The Maritime Geocaching Association

Interview Date :14 November 2011

Caching Name :Cachescammer

Real Name : Billy Wall

1. How did you become involved in geocaching. When did you start?

I bought a jeep in 02 and with it came a key chain with geocaching.com on it so I looked into it, and there were not many in the area at that time, I had a magellin 315 and it was not user friendly at all. Any way I left and never looked into it again until a friend (Team Newfie Trio) mentioned it one day and said it would be something I might enjoy. I went on to tell him I tried and was not happy with the lack of caches in the area, and he told me to look again, and the rest is history, I’v had a GPS in my hand ever since.

2. How did you choose your caching name?

When I started I needed a quick name so I used Jeepking7, but it didn’t make any sense being I didn’t have a jeep any more so I changed it. There was local cacher in the area with the name cacheslinger and he had the Oromocto area pretty much monopolised, and I seen his name every were I went so I kinda got the name from him.

3. How many caches have you found so far?

2243

4. What brand/type of GPS do you use?

I used a magellin 315 back in 02 but it didn’t cut the mustard, and then I had a garmin vista, then a HCX, now I’m using a Gpsmap 62s, and it’s worth every penny and then some.

5. What programs/software or hardware (PDA/laptop/phone) do you use to make caching easier?

I just use the laptop, and my Iphone mainly. I use pocket queries all the time.

6. What type of cache do you prefer seeking – traditional, multi, puzzle, virtual?

I like traditional caches the most, but I’m coming around to the offset caches, and puzzles.

7. Which caches were the most challenging – physically/mentally? Why?

Any cache where I have to get dirty is a good cache, when you get half way to the cache and you say to yourself “what am I doing this for”, Is the cache I like to find, I love water fall caches, you never know what your going to find when you get there. Covered bridge caches because there is so much history in the bridge. Anything that involves a hint of danger, cliff side or rock face caches. The higher the D – T the better.

8. Do you have a favorite or favorites among the Maritime caches that you’ve found?

GC750D –  Sgurra Bhreac, It’s a cache in Cape Breton, one of the most beautiful places I’v ever stood.
GC1FG6V – The Diamond Safe, A cool cache in Hawaii that was out on a break water in the ocean.
GC2KZBV – Chirp Chirp, by sportsman01, pretty much all his caches are a favorite, Slow and steady is a good one.
GCVDR8 – Spelunky is an all time favorite

The Redden Falls Eco-Challenge, It’s archived but it was a very nice spot to find, with an awesome waterfall. There are so many caches I could mention, the Fredericton caching community is very creative bunch.

9. What’s the most unusual thing that you’ve ever found in a cache?

Nothing major, just the usual swag, I’d love to have a great story for you but I’m just not that lucky enough to find something awesome.

10. What are your current caching goals? Is there a certain cache that you can’t wait to do?

I’v got my eyes set on my 3000 already, it’s prob going to be� �GC33CVR, A true 5/5 RCR style, by Team Newfie Trio, and being I’m an RCR, its *.

11. How many caches have you placed? Do you have a current hiding goal?

I’v hidden 38 in the Fredericton area, the Handy Cap series, the Evil Island series and the Okie Doakie series. I’v also adoted a few from other cachers.

12. What advice would you give someone that wants to place a cache? What steps do YOU take when placing a cache?

Find a cache style you like and run with it, Everyone likes a good P&G, there quick and easy, but also everyone likes a challenge, If you want to hide an awesome cache look at some of Milosheart’s caches, lots of thought and time put into it, look at some of Team Newfie Trio’s caches and sportsman01, all different styles but are awesome cache makers, BTH7 had a cache I went back to almost 6 times before I found it.

13. How often do you go caching?

As often as possible, it used to be every second day, but now with work and the kids I make it out 2 maybe 3 times a week. and I plan cache trips and set goals like don’t come home until I have a set number of caches.

14. What advice would you give a beginning geocacher?

Stick with it and don’t let the weather stop you sometimes caches are more fun in the rain or snow. And don’t be afraid to stop and talk to people on the trails and go to events, there are a lot of cachers out there and they all have a certain personality trait. I’v yet to meet a mean cacher.

