Sorry to anyone who has been expecting updates for the lack of them. Consider it my summer holiday from this blog. :)
I was recently motivated by my friend to head over to a nearby cache that I hadn't yet been to, so I packed my gps in a small bag along with some other items and we headed off! It was only about 2.5km away so we arrived soon. The cache was up a steep hill that we climbed up. The GPS co-ordinates weren't very accurate so we spent a little extra time finding this one than usual. After looking around, I found it near a dead standing tree, under a rock. I instantly noticed that this sort of hiding spot must be it. I took some of the rubble away from the front of the cache which was there to block it from direct sight, and saw a white circular object, which was the plastic cap for the cache. I took the cache out and called over to my friend that I've found it!
We inspected the cache together, and upon opening the first thing we both noticed was the vast amount of water that was in the cache. The pencil and logbook were soaked even though they were inside a minigrip bag. The moisture removers were completely soaked, and any other trade items that might have been in there were wet. I signed both our names in the logbook with great difficulty, placed the items back in the minigrip bag as my friend was trying to fit everything into the container. I had decided to leave an old sharpner for whatever reason.
We returned to our bikes and headed back home. A successfull trip all round!
Link to the cache's profile: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=ef3324fb-4621-42bf-88dc-0c0f2153ea1d
tiistai 17. elokuuta 2010
lauantai 22. toukokuuta 2010
Another GC Trip
On this trip I was meant to go to a forest near Otaniemi, find a multi-cache in Tapiola Church and find a micro cache at the to be demolished Chapel of Niittykumpu. Unfortunately, I only was successful at the first location.
I drove to the location and I turned on my GPS. I was closer to the cache than I thought. The co-ordinates were somewhat inaccurate and I spent some time searching. The clue to the cache was "where it rains more sand than water", and i noticed that under the bridge, there was sand, and obviously it can't rain there. I then decided to take a look. I saw two identical bottles, but I thought that the cache couldn't possibly be an old bottle, since the co-ordinates didn't even point there, so I kept looking, but never finding anything. I then decided that the bottles deserved another look. I waited for some passers-by to go and then I painfully made my way under the bridge, took the bottle and saw some paper in it which I instantly recognized as the logbook. Hurray! I found the cache. I wrote down the date and my username that I use at geocaching.com and as there was not much else interesting in the bottle, so I put it back and went on my way.
The next location was the multi-cache in the Church of Tapiola. This cache was more complex than the others because I had to find information to complete the cache's co-ordinates in order to find the cache. I had to count the rows of seats in the church, and the number of "+" sings on a plaque next to the graveyard. I then had to use them in a simple mathematical equation to complete the co-ordinates. It sent me waay off track and I decided to be done with this one, as I had clearly done the maths wrong. I moved on to the next cache and decided to come back to this one later.
The next cache was the chapel. This one was a micro cache, which was said to be smaller than a film canister. I was feeling quite tired at this point and even though I spent a good deal of time searching for the cache, I couldn't find it. I decided I didn't have to come back to this one but it didn't bother me so much.
The next day, I decided to go back to the church where the multi-cache was. I tried doing the maths again, but it sent me quite far from the church itself again. From the comments of the profile of the cache, I can determine that the cache itself is hidden in the graveyard, but none of my co-ordinates that I have calculated show the way there. I think that I have either counted the number of pews in the church wrong, the number of "+" signs wrong or done both. I will come back to this one for the third time in the future.
Pictures from the trip:
The bottle cache.
The bridge it was under.
The soon to be demolished chapel.
I drove to the location and I turned on my GPS. I was closer to the cache than I thought. The co-ordinates were somewhat inaccurate and I spent some time searching. The clue to the cache was "where it rains more sand than water", and i noticed that under the bridge, there was sand, and obviously it can't rain there. I then decided to take a look. I saw two identical bottles, but I thought that the cache couldn't possibly be an old bottle, since the co-ordinates didn't even point there, so I kept looking, but never finding anything. I then decided that the bottles deserved another look. I waited for some passers-by to go and then I painfully made my way under the bridge, took the bottle and saw some paper in it which I instantly recognized as the logbook. Hurray! I found the cache. I wrote down the date and my username that I use at geocaching.com and as there was not much else interesting in the bottle, so I put it back and went on my way.
