Train pun. Dave would appreciate that.

Well, at this point it was time to board the train, and as we got underway to our first stop of Bennett and rolled along the narrow gauge railway along the iconic mountain and lake scenery of the north, there were opportunities for the classic "comin' 'round the corner" train shots and many other amazing photos by all aboard.

We even had the opportunity to complete another Earthcache from aboard the train which was pretty amazing.

Soon enough we had arrived at the stop of Bennett BC - last stop before crossing the international border back into the USA, but more importantly from a historic standpoint, Bennett marks the NW end of the famous Chilkoot Trail - the only passage available through the mountains to Gold Rush prospectors.

Prospectors would need to amass one tonne of supplies here, as inspected by the North West Mounted Police (predecessors of the famous RCMP), to ensure they had enough supplies to last a full winter in the harsh conditions of the Yukon.







We toured what remains of the gold rush tent-town along the shores of the lake, then headed back to our train for the final and amazingly scenic ride back into Skagway.


If you ever find yourself in Skagway - geocaching or not - we highly recommend the White Pass and Yukon Railway experience from Carcross to Skagway.

Having completed some more touring about the town and a few more geocache finds, we headed back aboard ship. Tonight our ship pulls out and heads for Glacier Bay - tune in for the next blog highlighting that amazing part of our trip.   

Alaskan Caching Cruise - Day 4: Skagway, Yukon Ho!

So day 4 of our Alaskan Cruise on The Neiuw Amsterdam rolled around bringing us to a slightly overcast Skagway, AK.

We had a big trip planned for today, but we wouldn't head out on it right away - first some geocaching in the picturesque northern town, which is the Gateway to the Yukon.

So why is Skagway the Gateway to the Yukon? Well that's because this is the port where miners came ashore after a long steamship ride north and tackled the  Chilkoot Trail over the mountain passes and into the Yukon. And you can still hike that trail today if you are up for it - more on that a bit later.

Our first stop was an amazing virtual cache  at the Camp Skagway building with our new caching friend WestCoastNavigator. Inside we chatted with the fellow at the desk who was very accustomed to geocachers but also had time to share some of the amazing history of the building and the organization it represents.

Moving on, we found a traditional cache at a collection of abandoned rail cars from the White Pass & Yukon line - the rail line built at the tail end of the Gold Rush to help move prospectors & supplies to the Yukon, and gold back to the coast. 

Not long after being built, the rail line instead became the supply line for all sorts of commodities between Skagway and Whitehorse for many years until it more recently became a tourist attraction, and no longer runs all the way to Whitehorse.

I still laugh at how long it took us to find this cache, but I'm going to claim that I was too fascinated by the old rail cars and the great photo opportunities in the area and wasn't really focused on searching. 

Well that's my story anyhow, and I'm sticking to it. I hope you enjoy a few of the photos I took as much as we enjoyed exploring the area.

Next up we headed back through town to meet up with the rest of our excursion crew for a bus ride to Carcross, YT. That's right, back into Canada for us! Yay!

Luckily, we had yet another cool bus driver who made great time to our destination despite some pretty inclement weather on the highway through the mountain pass, and was able to get us to the Carcross Desert. An amazing spot, and home to another great Earthcache.

Yeah, that's right - a desert in the Yukon Territory. Crazy right? 

After a brief stop to visit and explore the Carcross Desert, we were headed (by way of another Earthcache at Emerald Lake) to the town of Carcross, and the rail station where we'd board the train to take us along the original narrow gauge railway back to Skagway, AK.

So it was "All aboard!" as we got settled in for the ride, and continued our adventure by way of Bennet, British Columbia, and the North end of the famous Chilkoot Trail.

 

The Alaskan Caching Cruise - Days 2 & 3

Welcome to our first full day at sea! Day 2 of the Alaskan Geocaching cruise started off with us learning the ropes of the breakfast buffet, and then joining the entire group for a meet & greet in the Crowsnest.

It was pretty distracting to look out the panoramic windows as we cruised along the north coast of BC to sights like these...

 Which frankly are pretty spectacular in person, and maybe don't translate as well to an image on a blog... However, the rest of the group on  board was a fun and interesting bunch with some cool stories such as:

• The person who placed the first geocache in Canada
• A couple on their honeymoon who had shared their proposal at the mainstage of a Mega event
• A cacher who had previously worked as the brakeman on the train we'd be taking as an excursion later in the cruise (spoiler alert)

Later Chris from the Landsharkz held a seminar for the group on how to take ideal vacation photos. Lots of great tips that likely helped all of us take better photos this cruise.

Then dinner. Then bed. Then breakfast. Then Juneau.

Welcome to Juneau!

