buckyd's Geoblog

Jul 31, 2007

Ordinary Timber

By: brown-eyed susan Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

A nice puzzle that uses the same theme of a solution required for one of my own (yes, that's a hint, if you ever get out to the East Bay). Today I was commuting by car to our alternate work location in western SF, rather than taking BART to the eastern campus, and I found myself on the roads of Foster City after deciding not to get annoyed with traffic while going home. I had solved this a few weeks ago and was happy to see that it had been included in my not-so-recently-loaded query. Once at the cache site, I had a seat and pondered all the locations it could be. A few minutes of pondering and I found it... Thanks!

Wild West Geocaching Event (Cupertino)

By: GeoWomyn_SF_CA ,CTomGeo, and L-grl Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Other

As WalruZ writes, our posse'll be includin' 4. That's a full wagon to add to the wagon train, and I'm not sure when the little one will sleep, so you may get more hollerin' than you bargained for at your hoedown... Things at the shop have been busy these days, so I've put Geo Baby on food patrol. Who knows what we'll end up bringing?

As Seen from the Sky! II

By: jimbexleyspeed and mjp303 Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

Back when I was a newbie, maybe 6 months after starting this "hobby", I came out in the late evening and found the original cache. Found is really the wrong word; more like I tripped over it. It was that easy. This sibling of ASFTS was a challenging cache, and I was even here in broad daylight, with good weather and a decent line of sight, besides all the blooming plant clones. I found myself at the coordinates looking for a cache and wondering why someone would hide it at this particular location. I think I tried to force myself to trip over it, just for old time's sake, but to no avail. After a few minutes of poking around there, I got out my Palm and read the description. Well, that made all the difference in the world! I needed to be roughly 100 feet away from the posted coords to even st art my journey!

So, off I go to mark waypoints for the start. I decided to shortcut it and just mark one, and move out the required offset distance from there. Bad idea. After about 15 minutes, I went over and marked the second one, and tried to move out the distance from there, while approxim ating in my head the distance from the first. Another Bad Idea, and another 10 minutes lost. Actually, if I hadn't a track to follow back, I might have been lost myself in that maze of clone plants. So, I would have rather done this in the software on my computer with nice trackpad or mouse to ge t an accurate waypoint for the area, but I ended up trying to eyeball the correct distance on my GPSr map, relative to the points I had already marked, and then mark another waypoint at an appropriate location. That really isn't as easy as it sounds using the Legend's little nubbie thing, and my new waypoint ended up being several feet off from one of the waypoints, but right on for the other one. So, given the distance of that point to the other two points that I had marked, I figured I needed to search just 5 feet beyond and to the NW of the point I had marked. Does this all sound complica ted? It sure felt like it at the time. Luckily I didn't really need to be anywhere too soon, as I normally wouldn't get home from work for another hour or so. I also figured that each minute I spent looking for caches was a minute that I wasn't sitting in rush hour traffic trying to get from 92 to 880. So, I spent another 20 minutes wandering through the area just 5 or 10 feet off from my newly-marked waypoint, and started laughing at the track that I was producing on my GPSr. I figured I was in the area, so I would eventually have to hit it. Maybe I'd even trip over it! I was planning on leaving if it started getting dark and I hadn't found it, though...

I finally spied it. I think it was my third pass through that particular passage, but there it was. It was sitting there in an expected location, as nice as you please, waiting to be discovered. Amazing what you don't see while walking around... Anyway, lots of nice stuff inside, but because I was coming from work, I didn't have any of my swag with me, nor the TB and coin that I've been meaning to drop off somewhere. I was bummed. I took the travelling coin to move on anyway, but left the red jeep for someone else. Tha nks f or the fun today!

Foster City Levee

By: jimbexleyspeed Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

I now take BART to my primary work location, so I don't often get a chance to cache during the workday anymore. Today I was required to be at our alternate work location in western San Francisco, and so driving there -- while a longer commute considering traffic -- was still going to be less painful than public transportation options. I decided to stop off in Foster City and do a little caching on my way home, as opposed to sitting in traffic, and was quite happy that this cache was there for me to find. Very nice placement! Thanks for the cache and the pleasurable delay getting home.

Jul 25, 2007

STOP AND GO,GO,GO, 3

By: TEAM CAPSAICIN Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

7:50am: Placed on the way to drop Geo Baby at daycare, but I got the distinct impression that someone in a red beetle was following us... N 37 33.320 W 121 59.324

Jul 24, 2007

STOP AND GO,GO,GO, 3

By: TEAM CAPSAICIN Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

9:42pm: cache retrieved. It seems tired so we'll give it a place to sleep tonight, then it's back to work in the morning!

