FAD?

What is FAD? In short FAD is the only geocaching Mega Event in Sweden, FAD stands for Fumble After Dark and the event has evolved into it's current form over the years (next year (2012) will be the 10th incarnation of the Event!).

We decided to go this Mega Event after returning home from the Mega Event in Catalunya, our friends in Lhasa_runner decided to join in on the fun and as usual we pushed the envelope somewhat by not staying the night but rather going back and forth to the west coast of Sweden in the same day.

We left rEDdOG base at 0600 hours and headed south west towards Floda/Lerum, we arrived just in time for the inaguration of the event where we met some new and some old friends.

After this we decided to head out and grab something to eat and then log some caches in the area before heading back to FAD for the evening activities. We found some really nice hides and some not as good and annoyingly enough we ended up with a string of DNF just before heading back to the event, that didn't exactly lift the spirits but we hung in there and joined the massive queue to get our GPSes loaded with the necessary waypoints forh the nightly activities. 

After securing the waypoints we headed out into the dark to experience what FAD is all about, it didn't start well, our Garmin Oregon hadn't gotten any waypoints so we had to rely on the GPSMap 60 of lhasa_runner which was less than optimal since the waypoints loaded into those had no more information than the coordinates and name... No more information. However we pressed on and managed to complete one of the sectors (sector C), after this sector we decided to head for home, feeling slightly disappointed in FAD. The organization was really good, but still we couldn't help feeling that something was lacking. with this said I think there is a good chance of us going again for the 10 years super jubilee but that is a year away and who knows what will happen between naw and then?

A couple of weeks ago I (Markus) had some time over and I thought it might be a good idea to log the cache Försvaret 2 before the winter, the fact that it represented a new Difficulty/Terrain combination for us didn't lessen the interest . Niccet and SaraLu wanted to join in and we headed towards Avesta and the main goal of the day.

We parked the car and debated over what gear to bring, we settled on what we thought would of most use and we didn't miss anything. We really had no idea of what was to come but here is a picture och one of the things we saw.

After logging Försvaret 2 Niccet suggested that we should go to see if we could find the cache Gamla Pumphuset. When geocaching everything is more or less on the way so we decided to have a go at Gamla pumphuset as well.

It didn't take long to find the hide this time and as it turned out we had just enough time for Niccet and SaraLu to have a go at Försvaret RIP before heading home.

Thanks to Niccet and SaraLu for the assistance and good company on this trip!

So, we decided to get some mom-and-dad time alone without the kids (basically for the first time in 7.6684932 years). And since we have one common interest (haha... no not that ): geocaching, it was an easy decision to plan a geocaching trip to Calella and the Mega Event there (7/10-9/10)

The first part of the trip - actually being able to get away from home (is that a cough, a touch of fever, the first sign of stomach illness?) - was successful (yihaaa!) and the trip to the airport (Skavsta) was comfortable with just two short geocaching stops on the way. And then it hit me: I don't like flying, but with the help of a book and a hand to hold at take off and landing that part of the trip was also survivable

And then - we were there, in Spain, in the relative warmth, with the sandy soil, the hills and mountains. Lovely!!

We went straight to the hotel, and in the hotel lobby it was even more obvious we were no longer in Sweden. Flamenco and football (soccer) at the same time (the men were turned one way, and the women the other)! 

 We couldn't complain about our room that had all the necessities (including a spa bath), and really... it's not often we can watch the Mediterranean from our private terrace

On friday night we took a short walk to the first of all of the events that would take place during the weekend. Surprisingly enough our gps led us to an "October Fest"-tent, where we signed the log book and tried to find some fellow geocachers, but gave up rather quickly since we were tired, the music was very loud, and none of us has ever learned to like beer

Saturday and Sunday we spent mostly at the event site registering, looking, going to an event or an event or another event. But we also took long-long walks up a hill and down a hill, and up and down (a bit whiny ehh?)