Although slightly overcast, it was still a great visit in Juneau. Of course we were excited to get ashore and find some geocaches, but knowing that our primary excursion here was a trip to Mendenhall Glacier, and that we had a number of Earthcaches lined up... well, that was good news!

 We enjoyed the visit to the glacier, the park, and some wildlife (a trio of bears feeding on spawning salmon, then we got as close as we dared to a porcupine) and learned all about the park and the glaciers from the rangers who were very patient with us geocachers. I think it always helps to show a little interest in learning something beyond the required answers for the earthcaches.

Oh, and the Mendenhall Glacier earthcache was find #9,000 for the LANMonkeys. So we achieved the Geocaching.com souvenir for Alaska, and then our personal caching milestone!

A great time with a bunch of great new friends in the park, then we caught the bus back from the park to Juneau (and I should mention our bus driver was an absolute hoot).

Back in Juneau we then took the tram up Mount Roberts for some amazing views down over the city of Juneau, and then a nice loop hike where we met up with some other caching friends from the cruise and picked up some caches with amazing views. So glad we have lots of favourite points to award!

 After taking in the amazing panoramic views we made our way back down, toured the town (finding a few more geocaches, of course) including a fun group find at an iconic statue near the wharfs. 

Thanks once again to Chris from Landsharkz for taking so many great photos of the trip, including this one of RCA777 trying to figure out *how* Mrs. LANMonkey got that geocache out of *that* part of the dog statue...

And finally, after some more exploring and caching and even a stop for some local chocolate treats, it was back to the ship for dinner and another night's rest before the next adventure in Skagway!

But that story will have to wait for another day (or so)...

Helena Geotour - Day 2!

Join us on our second day of exploring the greater Helena area. 

We found out that White Pelicans actually live natively in Montana - crazy! We thought they only lived on the East coast. We're such North Westerners. :-) We also visit the spot near Helena along the Missouri river where Lewis & Clark camped, hike up a small mountain/big hill, and show you a little sampling of downtown Helena.

Oh, and that geocoin? Check it out here. These are custom made in Montana, and trackable on Geocaching.com like any other geocoin. You can also choose the colour you prefer when you claim yours. How cool is that?

So thanks for joining us once more, and remember - 

"cache safely, and cache often!"

The LANMonkeys.

We Want To Give You Prizes!

We really do - if your name is on this list below, you ARE a winner from the #GeocacheRoadTrip contest.  If you haven't claimed your prize yet that's a tragedy! So check the winners list below. 

If your name is on that list, look at the list below THAT, of "available prizes remaining" and email us at GeocachingRoadTripContest@gmail.com with your first and second choice of prize, and we'll get back to you to arrange delivery.

It's just that easy to claim your awesome prizes!

WINNERS!

Most Creative Use of Hashtag - Donners

Most Aesthetically Pleasing - Scruffster 

Wildest Adventure - Airrooster

Lackey's Favourite - Dora Mor

Honourable mentions:

• Alarobic
• Retro
• Cacheikers
• m-Eazy
• Subwaymark
• PeppermintPatti53

Prizes to be claimed:

• "How to Puzzle Cache" book by ChildofAtom
• Munzee.com MunzPack
• Munzee.com MunzPack
• CoinsAndPins.com Travel Boobie
• OpenCaching.NA water bottle
• Landsharkz.ca $15 Gift Certificate
• Landsharkz.ca $15 Gift Certificate
• WorldCaching.com $15 Gift Certificate
• CoinsAndPins.com geoachievement coins
• CoinsAndPins.com geo-achievement patches

Helena Geotour #1

Hi and thanks for stopping by again - or if it's your first visit to LMGA, welcome!

This week we're sharing the first half of our adventures from our #GeocacheRoadTrip when we checked out the amazing #HelenaMT Geotour.  While we were there we also checked out the Helena Selfie-Tour which is another amazing way to make sure you catch some cool sights around the city.

And when you are in Reeder's Alley, stop in at the Geotourism office and say hi to the awesome folks working there - make sure to tell them that the LANMonkeys sent you!



Please remember to "subscribe" to our YouTube channel and not miss any of the amazing places we take you when we go Geocaching - and share your adventures and milestones with us on our Twitter and Facebook feeds!

Stay tuned next Tuesday for a special announcement from Caching in the Northwest right here on our blog to help you win the "Groovalicious 4 Podcasters" Contest!

Until next time,

"Cache safely, and cache often!"
The LANMonkeys

#GeocacheRoadTrip to Yellowstone Park - Leg 1

On the first leg of our summer #GeocacheRoadTrip we traveled from our home near Vancouver, BC Canada through Washington and Idaho, checking out some cool sights along the way. 

