Geocaching Adventures: Niagara Falls

Tuesday was a busy day for me. I started the morning with a walk around Queenston Heights, then after lunch I toured a ghost town, and then to finish off the day I headed to Niagara Falls to explore one of the worlds natural wonders.

I also had some geocaching business to take care of.

I have been to the falls many times  - my first date with my wifey was partly at the falls, and we've been there many times since - but visiting  the falls itself have always been a secondary activity, and I didn't get a lot of time to simple sit and take them in.  So Niagara Falls seemed like a great location to end my day of wandering.

First to business.  I had picked up a travel bug a few weeks ago at an event.  The bug was a brass looking anchor with Niagara Falls Canada written on it (odd, since it was released in California, but who am I to judge?).

The goal of the bug is to travel to boats, light houses, and places that have monuments with anchors.  Even tho it didn't mention water falls, I knew I was heading to the bugs namesake, so I figured I should take it with me.  I checked the bug into the Earth Cache at the falls, and took this photo -->

My duty to the travel bug taken care off I then found the Tim Hortons and got an Ice Cappuccino (aka liquid crack for Dave), sat down beside the falls, and took in the scenery.

Once I was refreshed from my delicious beverage I moved on and went down the Niagara River a mile or so to find the most visited traditional cache in Ontario (according to the cache description)  Foundations:  Ghosts Of The Clifton.  The description also says that the chances of meeting fellow cachers while doing this cache is high as a result.

The cache is in an out of the way courtyard that is easy to miss by tourists.  I arrived and had the place to myself.  I quickly found the cache, and sat down  on a nearby rock to open it.  As I sat I noticed a family enter the area, the mom had the tell tale signs of a geocacher (Walking slowly, GPS looking device in one hand, intensely interested only in objects that could hide things).  I put the cache behind my back.

When she got close enough and caught my eye, I showed her my GPS.  She laughed and asked if I had found the cache yet.  That is when I pulled the container out and showed it to her.  We talked for a bit, and then they moved on.  I had to wait another 5 minutes or so to replace the cache as some proper muggles came by as I was signing the log.

Eventually everything was placed back as it should be, and I headed across the street to the Hard Rock Cafe for a beer and poutine for desert.  Afterwards I drove back home.

It was a wonderful end to a great day of exploring and caching.  Here are some more pics from Niagara Falls.

I added this life rule after today: Any adventure that includes a natural wonder of the world doesn't suck.