15. Do you collect geocoins? Of the ones that you’ve collected, which is your favorite?

I just started I have about half a dozen, the FGT coins, the Moncton coin, my 1000/2000 achievement coin. and some other coins I’v won.

16. What type of gear do you carry with you on your caching trips? What’s in your geopack?

Spare batteries, logs and containers, stickers, bison tubes, gerber tool, wire, string, and of course my walking stick

17. What is your most memorable caching experience?

I’v cached in Hawaii, did a cache run to PEI not that long ago to grab the CT caches, Team Newfie Trio and myself got almost 500 of them in 4 days, weather was a huge factor in the low numbers, but as PA would say “Its not about the numbers”.
Also I came in second in last years come out and play contest, that contest brought me all over the province, and then some.

18. What is your best caching story?

I went to do the Viking series with my wife last Christmas eve, we had the 4 wheeler and we went out a week after the December flood. The trail was wrote off, there were parts of the trail missing and washed out so, my wife wanted no part of the offroading it took to get around some of the washouts. She kept jumping off the bike I would go around the washout and she would jump back on and we would carry on. This one wash out was about 25 feet long and just as deep, so she jumped off and I made my way around it but there was a pretty steep bank I had to drive up. I’v had the 4 wheeler for over 10 years and I knew what she was capable of so I gassed it and up she came. the front wheel climbed up a small birch sapling and it didn’t break instead it flipped the bike over and it landed on top of me, so I’m sliding down this pretty steep bank with my bike completely upside down on top of me and my wife was screaming. The bike came to a stop and Shannon was in panic mode. She wouldn’t stop screaming long enough for me to get the words out that I was OK, she saw me wave to her and she came running she only had to put a bit of weight on the side of the bike and it rolled off, I was more concerned that the bike had stalled, and we were about 15 KM from the truck. she thought different, she made me call it a day and we made our way back to the truck. She kept going on about Christmas and the kids and how I was dumb to even try it. OH WELL.

19. What do you like about geocaching? What keeps you going?

I like the people and the events, always good stories and good people, they always talk about caches they did and that you should go for it, or you will prob like it, and before you know it you have the next 3 caching trips planed.

20. Besides geocaching, what other things do you like to do?

Hunting, fishing, 4 wheeling anything to do with outside, I love snow shoeing, and taking the kids caching. I love taking the Harley out for a rip on nice days, hanging out with my family every chance I can.

21. What question did you expect us to ask but didn’t. What is the answer?

Since I came in second in last years Come out and play, If I plan on playing again this year? And the answer is I don’t know yet the tasks just came out and I put so much effort in last year and spent so much time away completing tasks I don’t know if I want to do that again.

Also I love power trails, and the remaining CT caches are just a matter of time before I get them, and there will most likely be a cache trip to Nevada in the near future.

Interview Date : May 29th

Caching Name : milosheart

Real Name : Gwen & Terry LeBlanc

1. How did you become involved in geocaching. When did you start?

My sister and her late boyfriend showed us what geocaching was in August 2007 but it wasn’t until March of 2008 that we took it up ourselves to spend time with her after his death.

2. How did you choose your caching name?

When we started caching we each had our own accounts/names. Terry was Frogger57 and I was milosheart. Milo was a nickname of Terry’s. He logged his first 19 caches then gave up. He loves to go caching, loves the driving, travelling, meeting fellow cachers, searching and finding but could care less about the logging, planning, numbers, etc. He doesn’t know how to use the GPS and has no desire to learn, doesn’t have a clue what GSAK is, nor care. I love him more for just going with me, blindly sometimes! LOL So we just continued on using my original account and became team milosheart.

3. How many caches have you found so far?

1815, so far.

4. What brand/type of GPS do you use?

Oregon 300

5. What programs/software or hardware (PDA/laptop/phone) do you use to make caching easier?

We use GSAK.

