This has been the longest I have gone without a FTF - 248 days. Of course, 248 days ago I got three in one day, so I guess that makes up for it. Plus, I haven't really been going after the FTFs this year, opting to sit aside while other local cachers battle it out for the prize.

• Hendrie Forest Series #5 "Later Addition
• FTF Log 

When I woke up on Thursday, January 4, I noticed three new geocaches in my inbox. They were #4-6 of the "Camouflage Series" by Champro. Would it be possible to get another FTF or two? Or THREE? The notification had come in the night, just past midnight. It was now 9:00 am, so I had a good shot at being First To Find. I headed for #6 and #5 first, since they were harder, and in the same area. Six was a multi-stage cache, and both required some walking in steep terrain. Number four was over in Sunnidale Park.

A quick FTF to start off a new year of caching (and just after I finished the previous year with an FTF)! The notification for this cache arrived around 10:30 pm on January 1. The next morning, while a lot of people were back at work, I zipped in to grab the FTF. Unfortunately, I don't see this cache making it through the next rainy season.

• GC102MP - A Hop, Skip and a Jump
• FTF Log

And here I thought I was finished caching for 2006! With 225 finds this year, I was preparing to celebrate my third anniversary of caching on New Year's day, when this opportunity popped up.

The notification email came at 2:52pm. I noticed it at 3:00pm and began scambling around. At 3:09 I was backing out of the driveway and at 3:20 I scored the FTF.

Black Friday refers to the Barrie Tornado. Check out the log for my "tornado story."

• GC101Y2 - Black Friday
• FTF Log

I haven't been worrying about rushing out to find FTFs lately. Actually, it's a tough thing to do with some of the local competition! However, notification of this new cache came on Thursday around 4:30pm, and by Friday morning it appeared to be unfound. So I headed out and made the find!

This cache is located along a trail I have mountain biked on literally hundreds of times, but have not been through here for a couple years now since the route was cut-off by housing development and forest destruction via logging.

• GCY7G2- Ancestor's Trail
• FTF Log

On Sunday, Jennifer and I scored two (count 'em 2) "FIRST TO FIND" geocaches, our first FTF geocaches in almost 6 months!

• GCW0H1 Minesing 2 - Fauna
  
• FTF Log

• GCW0H2 Minesing Final
  
• FTF Log

This FTF was one of those "live for the moment" events. Jakob and I arrived home first on this evening, and instead of doing the correct thing -- get the home work done, including the project that was due the next day -- we charged off to try for an FTF in our own backyard. This cache literally showed up on the homebase radar minutes before we arrived home. It was practically in our backyard and in the same park as the first cache I ever found. It seemed irresponsible not to go for it!

The fact that it was dark did not matter, but it didn't help that we forgot the high-power flashlights and had to run on a set of LEDs. No matter, we found it and had a great workout doing it. For the full story, read the FTF Log below.

• Sunny Dale Cache
• FTF Log
  

Trail Head Marker (no longer there)

FTF #6! This cache showed up on the radar Sunday morning and I scored an FTF even though I didn't arrive at the trail head until just after 10:00 am. This cache is located in beautiful and natural mixed hardwood forest that anybody will enjoy walking in. But this cache really shines if you like mountain biking. The parking coordinates are the trail head for the fabled 8th Wander, a carefully planned cornucopia of singletrack.

• Strachan Tract Cache
• FTF Log
• Do-It-Yourself Pig Roast

"Spirit Catcher" by Ron Baird

This FTF proved to be great fun, especially due to the coincidence surrounding it. Our Ghost Town "Josephine" cache had just been published late on a Tuesday evening. The next morning, local geocacher "Swifteroo" headed out and scored the FTF. That same evening, I came home and found notification of this cache published by Swifteroo in my inbox. So I hopped on my bike, headed down, and was FTF!

• Lake Simcoe Series - "Spirit Cacher"
• FTF LOG
  
• The "Spirit Catcher"
  

FTF #4 out of 108 cache finds over a period of 1.3 years, and half the FTFs were on the same day. This cache, along with Eagle Bridge Collingwood, were a birthday present to myself. They appeared on the radar on a Monday evening, the day before my birthday. So I played hookey from work, and headed to Collingwood for a little geocaching!

I made it into a 6-cache day, including two FTFs which I thought was pretty special. And I made it home just in time for birthday cake. 

• 11th Line Trail
• FTF LOG 

FTF number 3, and the first of two in a single day. For the full story on that, see the previous FTF cache "11th Line Trail." Eagle Bridge Collingwood was my first target the morning of Tuesday 19 April, 2005. The first stage was easy to find, but the math soon proved difficult. Turns out that Star2004 had made a slight error in the listing (since corrected).

Rather than give up, I decided to proceed using the clue alone. This seemed reasonable, since the thing mentioned in the clue was scarce in the area. I proceeded down the trail, had one false search, then continued on to spot the clue, and shortly afterward the cache. That made this FTF all the more fun! A nice trail network in Collingwood. The only thing I regretted was not having my bike! 

• Eagle Bridge Collingwood
• FTF LOG 

Our second FTF, and we got to name this one, too. Well, sort of. I offered a couple of suggestions, and Niss melded them into one name! The original cache publishing offered that who ever was FTF got to name the cache. I couldn't decide on Niss's "Danoshimano was first" Cache O' Fun or Niss's Multi-Drivin' Cache O' Fun (I knew Niss liked "Cache O' Fun", so I included it in both choices). That explains the current name:

• Niss's Multi-Drivin' D.S.FTF Cache O' Fun
• FTF LOG

Our first FTF! I was quite excited about this one, since I had recently signed up for a premium membership on geocaching.com and was receiving emails with files that updated a database on my computer (GSAK) that I could also carry on a Palm Pilot (Cachemate). Paperless caching! And there was a brand new cache only minutes from home showing up on the radar!

• Riley's Travel Bug Treehouse!
• FTF log