Lions, Tigers, and Bears oh my!

Well we were out doing a little bit of caching today and we finally had our first Bear sighting. Luckily it was while we were still in the van and not on the trail. This gave me enough courage to stop and take some pictures as they were way to busy eating whatever was on the ground in this Port Coquitlam backyard. They seemed uninterested in us in the least bit only looking up if i moved the van closer but then sensing no threat went right back to foraging and even lying around.

The kids were ecstatic as we seemed to sit for nearly 15 minutes watching them. My dog was whimpering as she just wanted to jump out of the van and play but alas I didn't think that would go over to well with the bears and wasn't willing to find out what would happen if I did.

Needless to say it was very exciting to finally see not one but 2 bears up close and just the way I want to find them in the van and not on the trail. I know one day we will probably run into one if we keep on travelling down trails and paths but I guess we will deal with that when it happens.

Cito's

We attended two consecutive days of Cito events (cache in trash out)this past weekend. The first one in Port Coquitlam at Lions park along the Coquitlam River and the second at Iona beach by the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond. The Poco event was an albeit soggy event as it rained the entire time. Thanks to the guiders for the tents.

We managed to collect quite the pile of garbage for the event and everyone seemed to be quite cheerful considering all the rain. Perhaps that was due to the great scavenger hunt that this cleanup included. We were able to find every item on the list which made the kids very excited indeed. Another bonus perhaps was the addition our team contributed in the form of a wonderful birthday cake we provided to celebrate out daughters upcoming birthday. To wrap up the event a bunch of us got to head over the the world headquarters of World Caching to mull over a few items we just needed to have if you know what I mean.

The next day found us all the way out to the Airport in Richmond. We had quite the walk in to the event site and then an even longer walk if you wanted to find the caches offer near the event area. of coarse we indulged in the opportunity to find them while grabbing garbage along the way. The weather was sunny and warm a nice change from the rain the day before. I was worried the kids would last with all the walking involved at this event but they managed really well with very little complaining. It might have been the fact that they were at the beach instead of a river with sand and the ocean to play in and the amazing planes to watch coming and going from the airport.

Harrison 4x4 Run

Well we all started off at my favorite place Tim Horton's for a quick breakfast as promissed. Then it was off to get gas where a few cachers were able to grab a quick PLC of my wife's before we hit the road. We all met up a the Chehalis fish hatchery parking lot to combine rides from the cars to the trucks. The road was pretty tame for the most part until the very end when it got a little more challenging to get to the final cache just before the logging camp. The weather was perfect and the views spectacular. TJGUY98 gave us a great run with alot to see and do and we look forward to another run hopefully very soon.

Tailspin Rally

We recently attended this geocaching event and what an event it was. We started off in a North Burnaby parking lot and proceeded on a round trip adventure that took us into deep cove and North Vancouver and many parts of Burnaby. The cache hided were challenging with many exciting twists to solving the puzzle. My entire family attended the event and we truly learned to work together especially at the canoe cache. The day wrapped up with a wonderful barbeque atop Burnaby Mountain. We are so looking forward to the next Scruffster event as this one was a very memerable one.

Stoyoma what an adventure

We had an awesome time. I haven't been 4x4ing like that in over 10 years. Sure brings me back to my glory days. We got there with very little effort and without any problems (knock on wood). The camping site at Cabin Lake (base camp for the hike to Stoyoma Mtn) suited us just fine. It was a little rough setting up in the rain but we managed.

The hike was a bit of a challenge for us newbies to terrain 5's. We went along pretty good and the Turtles gave us plenty of breaks which was nice of them as they could have just went ahead of us and had us catch up later. The trail was an even and steady climb up and around the bends until we opened up into a big bowl just before the face of the mountain.

Once we hit the face of the mountain it was an errie sight to see just how devistating the crash must have been with airplane parts strewn everywhere up and down the face of the mountain. We got to one of the main parts of the plane and found the cache. A good moment to sit and rest while signing the log and taking in the view.

With the cache found and all the pictures taken we headed back to camp. Just as we got started back it started to hail then snow. What is going on it's August for Pete sake. Well luckily I packed the jackets just in case so we were able to bundle up which was weird seeings how just half an hour ago it was sunny and hot and we were peeling layers off. The Turtle reminded us that this kind of weather change is par for the coarse for this type of altitude change. All in all it was an awesome adventure and we can't wait to go on another Tulameen Turtles adventure in the future.

Here we go. My launch into the blogging world.

Finally I have entered the Blogging world. This is just the start so I hope you enjoy it and look forward to many more additions in the very near future.