Birchville Dam Gutbuster (Upper Hutt) Upper Hutt, North Island, New Zealand
By jojo&dobby on 21-Jun-16. Waypoint GC6M69X

jojo&dobby is no longer caching so this cache is not being monitored or maintained. I'm in the process of letting the reviewer know to archive them as jojo&dobby's premium membership has lapsed so can no longer access them. Apologies for any inconvenience and happy caching .

jojo&dobby is no longer caching so this cache is not being monitored or maintained. I'm in the process of letting the reviewer know to archive them as jojo&dobby's premium membership has lapsed so can no longer access them. Apologies for any inconvenience and happy caching .

jojo&dobby is no longer caching so this cache is not being monitored or maintained. I'm in the process of letting the reviewer know to archive them as jojo&dobby's premium membership has lapsed so can no longer access them. Apologies for any inconvenience and happy caching .

Found it with my Grandy Sandy, Spoonz2 and brother the Gr1ffinator

No guts were busted in the finding of this cache, but one of our party didn’t have enough leg power to make it back down alone. Thanks for placing this. Found with the Griffinator and Pr1nceCaspian.

I did not read the cache page first so I did not see the note about no cell coverage. Luckily I had a location and this is easy to find.

A quick find on the way down hill. Noticed the lake level has been dropped a couple of meters.

Great walk! Love the dam! TFTC ️

Found!

Found with lucypear after checking out the dam. What a great place! There were plenty of people around, but not so much up here

Checking out the Birchville Dam today after seeing some stunning photos of it on facebook. Decided to carry along the trail to grab a few caches. The hill was a bit of a tough one, very glad this seat was here!

Thanks for the find. Cheers

Great find, catch a breath! My pen isn't the best so my log might rub off. Thanks!

Yoza

TFTC

Tftc easy find, great day for a walk!

A good excuse for a stop here on the way up. Quick find - tftc

Off exploring a new area, always nice to be able to grab a cache along the way, tftc

Our first find for a while, the first for the latest souvenir campaign (1 day day down, 5 to go) and although it might not seem much to others, this cache actually achieved a streak for me: finding a cache in every calendar month for the year. It is many years now since I've managed that! I was confused by the name on the cache log book: 'Birchville - Keep Going', given that the cache name is 'Birchville Dam Gutbuster' coupled with the next cache up the hill being named 'Just Keep Going'. Had someone switched caches/log books? Turns out they hadn't. As others have mentioned in their online logs the cache was wet inside, but the plastic paper can be written on with a ballpoint pen and I had no problems signing the log. Seems strange that a container that keeps paint in can't keep water out.
Mrs B was very glad of the seat and reckoned the Gutbuster title was quite apt, for her at least. We obviously need to get out and do some walking again.
Thanks for the cache jojo&dobby: we headed on up the track to find the next one just to confirm the matter of the cache name.

Exploring a new are, relatively easy walk. TFTC

Sveppi and I have had a strange day. We haven't been doing a lot of geocaching these last couple of years. Today was a weekend at home, and on this moody Sunday we didn't quite know what we were going to do. We actually changed plans about 5 times, and through various weird detours and misunderstandings, we ended up at the carpark, and came up here for a "nana walk" up the track. The first hide was easy and dry, this one was easy but not so dry.

Find #3159. Four sedentary weeks on from a bicycle accident, a decent hike was in order so located a section of the map where there were a decent number of unfound caches. Cannon Point seemed to fit the bill. By the time it was done, I had walked a total of 18.3km with a total ascent of 1827m, max elevation, 753m, and 15 caches.
Arrived at the seat just as a cyclist on foot was coming up. Had to retrieve the cache while he sat there but he showed no interest. Very wet inside the Resene pot and the magnet has come loose but otherwise ok. Last one today. SL TFTC

#6933. I have been meaning to check out the dam at Birchville for ages. Finally an opportunity today. The weather was not the best and everything was dripping wet under the forest. But still the trees look fresh and clean in these conditions even if the air temps were less than tropical. The track to the dam and above were in great condition with gravel on the paths. Carried on up above the dam and reached this spot. I was walking too slowly for it to be a gut buster. I slipped over recently and banged my hip. So was was testing its mobility out today. Coped very well with the climb. A quick search at GZ and soon had cache in hand. The paper was damp but its waterproof so no worries. Signed and replaced everything as found. Thanks jojo&dobby for the cache.

Nice and easy. Thanks.

Took off this morning with DangerSAM to give Gr33nslime some mother day peace and quiet. Chose this walk as I had been here before and knew the trail up to the dam was at least DangerSAM friendly. We made good time to the dam which was almost full, then DangerSAM and I slowly made our way up the hill to the caches along the way. Easy to find if not a bit soggy. Thanks for the water proof paper though, that really saved both the caches we found today. The track was fairly quiet and we had plenty of time to sit down and fill out the log before placing it back. I appreciated the distraction and DangerSAM enjoyed using the seats, if only because he got something to eat at the same time. Thanks for the cache. Took nothing, left nothing.

Quick find after having a sit down on my walk. TFTC!