6. What type of cache do you prefer seeking – traditional, multi, puzzle, virtual?

Our favorites are traditionals and Earthcaches. We rarely do puzzles or multis, they take too much time and brainpower that we just don’t have! LOL We figure when we’ve found everything else we’ll do all the puzzles/multis.

7. Which caches were the most challenging – physically/mentally? Why?

We’ve been to the event at Fundy every year and there is always at least one cache that is a killer physically. There’s a cache near Fredericton GC9522 Volcano by Dusty Walker that, while not the most difficult physically, was hard on our heads. We tried 3 different times to find it with no luck. We just could not find it. Other cachers kept finding it in between our DNFs; newer cachers! Grrrr. We finally found it on our 4th try after a quick search with eebee and kayakerinme.

8. Do you have a favorite or favorites among the Maritime caches that you’ve found?

Proposal Falls (GC289A6), On The Way To Mount Douglas (GCKJ8R) and Parlee Brook Natural Amphitheatre (GCVVPH). All were great treks to amazing places with great groups of friends….what geocaching is all about to us.

Do you have a favorite in a nearby Province?

Have to say the first one in Canada, GCBBA.

9. What’s the most unusual thing that you’ve ever found in a cache?

Nothing too unusual, just a spider that scared the poop out of me at GCVC5Z (thanks, Sporty!)

10. What are your current caching goals? Is there a certain cache that you can’t wait to do?

No major goals, just to keep on enjoying caching, we’ll hit the next milestone when we hit it. Caches we can’t wait to do – The Eye of the Needle, the first in NB GC760, some more of the waterfall caches in the area….that’s a start.

11. How many caches have you placed? Do you have a current hiding goal?

44 hides, of which about 21 are events. No hiding goal.

12. What advice would you give someone that wants to place a cache?

Find enough first to know what makes a good cache, what makes a good container, what makes a cache interesting.

13. How often do you go caching?

We try to get out at least once a week but life has a way of changing that. In the summer and fall we cache more. We tend to cache mostly on weekends and we usually plan our vacations around geocaching.

14. What advice would you give a beginning geocacher?

Have fun! Go to events to meet other cachers and listen to their stories. Ask questions, the caching community here in Fredericton is more than willing to help out newbies. Read the knowledge books and guidelines for hides. Read the forums of whatever website you read.

15. Do you collect geocoins? Of the ones that you’ve collected, which is your favorite?

We have some. Faves would be our Track Your World Marble, Landsharkz 4 pce totem set, our 1000th find coin.

16. What type of gear do you carry with you on your caching trips? What’s in your geopack?

Baggies, logs, cache repair stuff, batteries, First Aid Kit, bug spray, small notebook, toilet paper, latex gloves, flashlight, more batteries, a couple of inhalers, and a bunch of other stuff.

17. What is your most memorable caching experience?

Last August we took 2 weeks and flew to Calgary then, after visiting Drumheller, drove from Calgary to Canmore and Banff, then up to Jasper, back down through the Rockies to Vancouver and over to Victoria caching all the way. We didn’t get a massive amont of caches but we saw some amazing, incredible places and we came home feeling blessed for seeing so much of this beautiful country. Our most memorable single experience would have to be our recent trek to Proposal Falls or our trek to Parlee Brook Natural Amphitheatre in March of 2009.

18. What is your best caching story?

Too many to pick just one. Every cache is a story and we enjoy every single one of them!

19. What do you like about geocaching? What keeps you going?

We like the places caching takes us, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the parts of our city/province/country we probably would not see otherwise. We like the exercise, the friendship, the events, the travel, being outdoors and just about everything about caching except the BUGS.

20. Besides geocaching, what other things do you like to do?

We both love music. Terry loves hockey (particularly the Habs), NASCAR and football (the Vikings). I enjoy most sports, cooking and I took up gardening but geocaching takes up most of our weekends so my flower gardens suffer. LOL I do make sure we get the vegetable garden in though!

21. What question did you expect us to ask but didn’t. What is the answer?

None that we can think of.