We met a lot of people, even some Swedes (so yes, we got to practice speaking swedish ). Most memorable was our climbing-up-and-down-the-mountain-efforts together with bubbelfia & godatider - where we shared a lot of laughs (thank you!! )

All in all we had a great time! Markus getting to be geo-social with other gps carrying nerds (well, yeah me too ) and me looking at the soil, the trees, the sand, the water (the wonders of nature!). We were thinking we might go back next year, but until then we have the memories and the pictures to keep us company

 We're definitely going back to Spain some day anyway. Perhaps then we'll even bring the kids

This last weekend we ended up in Tallinn a bit of a surprise since we missed the event in Tallinn last weekend but as it happened the company I work for had booked a conference trip to Tallinn a week after our initial plan to go there. First I was a bit annoyed that we would be going to the same place we were going to just one week earlier, as it happen though Max had a stomach illnes last weekend so we couldn't go to Tallinn, this meant that this weekends trip to Tallinn was quite a bit more welcome .

Have you ever experienced the feeling of going on a guided tour around a city (on foot), passing lots of geocaches not being able to log them as that would delay the tour too much since we were on a rather tight schedule? This was really frustrating however it was much easier taking the right way to the different places the day after when I fainally hade the time and oppourtunity to venture out on a short stroll around the city (if you would call a three hour hike up and down the streets, parks and hills of Tallinn as a short stroll ).

Unfortunately there were quite a few hides that couldn't be logged as there were just too many muggles around. On the other hand some of them I was able to log thanks to the many muggles around that took the attention away from what I was doing so I could retrieve and log the caches in private. I think the grand total of logs was 9 which isn't excellent but being just one person in a new city logging caches is a bit harder than when we are able to use the rest of the family as a distraction .

We had gloriuos weather all weekend and I am looking forward to returning to Tallinn in March when our rescheduled trip will take place and this time the whole team will join.

Finally some pictures!

It all started a long time ago when sDsB published the challenge "Challenge #025 - 5 län på ett dygn", at the same time a similar challenge called "10 län på ett dygn" was to be published, it was not to be though as the reviewers at the time thougt that it was more or less impossible to log a cache in that many Swedish states in one day. Even at that time we could not see any problems wirh logging a cache in 10 Swedish states in 24hours, as we had logged a cache in 7 Swedish states in 24 hours by then and that was just from going home from a day caching in Karlsborg. Since then we had mostly forgotten this challenge but last week Jimmy.P stated on Facebook that he was bored, I suggested we'd take a "short" road trip to log some of the Swedish states that we were both missing (Kalmar, Blekinge and Skåne län) and then perhaps go for a few more states "while we were at it", Jimmy.P however bowed out of that proposition and I was left thinking about such a trip. A few days later I contacted lhasa_runner to see if they were interested in a trip where we would log a cache in 14 Swedish states in 24 hours, it turned out they were! The planning could now begin in ernest, routes were plotted, caches selected and so on. By Thursday we had a route plotted and we were set to go. On Friday Maria had an idea and started plotting an alternative route, this new route would enable us to log a cache in 17 Swedish states in one day with a bonus of an extra state if all went well. Late Friday night i left rEDdOG base to meet up wit lhasa_runner in Västerås. We had discussed the alternative route before and still had the possibility to chose between these routes in a relatively late stage of the trip we decided to choose which route to go as late as possible and to base that desicion on how tired we were and so on. So let the trip begin!

