Scaterie Island Geocaching Event

Last weekend, on Sunday August 31st, there was another local Geocaching event but unfortunately we were not able to attend it. We were thrilled when stagunner contacted us and sent in this great article and allowed us to post it here:

Recently, several cachers had the opportunity to explore Scaterie Island, Nova Scotia. This large island is located just off the coast of Cape Breton near the fishing village of Main A’Deiu. The island is now Scatarie Island Provincial Wildlife Management Area and hosts several species of animals and birds. It is about 10 kilometers long (6 miles), fairly level and has some spectacular scenery. The Island is also the largest island not connected to the mainland and has the most easterly point of the province at the far end.

It has lighthouses on each end and has several empty houses and other buildings. It was one inhabited by several families but now they only come over for camping and other special visits.

The event was hosted by Hershey1 and MineRP and involved a 30 minute crossing in the Kenny’s Pride, a local fisherman’s boat. The event was planned earlier in the summer as MineRP and hershey1 brainstormed the idea while caching one day. After researching the plan and getting together the boat and crew they managed to place 20 caches out on the Island. Now it was the cachers turn to gather on the day and get ready to grab the goodies.

At 7:30 we gathered for the ride. Attending were Hershey1 and his wife, MineRP, CaperBirder, Transplanted Newfie, Cheesepizza, Geotrekkin, Wicked77, the Bluenose08 team, MaMaMoe and her husband, Richydog and his wife, mapper2, stagunner, Eeyore62 and her husband. It was a fine gathering.

We greeted each other and settled in for the ride. This was a very enjoyable part of the trip as the sun was shining and the island showed its splendor of jagged cliffs, rocky beaches, and thick dense spruce forests. We could only imagine what each of the cachers were thinking, “What a good day we were going to have.” or “Do we have to walk through all of that?!”

We passed several different species of waterfowl and were greeted by an immature bald eagle who eyed us as we sailed by.

Words can’t explain the beauty of the coast on this wonderful side of the island. The beach we had to land at was getting closer and we could see the remnants of the old wharf nearby. We hoped we were not going to get wet, but Capt. Kenny Wadden made the landing perfectly and we disembarked on the next part of the journey.

The group decided to go for the caches on the east side as the trail was in good shape. The pace was pretty quick as there were some in the group who wanted to get the First to Find rewards. This was good for TransplantedNewfie as he was the most junior cacher with less than 50 finds. He wanted to get at least one FTF, but managed to get 3 and even reached his first milestone at 50!

Others did manage to get a hold of an unsigned cache log and claim the First, stagunner made it to 800 caches with one of these.

We continued along the east trail until it opened at the far end. We could hear and see the seals out on Hay Island, and we were spotted by several hawks and eagles. The waves were pounding the shore almost in cadence with our hiking steps.

The caches were placed in spots that had significance and a wonderful view. We really enjoyed the one up on a wind swept hill, mostly because it was windy enough to keep the nasty mosquitoes away! It was a good place to stop for a short break.

Continuing on to the East Light and a few more caches and a good break at the most easterly point of Nova Scotia, a spectacular spot.

With all of the caches on the east side found we continued to the landing spot, another break and off to get the final bunch of caches. This trail was a bit more rugged but well marked in most places. The scenery along this section of the island consisted of rugged cliffs, pebble beaches and some cranberry bogs.

It was a good hike to the last cache where some cachers added more stones to the cairn hiding it.

Here are some photos of the scenery and Geocachers that made this such a great event:

All hikers did a great job! Some managed to find all 20 caches, others just enjoyed the company, scenery and the fun. That is what Geocaching is all about, getting out and having a great time!

We would like to thank Jim and Bob (Hershey1 and MineRP) for doing all of the work to get this event planned and done. And of course thanks goes to Captain Kenny Wadden and his crew for getting us there and back (and keeping our feet dry!).

We will look forward to doing this again next year!

Once again, thanks to stagunner for sending in this excellent article! Hopefully we’ll be able to make it next time! It sounded like a great time!

Keep on cachin’!