Interview Date : August 11, 2011

Caching Name : kmac85

Real Name : Krista MacKenzie

1. How did you become involved in geocaching. When did you start?

I started in the fall of 2009. It was October and it was a super nice day out, and I had been sitting inside all day. So I sat there racking my brain on what I could go do that didn’t involve my friends and I driving in circles around town and burning gas (yes, we used to do that…almost nightly…ha) or without me spending money at mall. I had heard of geocaching, but had never done it. So I spent a few minutes and looked it up and then explained it to one of my friends (who has since become starr_shine) and asked her if she wanted to go try one or two, and so off we went near the end of the afternoon with a car GPS, pretty much NO idea what we were doing, and we ended up getting 5 – pretty good considering the circles we walked in. I was hooked pretty quickly.

2. How did you choose your caching name?

My name! In my undergrad they made your university email address out of letters of your name and your birth year, thus making mine kmac85. And so it has just stuck for a lot of different things – including caching! I was thinking afterwards I should have just made my name Krista because for some reason I find it weird when people call me kmac haha So I tried to change it but unfortunately someone has Krista already.

3. How many caches have you found so far?

Currently at 985. ITCHING to surpass at 1000 (and I don’t have a valid reason as to why it hasn’t happened yet haha).

4. What brand/type of GPS do you use?

I have a Garmin Dakota 20 that I bought about a month into caching. My friend starr_shine bought one and I told her she was absolutely crazy for dropping almost $400 after less than a month of caching, and how did she know what we were going through wasn’t just a phase…..and then not even a week later I had the exact same one haha – and I certainly don’t regret it!

5. What programs/software or hardware (PDA/laptop/phone) do you use to make caching easier?

Nothing. I use the geocaching website and a word document. When going on planned trips I pull up a map of the area on the caching website and I plan the most sensible route, road for road. Then in a word document I make a list of the caches in the order we’ll visit them. And I hyperlink the GC# to make for easy logging

6. What type of cache do you prefer seeking – traditional, multi, puzzle, virtual?

All of them! I don’t like one more than the other, but I must say, I guess I’m a nerd and love solving puzzles. I have a document where I have a list of every puzzle in NS – most of them solved for if/when I’m ever in the area. There are some that stump me though. I keep going back and end up frustrated. Maybe one of these days I’ll get them though!

7. Which caches were the most challenging – physically/mentally? Why?

I don’t think I’ve done too many challenging ones actually. The only thing that’s standing out in my mind right now is a day in the summer of 2010 when we hiked High Head out in Wentworth. The hike itself isn’t that bad, and it’s totally worth it from the top, but of course we for some reason did it on a really hot day which was what made it physically challenging. And we were all stupid and didn’t have water haha So we were just very tired and warm.
 As for mentally…some of the puzzles on my list I mentioned above have me pretty mentally exhausted with just trying to solve them!

8. Do you have a favorite or favorites among the Maritime caches that you’ve found?

I can’t really think of any specific favourites at the moment. I must say though, I love 2 Gypsies hides. They come up with some pretty neat hides and containers – VERY creative (and they’re great people!). Doing Canada’s first was a neat experience as well.

9. What’s the most unusual thing that you’ve ever found in a cache?

I don’t think I’ve found anything super unusual. There’s always random things that you’re like “WHY would somebody leave this?” (such as fast food receipts which I’ve seen a few of). Starr_shine said we found some random candy wrapped up in some plastic wrap in one. But nothing crazy that I can remember.

10. What are your current caching goals? Is there a certain cache that you can’t wait to do?

At the start of the summer I set a number of goals for myself for the summer. I can’t wait to pass 1000. I just need to go out and do it – but it seems these days that’s easier said than done. I want to head to Moncton for the coin scavenger hunt, and I also want to finish last year’s NS Provincial Park passport program, as well as this year’s.

11. How many caches have you placed? Do you have a current hiding goal?

7 (although 1 I archived because it kept being muggled). 2 puzzles and 4 traditional. I’ve been wanting to put a multi out but I want to wait until an idea comes to me. I don’t want to just put one out to have it out there.