We started in Västerås and logged the cache "Åkerman" by Helvite, we had a pretty good idea where to look for this cache and it was a relatively quick find and we could head on to the next cache which is located in Hummelsta and as it happens it is also a cache by Helvite, the cache we had chosen to represent Uppland was "A Screw Loose". Even though this was supposed to be a trick cache to find we were lucky ad found it in a matter of seconds, this trip was getting a good start! With Uppland ready we headed towards Södermanland. Södermanland was to be represented by the cache "Pendlarn", we actually jogged to this cache to save time (that we thought we might need later on in the day). The cache was quickly discovered and we hurried back to the car and headed towards Stockholms län and it's designated cache "Turinge" this one proved to be a little bit trickier as we managed to choose a less than optimal parking and had to walk quite a fair way totally unneccesary as there was ample parking space just by the cache. The cache in it self did not provide that much resistance as we found it almost immediately after reaching the area. We rushed back to car and headed towards Östergötlands län and the cache "TB Motell Strömsfors", this cache was a bit hard to reach but luckily L in lhasa_runner is tall so he managed to get to the cache with no problems at all! We did not see any sign of the cache ower but that may be attributed to the fact that it was around 2:20 in the morning! We headed away into the night, this time we set our sight at the designated cache in Kalmar län "LEK MED FART", we arrived there in what could still be called pitch blackness and hastily made our way towards ground zero, where we found not only the cache but also found out why the cache has the name it has.  It is a quite clever name really.  So which cache and what state would be up next? Any guesses? Well the state is of course Blekinge and the cache is named "Karlskrona Info", after finding this cache we used the facilites at hand and enjoyed tha fact that it was now quite bright out and we could put our flashlights away for a while. The next objective would be Skåne län and a cache named "Trollastenen" this cache was almost found before we even got out of the car so we decided to go for a bonuscache that was quite close by "Maglestenen" which is an Earthcache the requirements for logging stated that you had to approximate the circumference of the rock which was an excellent reason to exercise some , after having our pictures taken at the rock we headed back to the car to drive off to the next cache and the next state. We were now heading towards Kronobergs län and a cache called "LANDMÄRKE Välkommen till Markaryd", just before this cache we had to stop and refuel the car, unknowingly and rather amusingly it later turned out that the exit we took to go to the gas station was the best way to get to the cache as well... We however did not realize this until later when we passed the cache on the motorway, now what? Where's the next exit? Do we have a backup cache in this area? The answers were: I don't know where the next exit is and no we do not have a backup cache here... After what seemed like an eternity an exit appeared (actually this was only a km or so, so our detour wasn't that long) and we quickly turned around and sped back to the place we just left and drove into the industrial park trying to find a way as close to the cache as possible,  preferably without fencing between us and the cache. Eventually we succeeded in our goal and the cache could be logged! With a newly refuelled car we went back on our quest for another state. This time it was the cache "Stolpodlingen" that had been chosen to represent Hallands län, trying to find somewhere to park was a bit of a chellenge here but eventually we managed to find a nice spot not too dar from the cache, the cache itself was one of those glass jars my mother used to put jam in when I was young, quite nice even though I personally would not recommend using glass containers as cache hides. Whis state is next I hear you ask! Well as it happens it is Jönköpings län that is next in line, here we had chosen a cache called "Skeppshult Info", the cache was an easy enough find but being allergic to spruce it had some side effects with some blisters and stuff, but hey you can't let that stop you from logging a cache! Now let's continue to the next state which is: Västra Götalands län and which cache had won the lottery here? None other than "Kroksjön", this cache proved to be a bit of a challenge also, it had a hint that meant it could be anywhere in the target area and after a whle we sat down wondering what the heck we were doing it turned out that one of us sat on the cache! Now it was merely a matter of signing the logbook and replacing the hide before heading of to the next cache that as it would turn out wasn't in a new state but just a bonus cache. "Barnasjön TB" seemed like a good place to stretch our legs some again so we stopped here and logged this cache as a bonus, the location was really nice and the hide was quite cute! The next cache for the day was another bonus cache called "Monopolet" a cache that lhasa_runner had tried to locate earlier but it was gone then, now the owner had placed a new hide in it's place and we could easily log it. Now it was finally time for a new state, any guesses? Yes of course it is Värmlands län this time. We had a cache called "Kristinehamn - Runstenen" A cache located just by a rune stone on the outskirts of Kristinehamn, we were now so far ahead of our schedule that we decided to go grab something to eat, this time McDonalds was chosen partly due to speed, partly due to location in comparison to where we were going next. Next up was of course a cache in Örebro län and to represent Örebro län we had chosen a cache called "Alfred #1" this cache was just minutes away from Kristinehamn and we were quickly on our way north towards Dalarna and the cache "Örskogen", this was a really easy find in a kind of cool location. On our way north we realised that there was a cache "Tallsjön" that was almost on our route that hadn't yet been found and as we figured we had some time to spare we set out on a quest to see if we could get an FTF on this trip as well, after a couple of km on a gravel road that seemed to get smaller and smaller (surely you know the feeling) we came up on this wonderful fishing/grilling/picnic spot in the middle of nowhere where of course there were a couple of families having a picnic when we turned up, they were really friendly and nice so we chatted for a while, located the cache, it was an FTF! headed back to the car and drove off into the afternoon. We were now heading for the designated cache in Gävleborgs län "RV 45" , this was an easy find and it was not long before we were on the road again. The next cache was "Välkommen till Sveg 1" and for those of you that know your Swedish geography that means that we are now in Jämtlands län, the hide was just as easy to find as we had hoped and we now headed for a gas station again. After refueling both the car and lhasa_runner we headed towards the next state, Västernorrland. Here we actually started with a bonus cache, "Äntligen i Haverö 3" a cache we discovered by chance when I stopped at an information sign to see if we could find some info on Medelpad, we then said that if this hade been at home there would be a cache here, there wasn't but 200, further forward there was so we had to log that as well. All we needed to do now was to find a spruce to take a picture of it with our GPS so we could log the virtual cache "Landskpsblommor, nord" as you might imagine finding a spruce in Medelpad isn't realy a challenge so that task was easily accomplished. Now it was time to log the last of the planned caches of the day "Strucken" here we had to search for quite a while before we found the cache. Now we could relax, or so we thought... This is when M in lhasa_runner says that if we log one more typ of cache today they would have a new personal best in 5 different types of caches logged in one day, ok, is there an easy multi cache on the way home? As it happens there was  so all we had to do now was to head for home and make a slight detour to log this multi cache, as we approached the first stage of the multi cache (at 23:40 at night) it had gone completely dark outside and of course there was a couple out walking their dog just where we wanted to be to see the clues we needed. We past the place and turned back just to discover that they had actually moved away from the area so we could now look at the clues undisturbed. A quick calculation later and we were on our way to the last find of the day. Our long quest to log a cache in as many Swedish states as possible had come to an end, we managed to log at least one cache in 18 different states, 25 caches in total, 5 different types of caches, 1 FTF and one STF a pretty good result in our books.