STOP AND GO,GO,GO, 3

By: TEAM CAPSAICIN Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

puzzle? if you haven't placed it, just say so. otherwise, it would be much nicer not to mess with the instructions on a 1.5/1 traditional cache that you don't own.

Jul 22, 2007

Temple of Doom

By: Travieso Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

This was our destination cache today, since we were in the area celebrating a family birthday with a pirate pool party. Temple of Doom sounded like just the cache to top the afternoon off! WalruZ had a little trouble spotting the numbers at stage one, so I was afraid that perhaps they'd been covered over with directions to alternate locations, but once I had a look around it all became clear. Found the final resting spot and vanquished its spider guardians. I'm not sure the hint still applies, but I could have misunderstood... I can see where someone would find this area a tad spooky, but all I could think about was how some collective body must've paid (maybe still are) for those buildings at some point. What a waste. At least we have a cache to put the land to good use! Thanks.

Jul 15, 2007

Scar

By: zapboy Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Regular

This is a wonderful loop for moderate family hiking. Of course there's lots of poison oak all over this park, but with the toddler in the pack that was not a concern. This cache was the start of our hike, after a quick stop for WalruZ to grab a roadside find. It was in great shape, as one would expect from these containers. I think we've got a bunch from a Costco special ourselves! TFTC.

Timber Wolf

By: zapboy Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

Mom to the rescue! This was an interesting object to search in, although I think WalruZ was a bit overzealous and perhaps didn't realize that Geo Baby sits up somewhat higher on his back these days. I guess it's time to readjust that seat in the pack some more... I think we found a cute necklace for Geo Baby here, and traded some other small toys in. Thanks!

Toad in the Hole

By: zapboy Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Small

Ribbit, ribbit -- "ooooh a pretty necklace" -- ribbit! I traded a Whitney Benchmark pin for the wooden heart necklace that Geo Baby spotted me pulling out of the cache from about 20 feet away. This was a good thing, since the cache was rather full with it shoved in there. Thanks!

Watch out for Bears

By: zapboy Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

No bears today, unless you count WalruZ's mood after carrying Geo Baby around for 3 or 4 hours. We switched off to finish the loop shortly after this cache. Thanks for the stop on the hike!

Monkey Cache

By: zapboy Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Small

I could only direct the proceedings here, as WalruZ had been relieved of baby-carrying duty. He's of the right stature to look for these sorts of things anyway. I think Geo Baby will be going to daycare tomorrow parrotting "Watch your head, watch your head". With some of the stuff she's saying these days, they probably wonder what in the world we do on weekends... Swapped travelling geocoins. TFTC.

3 down and 15 to go

By: ed777 Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

We were out for a nice moderate loop of family hiking today, and although we didn't exactly hit 15 around here, we did a fair amount considering the baby is more of a toddler and thus weighs a whole lot more when riding on someone's back. Maybe I don't understand the title. We did this one as number 3 on the loop, though. I liked the hide, nice and sweet. Left a TB that might like to head out to the midwest someday. Thankfully I'm not going to be the one that takes it there. TFTC.

Franciscan Troll

By: ed777 Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

Ahhh, nice and straightforward. I knew just what to do as I ambled up to the cache site. We found the ammo can unlatched, although the lid was closed, so we remedied that when we replaced it. After that, we decided that we were up for the back two caches in the park as well, and did some backtracking to get to the Lost Creek loop. Thanks!

Sag Ponds on the San Andreas Fault

By: workerofwood adopted by Bootdisk Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Not chosen

Yessir, measured it I did, 43 feet. Of course the reading from the GPSr makes no sense given the EPE under trees and the total distance measured, and it is certainly not what I would consider experiment-worthy. Of course, in my line of work the equipment with which to measure the pond would be standardized across experimenters, and thus left in a nice little hiding place for each party to retrieve. And, you could put little markers for the sag pond measurement start and stop points. That way the only confounding issue in your experiment would be the human measurement error. As it is now, you've got multiple confounds in a temporal comparison between distance travelled via fault separation -- at least 3 that I can figure... WalruZ sent all our other answers, though.