12. What advice would you give someone that wants to place a cache? What steps do YOU take when placing a cache?

I would say find somewhere interesting. Although mine aren’t all in a crazy unknown spot, to me they’re all nice spots – they’re not just thrown off the side of the road. Whether it’s a quick series around a local pond, or out near my cottage which is my favourite place to be <3 Once I pick a spot I take multiple readings. Then I return a few days later before I submit it for publishing to make sure the coordinates I took actually lead me to the right spot. If they do, I publish. If they don’t, I take another reading and I’ll return a day or two later to check again.

13. How often do you go caching?

Not NEARLY as often as I’d like. I really only have 2 people I go caching with and 1 works a lot. Lately I’ve gone out alone a couple times because I hate not getting out and I’ve started to refuse to let others dictate when I go, but it’s just not the same being alone. I need more cacher friends! haha So if anybody wants company while caching, I’m available! haha

14. What advice would you give a beginning geocacher?

Go with an open mind and don’t get discouraged if you don’t find them right away. I’ve taken quite a few of my friends, some of which told me I’d NEVER get them out to do it and there was “no way they were going to run around the woods to find plastic” and I was able to talk them into trying it, and all of them left saying they’d do it again (sadly they’re only up for a small handful of caches a day and I have all of Truro and area cleared out, and they’re not up for travelling just to cache). But yeah, I would say go into it with an open mind, enjoy the scenery around you, and enjoy your time outside and away from the tv/computer screens. (And enjoy the amazing sleep you’ll get after a day full of being outside in the fresh air and hiking haha)

15. Do you collect geocoins? Of the ones that you’ve collected, which is your favorite?

Not really. I do have one, a iCache coin (iPhone lover – what can I say), that I log from cache to cache with me, but other than that anything I have is just waiting to be sent out. I have sent out 2 in the past and both went missing within a month (although one has recently resurfaced after a year!) and so now I’m discouraged to send out any more It’s sad to me that some people don’t seem to care about other’s trackables.

16. What type of gear do you carry with you on your caching trips? What’s in your geopack?

Usually nothing. In my trunk I do have 2 backpacks though. I have one little one for if I’m going on a hike – I put water in it, and it has bandaids, wet naps, hand sanitizer, replacement logs and baggies, a flashlight and 2 headlights, pens. The other big backpack has basically the same things; some replacement logs and bags, cache containers for if a spot comes to me while I’m out, all kinds of fasteners (bungee cords, string, wire, tape, etc), and some duo-tangs with various things – plain paper, routes, whatever

17. What is your most memorable caching experience?

Oh boy…where to start. The Red Dirt Dash events are certainly on that list. The first year we competed we went hard all day and came up with 76 finds. This year we upped our team and again went hard all day and came up with 121 finds – both excellent days full of laughs and adrenaline.

There’s been a few day long caching trips (up and at the first cache before dawn, and not home until 11 or 12pm) that are pretty memorable. Not the caches themselves, but just the jokes that arise, and the time with friends – sadly one of these trips hasn’t happened in a while.

Other than that, being lost in the woods in Londonderry in the complete dark without flashlights and no path – complete bushwhacking, is certainly pretty memorable – terrifying at the time and we were both almost on the verge of tears trying to find our way back to the car, but we knew if we broke down it would only hinder us. We both ended up pretty scraped and bruised and shaken but we did find the road and made our way back to the car.

