Ontario Geocaching Association
Ontario Geocaching Association |
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  August : Hard Oiler This month we recognize Hard Oiler. Hard Oiler recently celebrated his 500th cache find, add to that his 37 cache hides which leads us to believe he has single handedly populated most of southwestern Ontario. Hard Oiler is one of our worldly cachers having cached in 3 different countries. A hats off to Hard Oiler! Q and A with Hard OilerQ: Where do you call home?A: Petrolia in Lambton County of course. Q: Where does the name Hard Oiler come from? A: A Hard Oiler is a local name for a resident of Petrolia, Ontario - birth place of the oil industry in Canada. One finder did ask if the trail on which one of my caches is hidden was named after me which was a nice, but incorrect, thought. The Hard Oiler licence plate is owned by a local dignitary which also caused confusion since, when asked by a geocacher if he was Hard Oiler, he naturally replied yes! Q: When you are not caching, what do you do to relax? A: Officially retired (from the oil industry) although a recent report in the local paper listed my occupation as a "professional geocacher" - by a news reporter who thought it was something to do with geology. Q: What are some of your other interests? A: Photography, walking the dogs, keeping Petrolia Discovery, the only working oil museum in North America, working. Q: Tell us some of your caching milestones. A: First caches found - Jembox and Mystery Falls in September 2002 which, at the time, exhausted all the caches in Ontario within 50km of home so had to start on locationless caches, hiding a few and trips over the border to Michigan. First cache hidden – Black Gold in Petrolea in September 2002 (on the Hard Oiler trail of course) Last cache hidden (#37) – Roadside Series – Parkhill in July 2005 (with a thank you to Bent & Twisted for allowing me to extend their series to this corner of Ontario. Q: What gear do you use for caching? A: Hardware: Magellan Explorist 500, Palm Zire 31, lots of DEET Software: GSAK, Cachemate, Streets & Trips, Google Earth and, of course, Pocket Queries Q: What are your favourite caches? A: Anything as long as it’s well hidden, takes me to an interesting place and is well maintained. Q: What are your least favourite caches? A: Micros badly hidden in urban wastelands that have no redeeming features. Q: Any recent highlights you would like to share? A: Getting FTF on Bill and Gary’s Excellent Adventure IV – an 8 hr ordeal that required a longish break from geocaching afterwards to recover. But a CanAm team got there first! Q: Any thoughts on caching you would like to share? A: Hide it better than you find it. I always try at least to take the time to randomize that tidy pile of sticks that was intended to hide the cache but in reality is a dead giveaway. And, of course, trade up or even. I can’t believe the junk that accumulates in some of my caches over time. Hard Oiler's Caching Count
Thanks to Hard Oiler for sharing with us. If you know an OGA member who deserves the cacher of the month spotlight, send me an email to cast your vote.
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