We finally got out Geocaching again… well, sort of.

We visited our son and his better half in their home near Castlegar, located in the West Kootenays of British Columbia, a couple of weeks ago. Our daughter and her boyfriend were able to come along with us too. It was the first time that we were all together in a couple of years. This, of course, gave the opportunity to do a bit of family caching.

We had gone Geocaching with our son and his girlfriend several times but our daughter and her boyfriend had never been caching before. We wanted their first caching experience to be positive as well as allow our son to have some fun so the plan was that we would do a couple of caches that mrs_go and I had already been to. This way if the snow was too deep we would know it was a waste of time looking or we would be able to ‘help’ them a bit. Then once they had a few caches ‘under their belt’ we would continue on to some that none of us found.

Our first stop was near the Brilliant Dam just North of town. Here you can see our son reaching in deep for the cache:

This spot is a nice little rest area on the banks of the Kootenay River. It offers washroom facilities, a picnic table or two, a short trail and lots of great views of the river:

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We first walked The Shearwater Flyer Trail over a month ago and shortly afterwards heard that there were more caches being added soon so we decided to wait until then to do this post. We returned earlier this week to finish up this ‘cache run’ (presently there are 15 caches on this relatively short trail!) so this post is two, two posts in one.

The main part of the Shearwater Flyer Trail is a 5km (3 mile) well groomed, flat trail located between trailheads on Bisset Rd. (N44 39.436 W63 26.926) and Caldwell Rd. (N44 37.568 W63 28.951) in Dartmouth, NS. It continues across the road from this point for another 2-3 km and leads into the Shearwater area. The Bisset Road trailhead is located just across the road from one of the trailheads for the Salt Marsh Trail.

The Shearwater Flyer follows a portion of the former railway route that connects the Salt Marsh Trail and Atlantic View Trail. Because of the trail’s ideal round trip length of 10kms (6 miles) it is a very popular trail for walkers and bicycle riders. There are several wooden bridges that go over small waterways that lead to larger lakes in the area.

There was a fair amount of wildlife on the trail. We saw butterflies, grasshoppers, a snake, caught a glimpse of a rabbit and found hints of bear. Here are some photos:

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Last week I (go_man) had the good fortune to visit Fredericksburg, Virginia. This gave me the chance to get together with a local Geocacher and to get out and do some caching in Virginia!

The Fredericksburg area of Virginia is steeped in history and gives you the opportunity to walk where American Presidents and famous Generals once walked. It was near here that the first president of the United States, George Washington, once roamed as a young boy. It was also near here that the North and South armies of the American Civil War came face to face in battle. This area, which is located about halfway between Washington D.C., which was the capital of the Union, and Richmond, which was the capital of the Confederacy, was the major site of five Civil War battles.

Downtown Fredericksburg still retains that small town feel. You can enjoy a leisurely stroll through it’s tree line streets. As you walk along you are sure to be tempted by the many restaurants and specialty shops.

Prior to visiting Fredericksburg I contacted the Fredericksburg Geocachers asking if there were any local cachers interested in going Geocaching with me. I received quick replies from several of the members and through the course of messaging back and forth with them “smarple” and I worked out our schedules to meet up and go caching on Wednesday night.

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The alarm blared at 5:30am. It wasn’t that it was that all that loud, it just sounded loud because it shattered the early morning stillness surrounding the top of Cape Blomidon. It was time to get up and get ready for the Atlantic Geofest 2008 hike to Cape Split. We had to be at the trail head by 6:30. This gave us about a half hour to get dressed, eat, brush our teeth, comb our hair and head out. Or, we could just roll over… but NO! A hike to Cape Split has been on our list for years and this was the perfect day to do it.

And what a perfect day it was. We joined Finn and Spiritfury along with jai06, fergus pals and the kool 66 and hike4familyfun teams, 13 in all, for a 15 kilometer, 6 hour and 17 minute adventure!

Cape Split is a thin peninsula that juts out into the Bay of Fundy like a giant fishhook. It is about 7kms (4 miles) long and from a couple of kilometers (2 miles) to a couple of dozen meters (90 feet) in width. The headland ends abruptly in 100 meter (300 foot) cliffs that offers spectacular (here we go again! ) views. Across the Bay of Fundy and to the Northwest you can see Cape D’ Or and to the Northeast, the town of Parrsboro.

The trail has been here for years and it was recently acquired by the Nova Scotia Government with plans on turning it into a provincial park. The hike in is on an uphill incline, starting at sea level and up to the headland. The main trail is a combination of gnarled tree roots, mud holes and slippery rocks (it’s been described as “like 15 kilometers on a ‘Stairmaster’ ) that courses through an old growth forest of huge hardwood and softwood trees, opening to a small field at the headland.

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