We took the "northern route" through Washington which allowed us to visit the North Cascades National Park.

On our way we visited a few virtual caches and Earthcaches, and had a number of amazing stops all of which we were able to capture in episode 84 of LMGA.

Take a look at that episode, and let us know about your summer #GeocacheRoadTrip adventures - we'd love to hear about what you've discovered this summer!

 

#GeocacheRoadTrip Contest

This summer, from July 01, 2015 to July 31, 2015, Geocachers* have an opportunity to win cool prizes by submitting photos of themselves out geocaching and tagging them creatively with #GeocacheRoadTrip.

What do we mean by “tagging them creatively?” We want you to incorporate the #GeocacheRoadTrip hashtag into your photo, in whatever manner you deem best. Perhaps holding up a sign with the hashtag on it? Maybe photoshopping it in afterwards? Be creative, and have fun!

Submit up to three photos per Geocaching username, each including the hashtag #GeocacheRoadTrip by email to: geocachingroadtripcontest@gmail.com and ask everyone you know to vote online by “liking” the photos as we post them up on the CachingNW Facebook page. Be sure to include your Geocaching.com user name, return email address, and any story you wish to share about your photo in the body of the email.

The photo with the most votes by 9:00pm Pacific time August 12, 2015 will be the Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo winner and have first choice of prizes from our awesome prize sponsors!

But if you don’t win that category, there’s even more chances to win! Ten other finalists will be chosen by our panel of celebrity judges for selection of three more winners on August 15, 2015 by Geocaching.com Lackeys live at the 2015 Geocaching Block Party.  

Online voting starts from July 1 (or whenever we get the first entry) and closes on Aug 12.

The top prizes will be for:

• Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo - This will be the “audience favourite” and the one with the most Facebook votes. Whatever really got everyone’s attention.
• Most Creative Use of the Hashtag - how did you incorporate #GeocacheRoadTrip into your photo? Permanent marker on your forehead? Arranging your family into a “pound” sign?
• Most Aesthetically Pleasing - just the nicest most appealing photo overall; landscape, still life, chickens, whatever turns your crank.
• Wildest Adventure - however you determine what makes a wild #GeocacheRoadTrip share it with us; toddlers loaded up in the station wagon? T5 geocache success? Scuba gear power trail? Just cache safely, and cache often!

Prize Sponsors:

• WorldCaching
• OpenCaching NA
• Cache-Advance
• Coins & Pins.com
• LandSharkz
• “How to Puzzle Cache” author Cully Long (ChildofAtom)

*Rules:

• This contest is open to anyone in (meaning legal residents of) the USA or Canada, to a maximum of 3 photo submissions per contestant/geocaching username.
• Canadian winners will have to answer a (simple) skill testing question so that we don’t get in any trouble.
• Photos without the #GeocacheRoadTrip hashtag will not be eligible to win.
• Submissions will be accepted from July 01, 2015 to July 31, 2015
• Online voting starts from 08:00AM Pacific July 1, 2015 and closes at 9:00PM Pacific August 12, 2015
• Entries submitted without the Geocaching.com username and preferred return email address in the body of the email will not be possible to include in the contest.
• The on-line voted Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo winner will not be elligible to compete in the August 15, 2015 selection by Geocaching.com Lackeys for the reamining three categories.
• One prize will be awarded for each winner of the four categories. Prizes will be selected by the winners on a first-come, first served basis.
• Winners will be announced on the “Caching in the Northwest” podcast & website, “Only Googlebot Reads This Blog”, and related Social Media channels.
• Physical prizes selected will require the winner to provide their physical mailing address to Caching in the Northwest or our prize sponsor in order to be able to send it to you. Your name/address will not be used for any other marketing purpose.
• The remaining three categories (Most Creative Use of the Hashtag, Most Aesthetically Pleasing, Wildest Adventure) will be judged by Geocaching.com Lackeys from the ten finalist photos provided to them by the CachingNW celebrity panel of judges, based on their personal opinions, on or during August 15, 2015 at the Geocaching.com 2015 Block Party event.
• Judges decisions for the ten finalists and top three overall winners are final.
• All photos submitted will be considered “public domain” (Creative Commons attribution) and must not be copyrighted or otherwise legally unable to be shared freely on the Internet.
• Any/all photo submissions may be kept online indefinitely. Winners will be posted on the CachingNW.com website for 1 year after the close of the contest.
• Prize sponsors will be entitled to promote the contest, winners, entrants, and their photos during the contest and for 1 year after the close of the contest.
• Caching in the Northwest and Dave DeBaermaker reserve the right to reject any submissions deemed offensive or otherwise inappropriate representations of the values of the show and hosts, and the principles of geocaching.