Current at 11/6/2011 (Online waypoint URL) You have already found this cache! Master Index    Nearest Caches O' Canada in the Snow by Kat Ballou (1/2) (Archived) N49� 50.801  W97� 03.248 (WGS84) UTM  14U   E 639893  N 5523400 Use waypoint: GC18BGC Size: Small    Hidden on 1/3/2008 In Manitoba, Canada Difficulty:     Terrain:                             This is an easy winter friendly hide. Some bushwacking required. My GPS was + or - 3 metres. Winter is the best time to hunt this cache as the ground is frozen not flooded and there are trails in the woods. Watch for a small black dog with no tail as Kat Ballou loves to hike in the woods with her owners.

Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)

4/26/2008 by Kabuthunk
I had figured at about 8:20 in the evening that my caching for the day had come to an end. We were driving back from my parent's place in Landmark, and the sun was starting to creep down into the tree-line. Driving up the 59 highway, I pulled into the turn lane to get into Bishop Grandin. Glancing at my GPS, I discover something. What's this? A cache in this area of town that hasn't been found by me? A new cache? SCORE!

A quick check for traffic, and I swung out of the turn lane to go up to Capston street (or whatever that street is just slightly North of Bishop Grandin). This particular action got the reaction of "Wha? What the hell are you doing?" This was followed with the response of "Geocache nearby". She knows that this is the only explanation needed for virtually any unusual, erratic, or generally atypical behaviour on my part.

So pulling down Capston(?) street, I follow the GPS's commands for following the road that leads to the cache. A bit of zig-zagging and circling about later, and we find ourselves in one of those dead-end residential roads with a round-about at the end. No path through means turning around. With the sunlight waning, I go back from where I came, checking if it's perhaps accessible from that park by the manmade lake. Doesn't appear to be. On the verge of giving up for lack of sunlight, my wife suggests going down another street. Instantly after turning down the street, I knew we were on the right track. Nothing but open forest to the left. Well... there's houses behind the forest, but you get the idea.

Swinging around so we could park, I hop out and head towards the cache. At which point I discover what would become the most difficult aspect of the cache. Getting to it .

It seems that at this time of year, the vicinity is less than dry. After pondering my way in for a minute, I find a series of stepping spots in which I could keep my feet dry. There were a few points that were getting kinda close to "booter" status... but I managed to pull back in time. Yay for CAE-approved leather shoes! Nice and thick material, so nothing soaks through.

Walking along a few thin fallen trees, I had to improvise once or twice, grabbing a fallen branch, laying it from where I was to a higher point in the middle of the lake, and from there moving it again to get all the way across. Worked quite well, if I do say so myself. Yay for having good balance, too .

Upon reaching the coordinates, it took very little time to locate the cache. Intriguing method though. I'd be a tad worried about it being seen by unknowning bystanders and looted, but I guess from the angle that it's at, the only reason anyone would go there is FOR the geocache.

But one chainmail ball later, I found my second challange... getting back. I couldn't seem to locate my original branch I had crossed with, so I headed a bit further south and eventually found an area that could be easily walked across. A little more time, but a lot less effort. Ain't it always the case... the way back is infinitely easier than the way there .

Upon returning to the car, my wife tells me that she saw someone with a dog walking around in the forest, and thought it was me being harrassed by said dog. I told her I didn't see a thing in there, so we disregarded it. Upon reading the cache description though, I'm wondering if perhaps that was Kat Ballou himself (or herself... not sure with the name "Kat") that she had spied. In either case... not sure how I missed seeing anything... but I tend to be oblivious sometimes .

Thanks again for the cache. I think this is my first forest-cache of non-winter, so it was kinda branchy and open. I imagine it could be very scenic in summer when all the leaves and plants are green .

Took: Nothing
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball