Caching in Canada

 There are 7 Minnesota counties bordering Canada. Our plan was to geocache in 6 of the border counties (we geocached in 1 last September) and since we were in the northern part of 3 of the border counties, we planned to cross into Canada to find geocaches in Ontario and Manitoba.

We had our passports and our vaccination cards. I thought we were set. I did not realize since Covid all non-residents must also have the ArriveCAN app on their phones with completed information. It is not a difficult form unless you are in the immigration office and they tell you it must be completed in 15 minutes or you will not be allowed in that day. Luckily my phone and I got the job done and we were allowed to enter Ontario.

(Last summer while visiting Glacier National Park, I tried to help two women complete the form so they could cross to see relatives they had not seen in over a year. The issue was old phones, not knowing their email address or password, how to scan or take photos of documents, intermittent cell service, etc. etc. I know I spent an hour trying to help them. We did get to the point where we thought we had everything completed, but I have no idea if they were able to cross that day or not.)

We were so flustered after our 15 minutes in the immigration office, I did not get a photo of entering Ontario and had to settle for one of their road signs.

There were 3 geocaches we hoped to find along Highway 11. They had all been found last fall, so we were hopeful. The first cache was in a city park. The park was closed due to flooding. BUMMER! So we headed west to the second cache. It was located next to the Rainy River. It was also under water. That was okay as we had one more possibility. It was a new geocache placed in February and no one had found it yet. It was on a train car, but had a very good hint. I was certain we would be the first-to-find. We looked for 20 minutes, crawling under the train car and kneeling in the mud but did not find it. We had traveled 23 miles and did not have a geocache! It was early in the afternoon so we decided the nearest possible successful geocache would be 37 miles north, but we had to backtrack to get there.

we did backtrack and we did find the cache

above water

another Finland in Ontario

so I have been to Finland twice this month!

geocaching proof we have found a geocache in Ontario

Willie Walleye

our 'home' Friday night

On Saturday we planned to cross into Manitoba to find some geocaches. The American border officer told us on Friday he thought I would have to update my information on the ArriveCAN app. Other than knowing the name of the border crossing and the day and time we would be crossing, everything else was saved and needed no changes. This time it took 30 seconds!

the American officer was right

This border crossing was less busy and the Canadian officer had time to chat and learn about geocaching. They always ask why you are coming and for how long. He was not satisfied with "We just want to drive along Highway 12 in Canada." This time he took our passports and not my phone with the QR scan. He said the info would be electronically connected to our passports. It was and we were cleared to enter and "Have fun. I hope you find them." (So did we after Friday's experience!)

We had 6 geocaches on our list. Three of them were similar to this one, placed by the Sunrise Corner Tourism. Easy to see. Log book was there. We found a total of 5 caches along the 17 miles we traveled in Manitoba.

and the proof

At both US crossings our border guards knew of geocaching. Saturday's guard was very surprised to learn we had found 5 geocaches in the short distance and in the 3 villages we traveled through. Friday's officer said his kids geocached. On both days we crossed back to Minnesota at smaller, less active checkpoints. Very different than our entry at International Falls.

We crossed at Rosseau and learned it is home to Polaris snowmobiles.

There was a geocache on this motorcycle. It was just plain old luck that Hubby found the micro container! 

After Saturday we have just two northern Minnesota counties without a geocache. Other than some less than perfect weather it has been a great road trip.