NWOG's Summer Featured Cacher is moonsocket, a cacher from the western part of Norwest Ontario who has not only created caches, but adopted a number of caches around Kenora to keep them running.

1. How did you get your geocaching alias?

   Regretfully, the name is a leftover from my days roaming around in teen-angst. Moonsocket was the name of a homemade recording project by an artist, Chris Thompson, who also played in Eric’s Trip (behind the music…blah, blah, blah). Anyways, in 1994, I was 16 and my parents had just gotten the internet. I needed a nickname for my first email account, so I used the first thing to pop into my head. I have basically used it online forevermore due to laziness, including when I first signed up to the geo-site.

2. What do you do when you're not geocaching?

   Usually, if I’m not geocaching, I’m thinking about geocaching, all aspects of it; what to hide, where to go find, etc. But also, on the side, I raise two toddler boys, teach high school, and now do lots of yard work and plan on cutting lots of wood in the dream home I bought* last week! (*rather, I am loaning it from a bank).

3. When and how did you start geocaching?

   I had heard about the game, and when a Garmin Colorado 300 fell into my hands, I decided to try it. Alas, I found that geocaching was something I enjoyed immensely, and I had the tools at hand. I still use the Colorado 300 today.

4. What do you like most about geocaching?

   The swag is what I love the most. It is just so valuable. I plan to open a store to profit off my swag items. (sarcasm). In reality, I like the nature, the solitude, the peacefulness, the aspect of hiking with a goal in mind, the challenge of the hunt, the thrill of the successful find. I like leaving my mark in random places by signing the log. I like the places it takes me, places I would never ever visit otherwise. I like that it gets my kids into nature. I like the social network aspect. I have made friends with a number of people I have yet to meet in person and some that I already have met. I like EVERY aspect of this sport!

5. Do you have any geocaching pet-peeves?

   I HAVE LOTS OF PEEVES:  
   
   I hate bad coordinates: my own bad ones particularly (which I plan to repair). But I also dislike bad coords on others caches.  I hate circling around “nowhere” 10 meters out of GZ, for nothing, for a long time, only to spot the cache on my “DNF-walk-of-shame” exit.  Once I found a cache 23 metres out! I also am not a fan of untimely logs and short logs online. Can no one type/read a full sentence anymore? “TFTC” is not a log. :P Nanos in trees are bad (see Amazing Sprouting Cache) I learned that the hard way trying to find “my own” series of nanos. :P The more I think about it, the more peeves I have. Wet logs, food or trash in caches, crappy illogical containers that are bound to leak, caches with useless stuff (guilty too, someday I will only make 5/5 caches with real treasure in ‘em).  This question itself is now a peeve. What a downer…lol…

6. What do you take with you when you go caching?

   I take various amounts of stuff… depends. I take a pen and pathtag to park and grabs, but if I’m hiking, I take a back pack with bear bell, swag items, replacement logs, back up writing stick, etc., etc. Everything caching…

7. Have you introduced anyone to geocaching?

   Several people! A few groups have gone out for a first run, but lost interest when they realized the game took skill and patience. They would come back with a bunch of DNF’s wondering what all the fuss was about… A geocaching bug only bites a certain flock of folk. I have yet to hook/line/sink a noob into an addict.

8. Which other geocacher has influenced/stands out to you the most?

   MANY people stand out! Canadianwildflower stands out, as it was her hides along my regular route that first intrigued me. Beancakes from the Peg/LOTW, he has been inspirational. Shroomazoom, has a cool name I noticed day one on the main website. Mostly though, I really liked meeting some Manitoba cachers at a few events, specifically,Mr. OHMIC. What a friendly fellow! Also has 10,000 finds.  Found GC41 (Canada’s first Geocache) one day before him, out east.  Sarada69 has become more of a friend than any. She shares the dual toddler boy affliction, so we relate. :P Yep.  They are all fantastic peoples!

9. What is the most interesting place geocaching has taken you?

   Everywhere that is not a parking lot is interesting to me. The cliffs, the shorelines, etc… That’s why I love the sport! So many places to see. I’ve been to hidden abandoned homes, to abandoned rail lines, old cemeteries, etc. I like abandoned places for some reason. I can’t think of a specific cache at the moment, but I like that caches do take me to interesting places.