The next location was the multi-cache in the Church of Tapiola. This cache was more complex than the others because I had to find information to complete the cache's co-ordinates in order to find the cache. I had to count the rows of seats in the church, and the number of "+" sings on a plaque next to the graveyard. I then had to use them in a simple mathematical equation to complete the co-ordinates. It sent me waay off track and I decided to be done with this one, as I had clearly done the maths wrong. I moved on to the next cache and decided to come back to this one later.
The next cache was the chapel. This one was a micro cache, which was said to be smaller than a film canister. I was feeling quite tired at this point and even though I spent a good deal of time searching for the cache, I couldn't find it. I decided I didn't have to come back to this one but it didn't bother me so much.
The next day, I decided to go back to the church where the multi-cache was. I tried doing the maths again, but it sent me quite far from the church itself again. From the comments of the profile of the cache, I can determine that the cache itself is hidden in the graveyard, but none of my co-ordinates that I have calculated show the way there. I think that I have either counted the number of pews in the church wrong, the number of "+" signs wrong or done both. I will come back to this one for the third time in the future.
Pictures from the trip:
The bottle cache.
The bridge it was under.
The soon to be demolished chapel.
torstai 20. toukokuuta 2010
My First Own Geocache
I have hidden a geocache not too far away from where I live. If anyone is interested, they can go search for it. You can go to the profile of the cache by clicking here. It should be a really easy find, and as a reader of my blog, you get an additional hint. It is near a very large boulder.
Happy hunting!
Happy hunting!
tiistai 18. toukokuuta 2010
Two Successes and One DNF
Today, I decided that I would first go to a geocache called "A Bridge in Niittykumpu" to find a micro cache under a wooden bridge. I arrived at the location, put my helmet under my scooter seat and my glasses in my backpack. I found easy routes that went under the bridge and I started looking. Time passed, some more passed, even more passed until I had been there for about 20 minutes. I decided that I would use my GPS to find out which side of the bridge the cache was hidden, but it didn't help me at all. I looked again for about 10-15 minutes with no luck. I did see footprints of others who had gone to find the cache but I couldn't find it.
I went to get my sunglasses, and as I was leaving, I realised that one of the ear pieces of the sunglasses had been horribly bent. Snap. My glasses broke. Damn! That means that on this trip I had DNF:d once and broke my sunglasses. Great. That also meant that I had to go back to my house, take a helmet which had a visor to protect my eyes which could not fit in the item compartment in my scooter.
Nevertheless, I decided to go to the next cache. This cache was a pin trading cache where the rule was to leave at least one more pin there than what you take. The cache was located in a peninsula which was very pleasant. I ran into some boy scouts as I was searching for the cache. I eventualy did find the cache without much trouble and I left two HOG Rally 2009 pins and took one KOFF (beer) pin :D. I marked my visit in the logbook and hid the cache the same way it was as I left it. It appeared that someone had been to the cache on the same day as I was there.
The next cache was very close by to the previous one. It was near the Chapel of Otaniemi, where there was about a 1 minute drive from where the previous cache was. I walked up to the chapel, turned on my GPS and inserted the co-ordinates. I first wandered about to the wrong direction thinking that the co-ordinates had to have been wrong, as they seemed to point in a zone that was fenced off. I then knew that the cache had to be behind the chapel building that the cache was said to be near. I walked around the building, looked around abit and low and behold, I saw some blue plastic which I instantly recognized as a lid for a container.
I opened the cache and it was much bigger than the previous caches. It was hidden back in 2004 and I was surprised to see that it was in mint condition. Only the log book was very full. I noted down my visit and looked at some of the interesting items in the cache. I found a red whistle, a Digimon card (I didn't even know those existed), a random piece of black plastic, a screw, some pins, bits of card and some other random stuff I can't remember. I didn't take anything as I had nothing to put in return, but I have to remember to take something with me the next time I go geocaching.
Below are pictures from the trip (I forgot my main camera so I had to take these with my not as good phone camera):
Here is the pin trading jar.
