On the return trip from GeoWoodstock in June we made a stopover in British Columbia. Because it was enroute, it was a great chance to do some Geocaching in Canada’s most western province. We were there last September and obviously couldn’t wait to get back. Our first stop was caching at Stanley Park in Vancouver.

From Sacramento we flew into Vancouver early in the morning and after checking into the hotel we headed off to Stanley Park. The 1000 acre park is located close to the city’s downtown and offers visitors walking trails, beautiful views and wildlife, all in a surrounding forest of cedar, hemlock and fir trees. There are also quite a few statues and monuments in the park. The one below is of Lord Stanley, who was Governor General of Canada in 1888 when the park was officially opened.

We never got the chance to visit the park on our last visit to the city in the fall of 2006, just a few months before a windstorm devastated parts of the park. We were happy to see, at least where we were, that there was little remnants of the storm. The park looked great, but more on that later!

Since it was early and we were hungry we decided that our first stop should be for a bite to eat. Our hotel was located near the bottom of Granville Street so we walked to the waterfront and caught an Aquabus, a water taxi, over to Granville Island. The water taxis run quite frequently connecting various ports. They are very convenient and rather cool to be on.

(more…)

Earlier this week it was so hot that we took an afternoon off and went to the beach. Here on the North East Coast you have to take it when you get it and we decided to take it!

There are several great beaches nearby to where we live that sometimes it’s hard to choose which one to go to. This time we decided to go to the Lawrencetown Beach on Highway 207, the Marine Drive. Usually the temperature at this beach is considerably cooler than here at home and sometimes the fog can roll in quickly but since it was so hot here with such a beautiful blue sky we thought that we would take the chance. We were not disappointed. It was just cool enough to be enjoyable, the surf was rolling and we got to do some Geocaching!

Since we are not the ‘lay on the beach’ type (oh sure, there are times when we’ve been known to rest our weary bones (nap), or to read a book (nap) while protecting our selves from the sun by laying under a beach umbrella (nap)) we decided that today we would walk a section of the Atlantic View Trail. The Atlantic View Trail extends approximately 10kms (6 miles) from the Eastern end of the Salt Marsh Trail and past Lawrencetown Beach, following an old railroad bed. However, today we only walked a small section from the beach to where the trail crosses Highway 207.

(more…)

We headed out yesterday morning to explore a trail that has been calling us for years, the Lake Charles Trail at Shubie Park. Even though we live close by and are frequent visitors to the park, most recently for the CITO event, this was one part of the trail system that we had yet to venture on. We can’t think for the life of us why we had never been there before other than it was saved for a day like today. It really was a great day.

The Lake Charles Trail extends the full length of the lake and is a part of the Shubie Park shared-use trails and the Trans-Canada Trail. It skirts the water’s edge for most of its length, offering many great viewing areas and resting spots. The trail is well groomed and a favorite among hikers, joggers and cyclists. It is continually being extended where eventually it will follow the canal route all the way to the Bay of Fundy!

It took us just over four hours to do the round trip of around 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the parking lot to the end of the trail and back. This included stopping frequently to enjoy the views, to take photos, to have lunch and, of course, a bit of Geocaching! We were able to pick up a half a dozen caches along the way. (We even left a couple to bring us back here another time. )

(more…)

Last week, while in Roseville, California for GeoWoodstock VI, we spent a day Geocaching at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. The park is located in the Sierra-Nevada foothills about 25 miles east of Sacramento and it offers lots of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Since we didn’t bring a horse or a bike we stuck to the hiking.

Throughout the weekend we were warned about the creepy-crawlies that inhabit North California, like rattle snakes and tarantulas as well as poison oak. Since we come from an area where the worse thing that can find you is a tick or maybe an angry duck we thought that today might qualify as a Challenge Cache. We were very careful to tap the caches with our walking sticks, watch where we stepped and jumped around and made noise. It must have worked because all we saw were eagles, lizards, chipmunks and deer.

(more…)