I will add pictures later.

YES!

We managed to bag an FTF late last night which means that we now have managed to log at least one FTF every month for 24 months in a row! We would like to say thank you to all the  cache owners out there that continue to publish new hides so that we have had a chance of keeping this streak going for so long!

Stay tuned, there might be a challenge cache or two on it's way out soon! Nothing is finished yet though but who knows?

I also bought a new pair of shoes yesterday (I'm sure this is the reason for me bagging the FTF last night  ), it is a pair of KEEN Newport H2 (sort of a sandal with a bit more protection for the toes than normal). I am really pleased with them, the only drawback so far is that they are a bit on the heavy side for a pair of sandals, but hey I am a heavy guy so I suppose it is only fitting .

And finally a picture taken during last week whilst looking for a cache.

//Markus

Just thought I'd write a short recap of what has happened in July.

After a slow start the month picked up nicely in the end, in the beginning of July we managed to be Stf a couple of times rather frustrating when you are trying to keep the streak going (one FTF/calender month). Now at the end of the month we can sum up the month to 13 FTF and a couple of stf and then some other interesting caches. 

Our first FTF in July was Spåret #2: Dingtuna where we really thought we would have a good chance at FTF and as it turned out we did have a goot chance , on our way back after logging the cache we thought we heard someone moving in the woods behind us but we couldn't see anything so we headed back to the car, once at the car Karmansbo drove in to the parking lot, we followed her a bit towards the cache in order to show her a short cut  that we had discovered when we were going back towards the car.  As we were entering the car Trollteamet came out of the woods and we had a brief chat before heading in different directions, this is when the day started to get interesting! Karmansbo and team rEDdOG decided to have a go at the mystery cache that GP-Esset released at the same time. So off we went to the fake coordinates, considering the terrain rating we decided that some gear might be needed som to any joggers out there we must have looked quite interesting, two persons wearing flip-flops and casual clothing going around the jogging track whilst carrying a telescopic ladder . Well it turned out that this mystery cache was clearly not a field pussle so we went home and karmansbo went to work.  At home we started to analyze the information and it did not take long to find some clues and a pattern started to emerge. Later the same day we thought we had an idea of how to obtain the last clue we needed so we headed towards Västerås once more. On the way there the phone rang and it was Karmansbo that told us that there was no need to go to another of the recently published caches as there were lots of people there logging it already. She then agreed to accompany us on the quest of the final clue, after finding that clue we were heading towards the coordinates we had produced with the clues now had when our phones chirped announcing another new cache being published in the vincinity, the decision was easy! Of course we had to try! It took a while to locate the cache but it was well worth the effort as we were rewarded with another FTF! Once again we headed towards the cache "Förortsdjungeln", it didn't take long locating it this time around! Thank you GP-Esset for creating an interesting series and an entertaining mystery cache!