Girlie Pants' Cache

By: javrach Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

I had spent the last .3 or so discussing (and then bargaining for) the finer points of one keeping their hat on during a hike. "See, Daddy has his hat on." "See, Mommy has her hat on." "Baby should put her hat back on..." That didn't work, so we resorted to "If you want your pacifier, you have to wear your hat. Package deal" So, you'll notice both a pacifier and a hat in the picture. After finding the pretty and perfectly-sized heart bracelet in exchange for some pirate money (because girls like money, doncha know), our conversation did not have to center around hats and pacifiers anymore! Thanks!

Jul 14, 2007

The Dead Fish Lives!

By: Binky del Mar Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I arrived at the cache site with Geo Baby this morning, and had rockstar parking to look for the cache. I hadn't read any information on it, so of course I go for the typical hides before honing in on the new style. Thanks for pointing this unique view of the bridge out to us today!

Wanna Place To Play?

By: Hischild314 Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

This was a good end to a day of a lot of driving caching, swimming, birthday party, and more caching for Geo Baby and I. When we arrived at the park, there wasn't anyone around. I figured that she had sat in the car enough that a little trip on the toddler playground wouldn't be a bad idea, but it turned out that she wanted to walk around first and check things out, so we found the cache and then slid to her heart's content. A bunch of kids came just as we started playing on the playground, so I'm glad we did the cache first! Thanks!

Water Fall Park

By: A Team Vallejo Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

Geo Baby and I had a nice short walk to the cache site from parking, and although the fall wasn't working it was a nice place to stop and take care of some baby type issues. She really wanted to climb down into where the rocks were. I think this is because she has a thing for rocks these days, but it was all I could do to keep her topside while I signed the log... We traded a bracelet for a pair of toddler sunglasses, which kept her occupied long enough for me to replace the cache before she started her descent to collect all the rock manna... Thanks for the cache!

Travel Bug Olympics

By: mcl768 Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Regular

Cache seemed to be in very good shape, although the contents were rather sparse for the size of the container. I had a TB I was going to leave, but there were no travel bugs in the cache at all and I was sure that I remembered the cache page indicating at least 3 should have been in there. With that squirrelly business of cache contents and TBs, I thought it best just to sign the log and move on. Thanks for the cache.

The End

By: Binky del Mar Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

Quick find for Geo Baby and I on our way home from a kid's birthday pool party in Vacaville. I had noticed the cache on my map and saw the title object on the way up, since we made a stop at the nearby Longs, but were short on time and so saved it for our first stop on the way back. Thanks.

Hyper Jaden's Cache

By: knlcox Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

Given the difference in the amount of people coming and going on that side of the fence versus the side of the fence that I was on, I was sure that I had chosen the correct side. Then I had a little trouble finding the cache, taking the hint a little too much to heart, so I starting doubting myself and noticing that there was a whole other wall beside me that the cache could be over. Luckily I decided to stick it out with the side I'd chosen and found the cache in short order. Thanks!

Workin a Getout

By: MartianRabbit Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Not chosen

When I drove in to the general cache vicinity, I took note of all those signs up there, Electronic surveillance and all, and thought that maybe I'd pass this one by. Good thing I stopped near the zero and read the cache page, because I wasn't scared after I read explicitly that there was owner permission. So I smiled for the cameras and proceeded to search. Thanks for the green light on the cache page and thanks for the cache!

Field Of Dreams, Memories That Last

By: CoachTony Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

The cache seems to be back at the height it was intended, since at 5'6" it was a bit of a reach for me. While I have a few years before Geo Baby is able to participate, I do hope that I'll be able to help her have a youth sports career. I'd like it to be a more organic process than I've witnessed in some families, however, and I want her to be able to just try things out and switch sports and stuff. I'm not sure how all that works if both parents have full time jobs, though. I remember from my childhood most activities like that being on weekdays after school at other places that one's parents had to drive them to. I guess I'll find out when I get to the Other Side, eh? One step at a time... I benefitted from youth team sports, although I didn't start playing until middle school for a variety of homelife reasons -- many to do with that full time parental job thing. That meant I didn't have a whole lot of fundamentals instruction that some kids had by age 13, but I managed to make the cut for my Jr. High softball team in 7th grade. I didn't make the team in 8th, however. I also remember not making the basketball teams in Jr. High. Back then we were in the first few years of Title IX, and so the resources for girls' sports in public schools were minimal at best -- some might even say "forced" -- and not everyone could be accomodated with a spot on some level of team (the boys did have a "C" team for football, basketball, and baseball, however). I ended up playing in High School, various JV and Varsity teams in softball, basketball and field hockey. I tweaked my knees during that time somewhat fierce. In college I was in a knee stabilizer for a month during the time that I should have been trying out for the DivIII Basketball team my freshman year. I ended up rowing on the Women's crew the next few years. That's the only digital photo I have at the moment, so while I may not be the youthful athlete you intended for photos to post, here it is...

