Buoys & Views

Over the past couple of days Just Leafy and I did a couple of caches that deserve a bit of recognition. 
You see, we have been working to fill in the cumulative 366 day calendar in our geocacher stats so that we can complete the requirements for a specific challenge cache.  Sadly I do not remember the challenge cache's name.  But I am sure one of my readers will contact me and refresh my memory.

Anyway, the first cache we did was one that had been on our radar for some time now.  This cache is "GC11W1K - High Wire Act".  We have talked about getting this cache every time we drove past it going up island, but its placement on the Malahat is not convenient.  I know many say they go for it when they are stuck in traffic when the crawl is at a stand still, others just go for it whenever.  But I never liked the idea of either, as you are at the mercy of the traffic actually letting you back in.  So my plan was to just get up super early in the summer so that it is daylight at 5am, head up and park on the shoulder and go for it.  Since there is no traffic at that time, getting back on the road would be a breeze.

Well up we went on 06/26/2013.  For some reason both of us were awake at 4:30am that day, so we went and got coffee and watched a sunrise.  Once that was done we decided this was what we would do next.  As predicted there was no traffic, and we made the 5min walk up to the cache.  We got pretty scratched up and had soaking feet by the time we got to GZ, but the view was worth it.  We took a few pictures and headed on our way.

The next one of mention was a multistage cache called "GCPX82 - Buoys will be Buoys" that we did on 07/03/2013.  We figured this one looked like it could be a nice short easy one to do.  When you are only a week away from your own wedding you need to have the time to get all you need to do done in a day, so short and easy is best.

Before heading out I was able to do the projection from stage one from home, but we stopped there away to take a photo.  Then we drove to the second stage to collect the 4 digit number that was required.  While there snapped another photo (no spoilers included), and headed back to the car to do the basic math to move on to the final.  Once that was done we were on our way.

We arrived as close as we could to the final for parking, and looked at the GPS.  Well it took us to a wall with a big drop, so there was no way we were going to hop that.  So down and around we went, and now the GPS wanted us to wade through a private pond for 60 meters.... Well that wasn't going to happen either.  Standing there stumped as to what we did wrong I happened to spy a friendly face in the distance.  It was Mr. Moss Trooper carrying some wood up some stairs.  I called out to him, and he turned and smiled calling out asking "What brings you to this neck of the woods".  We told him, and we asked if he had done this one before.  It turns out he had, and he pointed it out for us.  Just Leafy went to investigate and there it was.  After signing and returning as found we went over to where their boat was moored and said our hellos to the youngest of the Moss Troopers.  We had to decline his offer for tea, as we had to get out to Esquimalt for me to get my hair cut and a beard trim. 

The last one of mention was one we did today on 07/04/2013.  This was "GC4FBZ6 - Development gone mad...".  We decided to take the drive to this just last night.  Because we had business in Langford that day it would work to drive up and find this cache (You have to head to Shawnigan Lake Rd. to get here), and hit Langford on the way back in after.

There was not much to say about the drive up, except that we got stuck in the annoying summer construction traffic.  But the roadway up to the cache was stunning.  There were some great views and a ton of wildlife to see.  Once we arrived at GZ, the find was quick and easy.. But the view was worth the trip.

We took a couple of quick photos here and headed back down.

Now we only have 10 more caching days to fill in on the cumulative 366 day calendar.  We are very much looking forward to getting this statistical challenge completed.