Found it. Thanks for the cache

son located this one while on the Cannon Point walkway, although the cache matched the co-ordinates and hint the log book had the name of a different cache on it - Keep Going - so I'm a little confused whether we stumbled across a premium cache in the same vicinity (which I thought impossible, aren't they supposed to be 161m apart?) or whether it's just the wrong name on the logbook, anyway hoping it's ok to log as found? TFTC

Cache # 4,607 - I have been saving this one until I could do it with Astro Hunter and Violet Butterfly, and today was the day. Lovely day for a walk, and typical slow slog up the hill to the cache (having done this at least twice before, I can vouch that it is a slog each time). Cache was an instant find, and we were thankful for the write-in-the-rain logsheet, as it was soaked. TNLNSL. TFTC!

Consecutive caching day # 2,016

Did today with The Wandering Dragons and Violet Butterfly. A nice walk, and a quick find. Thanks!

Cache # 933

Made the trek today with TWD and AH. Lovely spots, and enjoyed the stream side views all the way along.Thanks!

Cache # 1,467

I never knew about this place and the Birchville dam - but now I do thanks to geocaching.
I cam up here today to grab a cache to meet a 500 day challenge requirement, and carried on walking to grab a few more. This cache was left lying in the open, and was returned to its correct spot after signing.
*TFTC jojo&dobby #399*

Yes

Thanks for the cache. I went for a walk to the Dam and Canon point, picked up some Geos on the way.

Beautiful spot. Glad me treked up to it

Out for a walk and picked a wonderful weather day as nice and sunny.
Found cache on the ground and holding device failed so left covered below where it should be.
TFTC

Found this on the ground on the way up with Glad-nz. Unfortunately the means of securing is no longer attached. Container remains on the ground covered. Great walk. TFTC

Thanks! This is our first one. Didn't bring a pen, but off to a good start

Found this little cache on our way up to the trig nice area nice weather nice walk.TFTC. Sherlock Hood and Squirrel.

Walked passed this one on the way up as I was in a rhythm and didn't want to break it. An easy find on the way down, just as a heavy shower broke, a cold front approacheth. Signed log, careful to keep it dry, and rehid as found. The log is all good and the cache is fine. TFTC!

Sighted this on way back down the hill for a future trip. Nice location and all is well.

In light of it being quie a hot day I took it easy up the hill and no guts were busted to get here. A surprinsgly large cache for this type of hide. TFTC.

On a mission to clear outstanding caches in the area today. A great day for a walk before it got too hot. A quick find. Everything in order. TFTC

Out for a wee walk in the area, a good chance to clean up the caches that have sprouted since I last came here several years ago.
TFTC

Tftc!

Found. Tftc.

A nice walk up today. No water cascading over the dam like your lovely photo. Looks like they have lowered the level while the Regional Council install a flash new viewing platform. Cheers and TFTC

Love the cache container and the noises were similar to what I was making going up the hill. Cache all in good order and a great view at the top. TFTC

TregearP and I had cabin fever and needed some exercise. We'd been up this path before with Jojo&Dobby and muggle T. Really pretty this time of year with colour of the leaves and sunlight through the trees.

A quick find with excellent coordinates and then a surprise on looking inside - Haha. TregearP took great delight in putting it through its paces.

Took nothing but left a card for the WENZ event - [Webstite](https://sites.google.com/site/wenzgeo2018/home) or [FaceBook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/590545297801072/).

TFTC.

Nice quick find on a beautiful blue-sky morning.

Needed a bit of an "easy" hit-out in the hills this morning, and the caches were a nice bonus.
Dropped a TB

TFTC!

container is magnetic. please replace under seat properly.

Easy find as it was very visible, on a tramping club walk.
But the string broke and the spider appeared as I was trying to hide it better. May need checking.
TFTC

Out for an afternoon of geocaching in the Birchville Dam area in the cold and rain. Not quite where the hint said but close enough to easily find.

I am glad it was the first seat haha, The container was under some foliage under the seat as has something attached to it. I placed back where I found it and covered with a thin layer of leaves

Must've lost the pen on my way up somewhere so I've attached a photo as evidence of my find. Great walk up to the cache TFTC!!!!

#2452 Went for an after-work wander with Mr huhugrub to collect a few caches in these hills. The track we were going to head up is currently closed and will be until the 15th December so we went for plan B which meant a longer walk but we nabbed a couple of extra caches that we weren't expecting so that's a bonus.

This was the last find for the day and a confusing one at that- we thought we'd already found this one on our way up the hill (logbook had same name and GC code, albeit blank) but turns out they are two different caches some space apart. Logged this one (Birchville- Keep Going) and wait to hear if we are in fact FTF on the other cache.....

A pleasant walk despite the rain. Look forward to returning another day to collect some more caches. TFTC!

#8402. Together with Skaga, we had planned for some walking up to Craigs Flat late this afternoon. However, upon arriving at one of the usual trailheads in Totara Park, we were met with a “WALKWAY CLOSED” sign – “The walkway from Tulsa Park to Cannon Point Trig including the Zig Zag is CLOSED to all users due to lambing from 1 September 2016 to 15 December 2016”.

