GeoTourism

There's a new word in the caching community...it's "geotourism" and you know what? I'm loving it!!

This last weekend we decided that, before the snow started flying, we'd try to do a little sticker collecting and find some Gold Country caches. What a great time we had! While Carol drove and I attempted to navigate, Joan read to us from the Gold Country cache book. Every story was so interesting, well written and just brought our province's colourful past and each cache location to life! We learned some pretty cool new things and took in some amazing views. So far we've found 10 Gold caches. My favourites so far? The Pit House and the Old Bridge in Lilloet for the history and Hat Creek Coal for the view. Can't wait to do the rest!

We also did a few "Pathways to Gold" caches. I picked up the Pathways book at the Tourist Info Centre in Lillooet and Joan read it to us. I especially loved hearing the excerpts from Harriet's journal as she followed her lost love to Barkerville. My favourite Pathways cache is 23 Camels. What an amazing bit of BC trivia.

And now there's the Blue Sky Caches put out by the BCGA in conjunction with the Provincial Government. I've read that some provinces have completely banned caching in their provincial parks and our government is supporting us & encouraging us to get out there?! Very cool!

I've always known what a great place British Columbia is but, thanks to great programs like these, those who come visiting, let's call them "geo-tourists," will know too.