Thursday was my last day in Canada for this trip. It was also a dark and stormy day - lots of snow, wind, cold, and all the joys that Canadian winters have to offer.
Since I was destined to head back to North Carolina where days like this simply do not exist (much to the delight of the natives), I wanted to get in one last day of geocaching in a proper winter situation.
My sister-in-law, Melissa, decided to join me. This was her first time geocaching, and was excited to go out adventuring.
We went to the Marshall Memorial Forest near Dunnville Ontario. It has miles of hiking trails, and, perhaps more importantly, two unfound geocaches.
The temperature was frosty (14F) with a strong wind bringing the windchill factor closer to 0F. We got 4-5 inches of snow over the past few days, with more still falling (really, its a storm situation that makes even the most adventurous folks think it may be a good time to catch up on the hockey games recorded on their TiVO). Perfect weather for an adventure.
So, long story short, we worked our way down the trails and found our first cache. We both identified the likely hiding spot, and I made the actual grab. We then moved on to the second cache. I spotted the cache first, but I wanted to give her the experience of making a find, so I let her find and retrieve the cache all by herself, as shown in this stunning re-enactment:
Melissas exact words after finding the cache was "I love this! Lets go find some more!".
So we headed off back through the woods. The forest itself has a lot of wooden walkways so folks can avoid slogging through muddy trails, which is highly convenient, tho a little superfluous (since all "mud" is now frozen solid) and dangerous (hard to see where the walkway ends and the drop-off begins, under all the snow). It does do a great job of marking the path.
One last view of the forrest before getting back in the car...
The walk back to the car was across a field, and the wind was getting dangerously cold, and the storm was really picking up, so we decided to get some hot beverages from Tim Hortons and head back to the house. Once we got there we talked geocaching some more, and I looked up some geocaches near where she lives when she's not at her parents place for the holidays. She also said she is going to get her boyfriend out geocaching (tho he doesn't know it yet).
I think she's hooked.
So thats my last dose of Canadian winter caching for a while. I am sad to see it go, but, man alive, is it ever fun.