Or should that be ‘cashing’ in Las Vegas?

We spent the past week experiencing the delights of Sin City, The Entertainment Capital of the World. Although we have been to Vegas a dozen times over the past ten years for various conferences this was the first time that we were there Geocaching. We were able to get away from our meetings for an afternoon and explored the Strip with GPSr in hand.

One of the most pleasant caches we found was in a garden of one of the Strip hotels. This was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the street. This will be a look-forward-to sanctuary on future visits to Vegas!

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For the first time in a couple of weeks we got a chance to get out Geocaching. Once again it was a beautiful day and this time we found ourselves on the Heritage Trail.

The Heritage Trail is a 400 acre provincial park that was built on the site of the former Bisset Farm and is maintained by the Cole Harbour Parks and Trails Association, an all volunteer, not for profit community group.

There are 7 trails that interconnect through wooded areas, fields and shoreline. Points of interest along the trails include the Poor’s Farm Cemetery; the potter’s field for the area, the Poor’s farm; the county’s residence for the ‘harmlessly insane’, and George Bisset House.

Here is a photo of one of the trails through a wooded area:

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We received our Bronze EarthCache pin today! This is the result of our EarthCache finds on EarthCache Day a few weeks ago.

The package we received from the Geological Society of America’s EarthCache Masters Program contained our Bronze pin, a 2″ sticker that has the EarthCache logo on it and says “I am a Bronze EarthCache Master” and a short note stating:

“Congratulations! You are now a Bronze level EarthCache Master. Enclosed is your Bronze EarthCache Master pin. You are now only 3 more EarthCache finds (one in another state or country) and set up your own EarthCache to become a Silver EarthCache Master.”

It is ’signed’ by the EarthCache Grandmaster. How cool is that?!

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We spent another great fall afternoon Geocaching at a local park. This time we chose Hemlock Ravine Park, so aptly name because of the abundance of hemlock trees and a ravine. We haven’t been here in years and we were thrilled to have Geocaching give us the opportunity to return.

The historical significance that surrounds this park is that this 197-acre wilderness was originally the home to John Wentworth, Nova Scotia’s lieutenant governor in the 1780s. In 1794, he lent his home to England’s Prince Edward who landscaped the grounds, including adding a heart-shaped pond. This pond is named “Julie’s Pond”, after his companion Julie St. Laurent.

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Well, we did something today that we have wanted to do for some time - we walked the Salt Marsh Trail. We have been on the trail dozens of times but we have never walked it end to end. It was not that it is that long; it was more the fact that it’s a one way trail, meaning that when we reached the end we would have to walk back. Because the Salt Marsh is an EarthCache we thought that it was fitting that we walk its full length today. All in all, with cache runs we logged 15kms (9 miles).

A Salt-Marsh is a coastal wetland that is one of the most biologically productive habitats on Earth. They are rich in marine and wildlife and sometimes called tidal marshes, because they occur in the zone between low and high tides.

One of the predominant features of a Salt-Marsh is the Smooth cordgrass that grows. Smooth cordgrass, like most Salt-Marsh plants, is called a halophyte because it can tolerate salt water, a feat that most plants can not achieve. In fact, Smooth cordgrass has salt glands that excrete salt onto the leaf surface. The habitat formed by this plant provides vital nursery and feeding grounds for young fish and crabs. It also supplies food and cover to a variety of marsh birds and other animals.

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We got a chance to get out today for a great walk in the fall sunshine. It was surprisingly warm for the middle of October and we were not complaining!

We had a bit of trouble finding the Geocache we were seeking today. Since it was a clear day and we were tracking within 3 meters but we could not find it. There really was nothing in the area that would offer a hiding place. After fifteen minutes of searching we gave up and proceeded to bring another cache up on the GPSr. The strange thing is that the nearest one had the same name as the one we were just looking for except it had a space and ‘1′ after it. Punching in this one told us that we were about 90 meters from it. We continued on our way and made a quick find and dropped off a Travel Bug that we picked up on the weekend.

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