Geocaching & The Cold

This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.

Here in New Brunswick, we are no stranger to a good winter. As long as there have been people living here there have been people dealing with the snowy and cold winter months. But it seems over the course of the last few years, it’s been a little easier to deal with given we’ve seen more snow than cold temperatures. This year we weren’t so lucky.

Over the course of the last few weeks, perhaps even a month or so, New Brunswicker’s have been host to some of the coldest days we have had this time of year in a long time. -30 degrees doesn’t seem to be so strange these days and with temperatures beginning to warm up a bit, it couldn’t come fast enough. As someone who despises the cold, I can tell you that it’s definitely had an impact on my desire to go geocaching.

A few weeks ago I was in Montreal for the week. They too were hit with some of the very bitter cold but not quite as bad as it was here. Now normally when I travel, I try to pick up a few geocaches here and there as I always find it helps me to see the area and explore regions I might not know about. I found myself that week staying in my hotel and not going very far. In fact, there was a Wherigo geocache that started within walking distance of my hotel, but the cold seemed to keep me away from going to snag it. I did manage to find one cache that week as it was on my way to where I was working.

At a local event, I heard a few cachers talking about how they had ventured out in -25 and -30 degree weather to snag some caches on various trails, but it seemed that more so than ever, folks were taking a bit of a break hoping the weather might improve. These are among the most dedicated cachers as I cannot fathom myself doing much hiking at -30, but alas geocachers are dedicated to their hobby and in many cases are not going to let a little frostbite hold them back.

This year we’ve been fortunate in that there are two contest running to help promote geocaching in the winter. Both the COAP and Battlecache contests have kept people engaged and interested in snagging a cache here and there in an attempt to participate in these contests. I myself have done a few claims on COAP but have to admit, the cold weather has definitely been a factor. I am not a winter cacher and I don’t think I ever will be. I’ve done the Ice Walk several times, and done some winter hiking but for me, those cold bitter temperatures are just too much to deal with. Long before I ever started caching, I disliked the cold. I tolerate it because I love where I live but I’m not happy about it. I may complain about the bugs in the warmer months, but for me personally, I’ll take the bugs over -30 any day.

But I suspect that I am in the minority when it comes to this in our region. More and more I am hearing about others taking the plunge and going out caching in the cold. It does indeed get you out of the house and keep you active. Plus, it keeps you from being bored.

How about you? Are you a winter cacher or are you waiting for spring?