What a weekend! It was one of the best we had all summer, and we’re not just talking about the weather. We spent it Geocaching and socializing at Atlantic Geofest 2008 that was held at the Blomidon Provincial Park. This was an event organized by local Geocachers and was designed to give an opportunity to camp, meet and have fun in this beautiful park located at the top of Cape Blomidon on Nova Scotia’s Fundy Coast. The 1875 acre Blomidon Provincial Park is renowned for its spectacular views and for the hiking trails that lead along the towering, 600 foot seacliffs of Cape Blomidon.

Cape Blomidon lies along the southeast shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Minas Basin, the site of some of the world’s highest tides. The provincial park sits high on the red sandstone cape which was once the home (and perhaps it still is…) of the legendary Glooscap, the powerful man-god of the Míkmaq, First Nations People of Nova Scotia.

Since it can get quite windy up here the name ‘Blomidon’ is likely a contraction of the nautical phrase “blow me down.” However, there were no ‘blow me down’ winds this weekend! It was clear blue skies and sunny all the way through!

In addition to the great weather the weekend was filled with some hiking, lots of Geocaching, fun games, good food and great company. The organizers of this year’s Atlantic Geofest really outdid themselves!

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The Chebucto Adventure and Dining Society had their 2nd Meet and Eat event last night which we, and over 30 other Geocachers, were happy to attend. It was another great evening of getting together with other Geocachers, friends old and new. This one was held at the Boston Pizza location in Lower Sackville, NS, just 30 minutes from our home.

We really enjoy these get-togethers. As you know, we enjoy Geocaching mostly because it brings us to places we wouldn’t normally go and experience things we normally wouldn’t. Well, this holds true with these Meet And Eats as well. It gives us a chance to put faces to names, have a few laughs and meet new friends, like 2Crows, vege, Caching Kiddo and Poppy Le Pew!

Speaking of vege, she celebrated her 3000 find with the event. She is now the only individual female cacher in the Atlantic Provinces to hit this mark! Kudos! Kudos! Kudos!

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We had a great evening last night at a local German style Ale House with over 20 other Geocachers! We spent several hours enjoying excellent company, great conversation and some fine food. The event was held to give a warm Maritime welcome to Geocachers Binrat and Geogranny, who were visiting from Eastern Ontario. The photo below certainly shows that our traditions held true to its roots:

Binrat and Geogranny were in town to visit their brother/son Ducky (also a Geocacher) and his family. They will spend the next week or so caching in the area with a trip to Canada’s First Geocache in the plans.

The evening began with dinner of choice which included a variety of fare, the most popular being the German Schnitzel. This was followed by the awarding of quite a few door prizes donated by GPSCentral and The 3Geeks Outdoor Store. Throughout this there was a treasure trove of Travel Bugs available for discovering and exchange. There were a dozen conversations going on at once but good times and laughter was the common topic!

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The 8th Anniversary of Geocaching in Canada was held yesterday, June 28th, 2008, at the Graves Island Provincial Park and a great time was had by all! The day was in celebration of Canada’s first Geocache which was hidden by local Geocacher “eastriver” on June 28th, 2000, less than two months after the world’s first Geocache was hidden by David Ulmer in Oregon, USA on May 3rd, 2000.

The cache is located just off Highway 103 in Nova Scotia about a 30 minute drive from Halifax. It was originally named GC41 but was relisted as GCBBA when Geocaches were taken out of the Geocaching.com site admin account. Apparently a typing error also occurred at that time and the date was changed to June 18th, 2000. The date has since been corrected to reflect the original cache placement date of June 28th, 2000.

On June 24th, 2006 a Geostone giving the details and co-ordinates of GCBBA was unveiled at the Graves Island park which is only a few kilometers from the cache site. The Geostone was built and designed by Geocacher Wallace_River. Plans are now in the works for another plaque to be placed at the actual site of GCBBA.

This was the third year for this annual event and the number of Geocachers attending has steadily grown with this years event drawing 148 Geocachers! For a number of Cachers it was a weekend event which began earlier in the week with camping on site. There was a pancake breakfast on the morning of the event and a potluck supper after the event which by all indication was not to be missed.

There were lots of activities to keep you busy throughout the day. There are several Geocaches in the immediate area including Canada’s First Cache and an EarthCache. There were also several event Geocaching games for both young and old such as:

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