Thanks for the cache.

Oh No, Not Another Micro

By: Team Borge Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I didn't get the best parking, but it wasn't bad! I had arrived at an opportune break in the muggle activity, but as soon as I made the grab I was innundated by returnees to the nearest minivan. Geo Baby and I had a nice conversation with the cache in the car until they left and I could replace it. TFTC.

The Y

By: Wandering Ron Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

I was out in the Pinole area caching on my way from Fremont to Vacaville with Geo Baby and it occurred to me that with "convenient parking" as advertised in a previous log, I could probably do this one too. Thanks for the cache!

Jul 13, 2007

Tara's Guardrail

By: RV CREW Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

Found BART, exited Balboa Park station, got disoriented because no waypoints were in my GPSr, hand-entered coordinates from Cachemate, headed to this cache first, got confused by hint, saw cache, signed log, hoofed it to the nearby caches. Not quite as concise as DT21FW's trip, but I did spare the air in the process!. Thanks!

Bart: Balboa Park Station

By: Blanston12 Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

This morning I rode BART just a little farther than I normally would, in order to visit the four caches that seem to have popped up in the last year or so within walking distance of the station. I was going to hit this one first, but then noticed that I could make a nice squareish loop of it by hitting this one last. Thanks for not making it an ivy hide -- that would have been pure evil at this location, and thanks for the cache!

Welcome to Phelan U!

By: paperson (adopted by jellis50 then dimkasmir) Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

Summer session must not be very well-attended during the day, there weren't too many people around to worry about. I needed the hint to narrow down the search area, as I was trying to get back to work via BART within a reasonable time frame, although it was only marginally helpful in doing so. Found quicker than I might have thought anyway... Thanks for putting a cache at CCSF - I've been meaning to come check things out around here for the last two years.

See See Hidden Walkway (aka Bart Balboa Park)

By: paperson (adopted by jellis50) Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

I was doing the rounds of CCSF caches that could be walked to from the BART station this morning on my "way" to work. I'd been by this one before, old timer that it is... As for finding the cache, I got very lucky this visit and walked right to it! As for having the place crawling with people, well, not so lucky today. There was a family with toddlers enjoying the overpass -- no, really, they were hanging out there looking at the cars! One of the adults was walking back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth up the walkway that I needed to be searching. Although I'm sure I looked suspicious and/or odd during my loitering, I was glad to have honed in on the cache so quickly so that I could reduce the amount of strangeness going on there! TFTC.

Jul 11, 2007

Picnic Area May Be Reserved

By: the_navigator_25 and fence_climber Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I had an opportunity to pick up Geo Baby a little early from daycare and run an errand or two before dinnertime and bedtime came upon us. I'd been by here a few times in the last few months, but those times were on weekends and, well, that's just not going to work here. I really thought this would be a slamdunk tonight -- middle of the week and a little chilly to boot. Wrong. On a Wednesday night around most people's dinnertimes, there was a family in the immediate vicinity enjoying some take out for dinner and not going anywhere particularly soon. So, I availed myself of the nearby Target to get my errand done and pick up some snack food. Geo Baby and I picked the closest empty picnic table to zero and surveyed the situation. Then we ate. Then we waited. Then we did normal Mom-and-toddler stuff when toddler wants to run around the tables. Then I just went and did it, seeing as how I don't think I was being watched at that point. It took a few tries, and I'm really glad that I didn't have to expand my search area, because that would have put me right where the other family was hanging out. And like I said, they weren't leaving anytime soon... Thanks.

Jul 10, 2007

Barts Brew

By: jr2bail Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

Wow, I don't think I've ever revisited a totally different cache that was placed in such close proximity and in such a similar manner as a prior cache! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1c4a9d96-d341-431b-a972-c78a7ad3dded & log=y & decrypt= It was like deja vu or something, only it's blue instead of yellow. Hopefully it will have a better reception than the last. It's even funnier that it only took 2 months from archive for someone to fill the hole, as it is. Anyway, I picked up Geo Baby from daycare and headed over this way. We enjoyed watching the Jr. Giants camp that was going on until they packed up and headed off. That left a good opportunity to hunt with Geo Baby wandering in various places before the adult leagues started up.