Decided we would take a detour via the Bridge Road entrance instead. Fortunately, this route would take us past this Birchville cache. We thought we would attempt some of the other caches further up in Craigs Flat first, and then pick up this one on the way down on our return journey.

The tracks were all quiet in today’s wet weather. But as we were walking, we identified something of interest en route. Upon investigation, we found that this was in fact a nicely hidden cache. The cache was in excellent condition, all nice and dry inside. To our pleasant surprise, we were met with a pristine log book, with the FTF entry still blank! Even more surprising, the log book was headed up with “GC6M69X Birchville Dam Gutbuster”, the name of this cache! Somewhat confused, we signed our names, but not sure about claiming a joint {FTF} with Skaga at 16:10. We also dropped off 7 Deadly Ducks Tag into the cache.

We did all this without turning on the GPS. Thinking that we had inadvertently found this cache, we carried on our journey onwards and upwards.

…

Quite some time later, on our return journey, we looked at our GPS. To our surprise, the cache coordinates for this cache was leading us to a spot some distance away from where we had already found “GC6M69X Birchville Dam Gutbuster” earlier. Well, another search around this new spot uncovered another cache – all pretty consistent with the cache description. The cache was in excellent condition, all nice and dry inside. However, the log book was headed up with “GC6M6A0 Birchville – Keep Going” (as per wb1116’s photo). Somewhat confused, we signed our names again. Took nothing, left nothing this time.

Quite a bonus today, and we enjoyed the little mystery here …

Thanks for bringing us to the sites, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

Another cache that has taken a long time to log! But finally am now. It was so satisfying getting to where I knew i needed to be but the climb to get there was.....hard in search of a better word. What a cool cache though, the effort that went into this one makes the trek easier lol. I'm glad I took my partner up there with me, gave me a chance to scare someone a little hahaha. TFTC, this was a fun one!

A quick find while out having a walk with my friendly two legged Beagle **T.F.T.C**

TFTC 131

Found with jw nz

I was in Upper Hutt this morning with a bit of time available so decided to come for a walk and hunt out this one. There was a fair frost on the ground in the bottom of the valley but that vanished as I climbed up the hill. I also hadn't realised that I would have to walk the length of the new one-lane road that services the houses cut off by the damaged bridge. But it was no great deal, only about another 800 metres each way. As I approached GZ I realised that there was a young couple sitting resting right at the cache site. I wasn't going to give up after having come this distance so I asked them if they would mind if I had a look for a thing called a geocache. I got quite an enthusiastic response, turned out they were cachers too although they hadn't loaded this one on their phone and didn't realise that they were right on top of it. The coordinates were placing me about 14 metres further up the track but it was clear where the cache was going to be. Managed to get the cache open without being eaten by the cache guardian, and we both signed the log. Thanks for the cache, and nice to meet you christian_cachers!

I used to live nearby and ascended and descended this hill quite regularly. I am pretty sure I hadn't been on this part of the walkway since September 2008 when I found the (now archived) cache named "Cannon Point Stop" - my 6th cache find! I hadn't intended to search for this cache today but my plans were thwarted by some road closure signs that forced me to re-locate. This meant I made way here from above instead of below. I had no problems locating the cache but I expect some future log entries will make for entertaining reading.

#2155 There was no way I thought I had a look in at finding this cache before anybody else. I was in Auckland when the notification came through. That is simply how it crumbles - you have an opportunity to get there first sometimes, and sometimes you don't. With my flight not for several hours, I knew that somebody else would surely have dibbs on this cache.

Fortunately my programmed day finished early and I was able to reschedule an earlier flight - three hours earlier!!! This was great news as I hate sitting around airports twiddling my thumbs. If I had a car in Auckland then I'd have been able to kill time by geocaching, however it was not to be so I was keen to get back to Wellington as soon as possible.

After arriving home I checked online and the cache still hadn't been logged as found!!! Although that doesn't always mean that it hasn't been found - just that it hasn't yet been logged. Seems that other folk were resting (or staying inside and hiding from the rain). As it hadn't been logged as found, there was another possibility - others had been up there and had an unsuccessful hunt for this critter. I felt the need to help Dobby out to make sure it was still there so dropped my suitcase, arranged my leave pass, got changed into something more appropriate and headed on up.

Once in vicinity I found the hint object and did as instructed, being careful to not take a peak first - this one had to be done using the Braille method. I am always nervous putting my hand under things without looking - especially with the giant wetas and other creepy crawlers that can be found around here. Of course, not as nervous as I was putting my hand in to a hole in Canberra once - you never knwo where snakes may hide.......

I soon felt a likely object and then quickly had the cache in hand. Thankfully nothing to bite my hand off or poke a sting into my bloodstream. I love safe caching

Yippee - an {FTF} after having to travel the length of an island and get the leave pass etc!

Found at 1943 hours almost eight hours after publishing. See photo attached of the formerly pristine logsheet.

Thanks jojo&dobby - cache in order, no probs here. Earns a favourite just for the suspense and adventure for the day.

Loving the creativity of your caches jojo&dobby - I can't wait for more to turn up in the magnificent playground that is Upper Hutt. Keep em rolling......

Published