K

18. What is your best caching story?

Oh boy. Can I have 2? haha because I have 2 favourites. Being questioned by the police is up there. Myself and 2 friends were out one night in the dark behind the Truro mall in the ditch looking for GC1JJRT and the police van drove by and slowed right down. They then turned around and shone their big spotlight on us. They rolled down the window and we heard “…what are you doing guuuuys?” (totally said in the way you’d talk to a 3 or 4 year old that KNOWS they’re doing something wrong which made it hilarious). We told him we were geocaching and he had no idea what it was. We described it to him and he just looked at us as if we were nuts and said ok and drove away. Not too long after that the Gypsies set up a multi in town in which part of it includes going into the Police Station 
 Another story that I love was doing GC22WR2. We were in the trees looking, and an employee from a nearby store STORMED out of the store and let me tell you, he looked like he was on a mission for sure. I thought for sure by the determined look on his face he was going to be upset with us being outside of the store and tell us to get lost. Well, once he approached us he said “Can you PLEASE tell me WHAT you are doing?!? I see people out here almost every day and I have NO idea what is going on!” He looked extremely confused and so I put the poor guy out of his misery and told him what we were doing. He said he had asked others in the past and had been told everything from “looking for tree fungus” to “looking for a double beaked woodpecker”. We died laughing. He told us he would sleep easy that night knowing why people were constantly rummaging around outside of his work and his face relaxed and he headed back in to work. From then on, between the 4 of us that were there, an inside running joke of us being “Tree Doctors” formed (and actually because our team name for the first year we competed in the Red Dirt Dash).

19. What do you like about geocaching? What keeps you going?

I started to like it because it was cheap and fun. It got me outside rather than just sitting in the house, and it allowed me to spend time with friends without us going out to eat/to the movies…aka spending money – now it’s gas money but that’s doable (if only gas would go majorly down in price though huh?).
 I LOVE the satisfaction of making the find. As much as difficult finds DRIVE me crazy, the satisfaction of saying or hearing “FOUND IT!” is awesome. That to me is the big thing. I also love that it gets me outside. I don’t think I’ve spent so much time outside since I was a little kid.

20. Besides geocaching, what other things do you like to do?

I love travelling (wish I could be a professional traveller! haha), I’m a BIG Hanson fan and I’ve seen them in concert every year since 2005 (with the exception of 2006 in which they didn’t tour) and so that involves a lot of travelling since they don’t ever come close to the maritimes. I love, love, LOVE hockey (go Habs go), I like spending time with my friends and family, music, reading, wakeboarding, photography, and I actually love my job; teaching elementary

21. What question did you expect us to ask but didn’t. What is the answer?

Hmm maybe “have you ever gotten your vehicle stuck while caching?” haha and to that I answer, yes, and twice in the same day at that! Starr_shine and I were out in Wallace back in January 2010. We were headed down a road and realized we didn’t want to be headed down that road. So since we were in the middle of nowhere I pulled a U turn. Weeeellllll, I kind of overshot/everything was covered in snow and I didn’t realize what I was doing annnnd we got stuck in the ditch. Starr_shine got out and started to push and we tried everything we could to get the car out. Then a truck came along and stopped and picture the creepiest old man you can picture with this little stub of a cigarette hanging out of his mouth getting out of this beaten up truck hahah Well, he had a rope in the truck and told us he’d pull us out. He hooked the rope on and pulled away. The rope snapped JUST as we got far enough to keep going in reverse. If I hadn’t of kept going in reverse I would have slid right back down. I JUMPED out of the car and gave this old man the biggest hug of life haha I believe I even said something along the lines of “I know I don’t even know you at all but I feel compelled to give you the biggest hug ever!” (Likely made his day….*shudder*). So off we went on our merry way to continue caching annnnnd not even half an hour later we were stuck again. This time, not on a main road – we pulled off on this little area on a back road. The snow looked like it was packed…yeah no, not the case at all. We sunk….hardcore. We pushed and pushed and pushed for an hour. We tried just about everything. We tried digging out around the tires, tried to put rubber boots under the tires to grip (yes rubber boots, I don’t know what we were thinking), took the car mats out of the car and tried to put them under the tires to give the tires something to grip, and we even saw part of a broken fence nearby that we went over and broke the rest of the way to see if the wood would do anything hahah. We had no cell service but in the right area we could get 1 bar. So we tried multiple times to call back to Truro to get help. Starr_shine called her dad (the person we could think of with a big truck) who went to get gas and then was going to head out to get us. Annnnd we managed to get ourselves out. Thankfully we laughed throughout the entire experience!

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