10. What has been you most memorable geocaching find (or DNF?)

    The first cache I ever found was Mole Trap, and it was an ammo can spring loaded with snakes that jump out at you. THAT was a memorable first cache experience.  Getting to Canada’s First Geocache was a joy.  I always remember those caches (like Bonus Points, in West Hawk Lake) where you spend 30 minutes searching, only to give up, turn around, and have the container hanging straight in your face.    I have also had some memorable DNF’s. I tend to get stumped by rekal, who places most of his caches in Clearwater Bay (the last town before Manitoba). His containers are very deceptive. Usually I have to come back more than once to make the find on caches like Ancient Original and “the water one”. Puzzle Street in Bridgewater, NS was fun, I got 15 of the 50+ puzzle caches in that series.
    
    I have a 250 finds geocoin out there that lists a good deal of my most favorites (in the find 1 – 250 range)in the listing for the coin. Check it out! TB4233K

11. Which of your hides are you the most pleased with?

    The Amazing Sprouting Cache (GC2FANQ) has got some positive feedback. Even the reviewer told me that is was a fantastic idea.  In hindsight, I should have made the sprouts bigger, as searching for nanos in pines trees can be exhausting.
    
    I like my three Wherigos, though they do not get a lot of action. I put a fair bit of time into climbing the learning curve on the builder for those. So there was a large investment of time in those caches.
    
    Ultimately, I really enjoy puzzles. Solving them, and also making them. I find the idea of just walking to coords to find a container, well, drab. The puzzle aspect requires forethought, intelligence, patience and skill, and as such, once you make your way to GZ and make a find, you feel just a little more rewarded for the find, with all the “prep work” was put into it. I love making puzzles too. I like the local history puzzles I have made, such as The Kenora Mural Walking Tour and Keewatin Pioneers.  Sidenote: I am ashamed of my film canister caches… I cheaped out on containers for a while..sorry everyone.

12. What caches do you have in your sights right now?

    I am going to have to go for the FTF on Pelican Pouch, nearby my home, soon.   I have some puzzles in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg solved, I just have to go to GZ. I always wanted to do a geocaching event/roadtrip with interested caches to go get this: http://coord.info/GC82F9 a 5/5 with no FTF, and placed a decade ago!  I contacted the cache owner, and he suspects it may have been washed away in some flooding a few years back, but he has never checked, so who knows…..would be a fun adventure.
    
    When I win the lottery, I will charter a flight to find THE WORLDS OLDEST UNFOUND CACHE! A NWOG Gem! 4.5lb Walleye, unfound since 2001. http://coord.info/GCDFB
    

13. How many caches have you adopted and how did the adoption process go.

    The adoption process I instigated because Sarada69 was moving away, and I did not want to see her caches die. So I adopted them. But I went a step further, creating a new account under the name LOTWGA (Lake of the Woods Geocaching Association). I plan to adopt many many caches in my area to keep them alive. There are a lot of good old caches around here that are still active, but more or less abandoned by the owners. Adoption process is easy, very easy! Just have to get both CO and you to go through some hoops.  Now, with ~75 caches under my wing, I’ll have to think about it…

14. What motivated you to get pathtags made?

    Canadian wildflower did, or was it Sarada69? I think it was one of their pathtags that I found in a cache. Once I had dug around the website (and saw too many ‘my dog” type tags, yuck) I decided I had to make my own. I made a run of 200 of the yellow one, and 200 of the glow in the dark one. I think I won’t be making too many more, as they add up price wise. And I keep placing them liberally. If they can fit in the container, I put them in the container.

15. Sarada69 said, "Ask him to throw an event for us during the next heat wave so that it rains lol.... jokes."  (What’s this supposed to mean?)

    That sarcastic jab of a question refers to my CITO event, which was pre-planned six months in advance.  On the day of the event, April 30, 2011, the skies opened up in a biblical fashion… after 2 weeks of fantastic spring weather. Just my luck.  Next year I will rent a tent…I must… Lesson learned.  Sarada69, you’ll have to come back for it. :P