The next "adventure" came just a couple of days later as I was in Västerås looking at Power Big Meet when the phone chirped again with the announcement of a newly published cache, this time around it was a night cache in Eskilstuna, so I went home got some flashlights, prepped the GPS and headed out again. Once in Eskilstuna I perked the car at the given parking coordinate and headed towards the start of the trail, this is when our flashlights really "shone their magic" I could see several steps of the reflective trail straight away enabling me to skip some parts of the track whilst staying on the footpath. On the way back I saw a light some distance away, figuring it had to be fellow geocachers I waited for them to arrive and it was Camo-Christine and Blomski that were rummaging around the woods. We had a long chat before heading home to bed. 

We decided to take a short geocaching trip in Södermanland just to spend some time with the kids and such and as I thought I should have some pics in this post as well, here we go:

First a couple of pictures taken at the cache Utsikten 2 and Djupanboda Slåtterlada:

A couple of weeks later Jimmy.P had "threatened" to release some caches, to our surprise quite a few of them were in our area so we just "had" to have a go at them . So a big thank you to Jimmy.P for extending his already nice series "Tidövägen"!

A week or so later I was talking to Zacke.se and we just happened to talk about the cache "Hunted" and we quickly decided that we wanted to have a go at it, quickly some loose plans were drawn which also included a go at another cache " MASTER QUEST 2000". These were two excellent caches, sadly I cannot talk to muck about them as it would spoil the fun for you out there that haven't yet logged these caches. 

We have also decied to go to a couple of events this fall, if nothing happens we will be attending "A Day in Tallinn" and the Mega event "Mega Event Catalunya 2011" we might be attending "FAD" as well but that has yet to be decided...

Slightly ironic the decision to go to the mega event in Catalunya helped us out big time this weekend as I decided to see if there were any mysteries in Calella where the event is held. As it happened one of the mysteries there had the same solution as a couple och caches published in Eskilstuna this weekend! This enabled us to have a slight head start with the solutions, sadly though I cannot talk much abouth them either without spoiling the fun for you guys out there!

Also we got to use the boat a couple of times this month this last time I took a boat ride with karmansbo in order to log the cache "Gädda", it seems our effort to log this cache was slightly easier than that of the FTF gang 

Over and out for this time!

ps. Sorry for the long post withjust a few pictures but there were no useable pictures of this months adventures that did not reveal to much of the mysteries! .ds

To go geocaching all you need is a gps or a smartphone, so it's really a low equipment sport/game and anyone can join in. We have even seen examples of people finding geocaches just by the help of free online map services (for instance google maps). It can all be done quite inexpensively!

But after a while something happens, doesn't it? You want to be able to find (and hide) geocaches in all possible weathers and terrains, don't you? Why let a bit of water (=a large lake), a height (=a rock wall), a tree (=the highest pine or spruce in the country) or a dark tunnel (=a cave, drainpipe, abandoned building or any old creapy place)

After almost two years of geocaching we have been able to stock up on the bare essentials!  Let's just go back to where it all started!

0. Clothes
You have to be able to go out in all types of weather, don't you? Rainwear, winter clothes (we love our balaclavas by the way, there's nothing better when it's -30), sun hats (no, not yet...) and so on. And all types of terrain should be conquered, shouldn't it? Then really good outdoor clothes is needed (shoes, pants, jackets... the works!), clothes in green (everyday hunter-style), beige (desert hunter style?) or gray (pavement hunter?) is most common (I found one pair of screaming red outdoor pants once, but one wouldn't want to stick out to much, would one?). When there is a geocaching event in town, you can really tell who's a geocacher just by the clothes!! (Sorry, it's true!)

Sometimes you go geocaching spontaneously and try to walk through woodlands in all sort of clothes. This summer I found a cache wearing my party shoes. Not recommended, but the cache was found anyway!

1. Flashlights (Darkness)
Yes, we have ridiculously many flashlights, but you've got to, don't you? And they have to shine very brightly and very far, and not cost you an arm, a leg and a car. We've bought most of our flashlights at dealextreme.com, and they're all still working (even the one that's been out swimming with Markus one late-late night)!

