Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Geocaching in Finland
I visited a local island fortress as part of my sightseeing last weekend: Soumenlinna. It has a very interesting history and was once considered second only to Gibralter as a powerful sea-side fortress. It has an important enough history that it is considered one of the United Nation's World Heritage Sites.
As part of my visit to the island, I made a list of geocaches that are planted over there. A number of them sounded interesting and not too hard. Boy, was I wrong. I think that the root of my problems was that poking around in a suspicious way in a foreign capital city's World Heritage Site made me pretty nervous. It seemed like it would be hard to explain opening things and moving items of historical interest around to look for hidden treasures.
As the day was ending, I was afraid that I would go 0 for 5 on my searching. I was feeling desperate to find at least one since it is likely I won't have another chance before leaving.
On the way out, I returned to the scene of the first one that I tried for. I carefully re-read the notes and took a seat on the library steps (see the photo below) to think things through. Since it was Sunday, the library was closed. That meant not many people on the street. That was my only hope.
If you check out the right side of the photo, you will see some metal coverings sticking out of the brick wall at an angle. While sitting on the steps, I saw a piece of wire connected to a nail in a brick. That wire was holding down one side of the farthest metal covering. Duh! How did I miss that before? Again, I suggest nervousness at the situation. Anyway, once I loosened that I found the film canister cache.
Back on the steps, I filled out the log sheet and left a few US coins for a future cacher (a penny, a nickel, a dime, and, in honor of our friends to the North, a US State Quarter featuring Oregon). I got a few funny looks from passers by as I sat there, but no one stopped to say anything. Somewhat ironically, it turns out that two other cachers signed the log earlier in the day!
It still felt a bit like vandalizing a historical site when I was lifting and returning that metal cover. However, I managed to get it taken care of without causing an international incident.
Beyond the geocaching issue, the island visit was great. I'll write more about that later.
As part of my visit to the island, I made a list of geocaches that are planted over there. A number of them sounded interesting and not too hard. Boy, was I wrong. I think that the root of my problems was that poking around in a suspicious way in a foreign capital city's World Heritage Site made me pretty nervous. It seemed like it would be hard to explain opening things and moving items of historical interest around to look for hidden treasures.
As the day was ending, I was afraid that I would go 0 for 5 on my searching. I was feeling desperate to find at least one since it is likely I won't have another chance before leaving.
On the way out, I returned to the scene of the first one that I tried for. I carefully re-read the notes and took a seat on the library steps (see the photo below) to think things through. Since it was Sunday, the library was closed. That meant not many people on the street. That was my only hope.
If you check out the right side of the photo, you will see some metal coverings sticking out of the brick wall at an angle. While sitting on the steps, I saw a piece of wire connected to a nail in a brick. That wire was holding down one side of the farthest metal covering. Duh! How did I miss that before? Again, I suggest nervousness at the situation. Anyway, once I loosened that I found the film canister cache.
Back on the steps, I filled out the log sheet and left a few US coins for a future cacher (a penny, a nickel, a dime, and, in honor of our friends to the North, a US State Quarter featuring Oregon). I got a few funny looks from passers by as I sat there, but no one stopped to say anything. Somewhat ironically, it turns out that two other cachers signed the log earlier in the day!
It still felt a bit like vandalizing a historical site when I was lifting and returning that metal cover. However, I managed to get it taken care of without causing an international incident.
Beyond the geocaching issue, the island visit was great. I'll write more about that later.
Labels: Geocaching, Rob, Travel
# posted by - Rob @ 10:44 AM 
Comments:
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Rob,
If you ever write a book on Geo-Caching I would title it
Cacher in the Rye.
Great posting. Glad your not in Finland Jail trying to explain yourself in english.
If you ever write a book on Geo-Caching I would title it
Cacher in the Rye.
Great posting. Glad your not in Finland Jail trying to explain yourself in english.
I gotta say, those film cannister caches are pretty tough most of the time.
I like "medium-sized" best.
:)
I like "medium-sized" best.
:)
You should get an ipod with the Mission Impossible music on it to listen to while you search for caches in places like that.
I would also suggest wearing a large trenchcoat, hat, and sunglasses.
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I would also suggest wearing a large trenchcoat, hat, and sunglasses.
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