Here is the second cache near Otaniemi Chapel.
I went to get my sunglasses, and as I was leaving, I realised that one of the ear pieces of the sunglasses had been horribly bent. Snap. My glasses broke. Damn! That means that on this trip I had DNF:d once and broke my sunglasses. Great. That also meant that I had to go back to my house, take a helmet which had a visor to protect my eyes which could not fit in the item compartment in my scooter.
Nevertheless, I decided to go to the next cache. This cache was a pin trading cache where the rule was to leave at least one more pin there than what you take. The cache was located in a peninsula which was very pleasant. I ran into some boy scouts as I was searching for the cache. I eventualy did find the cache without much trouble and I left two HOG Rally 2009 pins and took one KOFF (beer) pin :D. I marked my visit in the logbook and hid the cache the same way it was as I left it. It appeared that someone had been to the cache on the same day as I was there.
The next cache was very close by to the previous one. It was near the Chapel of Otaniemi, where there was about a 1 minute drive from where the previous cache was. I walked up to the chapel, turned on my GPS and inserted the co-ordinates. I first wandered about to the wrong direction thinking that the co-ordinates had to have been wrong, as they seemed to point in a zone that was fenced off. I then knew that the cache had to be behind the chapel building that the cache was said to be near. I walked around the building, looked around abit and low and behold, I saw some blue plastic which I instantly recognized as a lid for a container.
I opened the cache and it was much bigger than the previous caches. It was hidden back in 2004 and I was surprised to see that it was in mint condition. Only the log book was very full. I noted down my visit and looked at some of the interesting items in the cache. I found a red whistle, a Digimon card (I didn't even know those existed), a random piece of black plastic, a screw, some pins, bits of card and some other random stuff I can't remember. I didn't take anything as I had nothing to put in return, but I have to remember to take something with me the next time I go geocaching.
Below are pictures from the trip (I forgot my main camera so I had to take these with my not as good phone camera):
Here is the pin trading jar.
Here is the second cache near Otaniemi Chapel.
maanantai 17. toukokuuta 2010
My First Successful Geocaching Trip
My first successful geocaching trip took place to a small forest near a small town I live close to called Tapiola. I had gone to two unsuccessful geocaching trips before, and I felt that this one might be a faliure too, but you know what they say, "third time's the charm". I took my moped as close to the location as I could get, and as soon as I parked, I took out my GPS device and inserted the co-ordinates. I wandered around the forest trying to see ideal places for the container to be hidden, sometimes going way too far before the GPS had time to refresh itself, or simply wandering very close to where the cache was. After walking past a certain tree more than once, I decided that it deserved a look. I saw an old piece of brick and I thought that this was a good place to look. I moved it out of the way and sure enough, I saw the blue edge of the plastic container. The container was also hidden with some bark that had come off the tree, and suffice to say, I was quite happy that I actualy found the cache.
The items in the cache were a logbook, a travel bug, a magnifying glass and a pencil. I used the pencil to mark down my visit and I closed and re-hid the container in the same place for the next geocacher to find. I left the cache feeling very pleased with myself as I had a few doubts about actualy finding the cache in the first place. I have decided that the next cache I'm visiting is going to be in the nearby town of Otaniemi, which is located near the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Pictures from the trip:
This is the interior of the cache.
The logbook inside the cache.
The items in the cache were a logbook, a travel bug, a magnifying glass and a pencil. I used the pencil to mark down my visit and I closed and re-hid the container in the same place for the next geocacher to find. I left the cache feeling very pleased with myself as I had a few doubts about actualy finding the cache in the first place. I have decided that the next cache I'm visiting is going to be in the nearby town of Otaniemi, which is located near the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Pictures from the trip:
This is the interior of the cache.
The logbook inside the cache.
Geocaching
Geocaching is a hobby in which you use GPS co-ordinates to find a certain location where a small container is hid. In that container you may find all sorts of interesting items, but a log book is always there. Geocachers never take the container with them, or take anything from the container without leaving something equivilent in value in its place. In this blog, I will write about my geocaching expeditions and experiences.
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