The flashlights have been described earlier in this blog, I won't bother you with more info (or should I ask Markus to... no, not today )

2. Ladders (Height)
Some people put geocaches reeeaaally high up. You can try to jump, but that gets tiring after a while. What you really need is a ladder, isn't it? A ladder that can be carried sometimes a really long way. Telescopic ladders is the geocachers choice (at least in our neck of the woods), and it should be as long as possible (what else...?)

3. Fishing equipment (Some water)
No, we don't like fishing, but we have some fishing equipment, you've got to... don't you? If there's just some water you'll need rubber boots. If there's a bit more water you need wading boots. Wading boots are not very sexy, are they? But good.... I think? Unless you get water in them... then they're really rubbish

Fishing rods are also useful, to reach high... not necessarily in water

4. Canoes and boats (More water...)
We borrowed my brothers canoe last autumn - and he hasn't gotten it back yet. He will soon... eventually...  One thing should be told about canoes: they can tip over (especially if you try to land in them after having rapelled down a wall) - so make sure everything in the canoe is securely fastened as to prevent things from "getting lost" (in the middle of the night, in a bottomless hole filled with water...). Just last week we bought another canoe (green) to get our hands on a cart for the canoe we've borrowed (one of the things that got lost). Cart aquired, canoe sold... so now we only have one canoe available again ("one is all you need really...")

As we like buying things that are on sale (who doesn't? ) we are now the owners of a new inflatable boat with an electrical motor (Did we need it? Of cooouuurse we did...? )

5. Rapelling & climbing (Much higher)
If you really want to buy stuff (what we, no!?), what you need to do is go higher... higher... and higher, and then (if you're afraid of heights) try to not look down. Climbing and rapelling is the mother-of-all equipment swallowers. You need, ehm... let's see, ropes, ropes, metal thingies, ropes  (be afraid, be very very afraid). A picture might tell it all, don't you think?

6. Other things (for fun?)
Of course there are several tools (pliers, multi tools, grip/claw things) that has been bought and used (at least once?). One thing we haven't used (for geocaching) yet is this (sorry, don't know the name for it in swedish or english )

Is it enough now, how much do you really need? I don't know, if there's a sale in town you never know what can be purchased to use for geocaching. We just can't help it. Actually, perhaps there should be a warning sign somewhere: "if you like buying things just for fun, this game can be hazardous to the state of your finances"

Anyway - now you have been warned

G'night!!

Well yes it would seem like a new Blog entry is due (and has been for quite a while...) Lots of things have happened since the last entry, we have so far managed to keep our streak of FTF's going and are now up to 23 months in a row with an FTF which we are quite pleased with.  However our run of one cache a day ended i late November due to several different reasons one of the most important being lack of time. This has left us with a bit of a gap of found dates in the middle of winter that we need to take care of the coming season...  We have slowly started geocaching again after a long break and we are looking forward to upping the pace of geocaching somewhat again . Of course we have been logging a few caches on and off during the winter as well, one of the most memorable being "Samurai" where we went on a field trip with our good friends lhasa_runner and Campanulas, sadly time prevented us from actually logging it together but the most of the leg work was done in good company! Another really memorable cache that we haven't mentioned before is "Försvunen: Brukspatro G Almstedt", if you haven't logged this cache yet we can highly recommend having a go at it!

That is all for now, but rest assured that there will be another entry soon!

... geocacher?

Our kids have never heard the original song "Walk like an Egyptian", so for them the text really goes "Walk like a geocacher"... including the New Zealand way of pronouncing geocacher. It really brings a smile to our faces... again and again!

Sometimes when your out hunting for a cache with the "use stealth" attribute, you tend to walk around looking like a complete geocaching moron... not unlike the characters in the "Walk like a geocacher" YouTube clip. After a while you tend to start singing or whistling the "Walk like..."-song as well. I'm not really sure it helps you blend in though..

A special "have fun!"-wish to all you FAD2010-participants! Sorry we couldn't come  
We're hoping next year will bring more "just mom an dad"-time, and that we will then be able to come!!

And for the rest of you: hope you'll have a wonderful weekend, whatever you're doing!