Webcams

This is another geocaching post, so if you're not into it, you can skip this one. One of the overlooked geocaches that are out there in the world are webcam caches. The premise behind a webcam cache is you go to the posted coordinates and there's a webcam nearby. You either get a friend from home to go on the webcam's website and grab a screenshot with you in the photo, or you grab one yourself using your smartphone.

Webcams aren't allowed anymore, mainly because there's no container involved. The ones that are still around have been grandfathered into the system and they are few and far between. After doing a search on the geocaching website, there are 255 active webcam cache around. I have logged 8 webcam caches, with two that have been archived, so I have the possibility of finding another 249 more. 

I used to own one, but had to archive that one, because the owner of the actual cam kept moving it to new locations and finally disabled it. That tends to be the big reason why webcam caches get archived; the actual camera becomes obsolete.

Finding webcam caches would take me all over the planet and would keep me busy for years. According to the map, you can find webcams on 5 of the seven continents, with none being found in Asia or Africa. Yes, there's a webcam down in Antarctica. 

I've signed a challenge cache challenging me to find and log 25 webcam caches. When I signed it, I'd only found 6, so I'm two closer than I was when I signed the challenge back in December of last year. The photos from the last two are the ones on this page. The first one was taken on the central coast north of Morro Bay, CA. It's very hard to make me out, but I'm that vertical figure right in front of the dark car in the parking lot on the right. If you look close enough, you can a small white dot just to the left of me in the photo. That's an actual seagull that I could have reached out and touched. It didn't want to move, so I just had the photo taken with it.

The second photo I had help from a friend of mine in taking the photo, since the webcam can be remotely controlled from the website. I texted a friend and she took over the controls of the webcam and there I am standing on the corner in Pocatello, Idaho. It doesn't have the same ring as standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, but the shot was taken and I was able to log the cache.

I just need to find 17 more webcams so I can log that challenge cache. I guess I need to get down to Balboa and get that one. There's also one in Tucson, Arizona where I'll be passing through in a couple of weeks, so that one's on the list too. This challenge is going to take me a little bit longer to finish than some of the others.