This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.
Living in NB, one of the few things we have here is a presence of virtual caches. For those unfamiliar with virtuals, these are a non-container type of cache that were retired some time ago. The idea with them is that you are brought to an interesting place where a physical cache could not be placed for whatever reason. In many cases, virtuals would bring you to very interesting or odd places that you would never have known existed.
As part of my travels, I usually try and pick up a cache or two while I am on the road. I typically seek out virtuals and webcam caches as these are types that are very rare in our area. Given that these can no longer be listed, it’s interesting to be able to go to places that do have them and see what people have listed as virtual caches.
In a recent trip to London, I found an interesting trend. Instead of just having a typical virtual where you go somewhere and take a photo or send trivia answers, the virtuals actually had you going to multiple locations. With limited amount of time, I didn’t get a chance to do many of those but I did do a few. Of them, the one shown in the photo to the left here was probably one of my faves. This particular cache is located at the Royal Observatory and is where the prime meridian is located. The line you see in the photo divides the east from the west.
Geocaching takes us to many different places but it’s interesting to see how even caches that don’t have a physical container can still be quite something. Pretty much all of the virtuals I have been to have had either some historic or other significant purpose behind them and were definitely worth the trip.
Unfortunately, due to the abuse of virtuals, they can no longer be listed which is why I suspect they are so popular amongst cachers.
In NB alone, let alone all of Atlantic Canada, there are few virtuals to be found. I’ve done the Albert Mines cache and a few of the first post caches but outside of that, virtuals are few and far between. If you have the chance to snag these, it’s best to do them before they end up archived. Although they require no maintenance, virtuals have been known to get archived from time to time.
Have you been to any virtual caches? If so, which ones did you enjoy the most?
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