Jul 8, 2007

Without Pier

By: CKayaks Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 5.0 Container: Small

This was the first stop for our intrepid (and rather large) group of kayakers, led by WoW and aided by his professional resources. I had kayaked before, but that was several years ago and on the nice, tame river that runs beside Darthmouth College during a summer fellowship. Thing about those Northeast recreation outfits: they're absolutely no where near any waves or tidal changes or motor boats and the like. There's only current and maybe, if you aren't careful and are out too early in the morning, an 8-man rowing shell might blow by you and you'll get a dirty look from the coxswain... So, needless to say, I was trying out the water on the way to this cache -- literally. It seemed pretty calm to me. I wasn't the first up to the site, so there wasn't much room for me and my float at the cache location by the time I paddled up. I saw the nice hide, though, and now understand WoW's log from 6/5. I was careful not to bonk my head as the log was signed, since the tides were moving me in that direction. Thanks for the cache!

Go Cal Bears!

By: CKayaks Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 5.0 Container: Small

Kayaking cache number 2 today on our afternoon on the water, courtesy of WoW. I decided about half way to the cache from Without Pier that I could've really used a coxswain for this one. This was quite a paddle out from Without Pier for novice kayakers, and I started to feel myself falling into the old rower's trap of trying to move my torso back and forth, using my lower back muscles, instead of twisting and using the shoulders. That sort of had my arms working overtime, but it was well worth it to experience the mostly calm water and some fun wakes, too! I was in the middle group that reached the cache site and was happy to see ample kayak parking spaces... We passed the log over and off to the next! Thanks!

Port Of Redwood City Redux

By: CKayaks Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

I meandered around the search area this afternoon, very grateful that I had alotted plenty of time before our kayaking meetup to search for a couple of caches. I finally paced off the area of interest, and then started searching likely candidate locations. Eventually I hit on the cache! Thanks for the hide!

JAFLP-Portside

By: CKayaks Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I planned my afternoon to arrive at the port a little early so that I would have plenty of time to catch the few caches on land that I still had to do. This was my first stop, and despite the women sitting on a bench a small distance away, I was able to retrieve quickly enough that they couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Luckily they had chosen a different bench than the one I liked! Thanks for the cache!

Lots Of Juice

By: CKayaks Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 5.0 Container: Small

This cache was number 3 on the water for me today. After doing Go Cal Bears nearby, we had a good idea of the drill for this cache. Again, ample kayak parking was available for our large group, although it did appear that a queue was forming to get to the cache! We actually hit these last two caches in 3 dynamic subgroups. I think your trifecta of water-bound caches has convinced me that I need to get on the water more often, and if more often means kayaks rather than rowing shells, I probably should seek out some professional coaching on kayak paddling versus rowing strokes! Maybe I just have had too much training with one portside oar, and need to train myself to paddle harder on the starboard side... Thanks for the caches!

Jul 7, 2007

California's Lucky 7s - Meet, Greet Eat

By: Marky Joani Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Not chosen

We showed up about a half hour before the prescribed start time, which gave us a chance to get some food and a good seat before the coin-festivities began. Thanks for the very sparkly coins. We had a nice time at this event and enjoyed saying hi to the geocachers congregating in the portion of the room we were in. There were so many others that we didn't get to talk to, but that's the coop for you... The toddler meltdown started a little later than I had anticipated, so I even got to have some conversation after eating! Yay! Somehow (but not surprisingly), I missed out on the poker...

What I wouldn't do for a Geocoin - Multicache

By: frivlas Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Small

We were toodling on down to the event this evening after a nice boring afternoon of dishwasher shopping. I really should have put Geo Baby's "I'd rather be geocaching" shirt on her today, but I thought that we might actually do some, so I stuck her in normal clothes. At the final cache site, I tagged out after WalruZ and winini found it to go and search on my own. WalruZ's geko with the fancy compass pointed straight to it and I found it quite quickly. Unfortunately, Geo Baby was too fatigued to get this find. Left a couple toys and a travelling geocoin, since this is a geocoin themed cache after all...

HBJ, the sequel

By: The Storyteller Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

We usually park our car on that street behind the Coop for events there, but today it looked like everyone else had decided to do the same thing, so we ambled over this way to see if the parking structure was mysteriously full. It was quite spacious, actually. Weird. Anyhow, I did some reconnoitering on the way over to the event and then picked up the cache on our way back to the car afterwards. I think I might have contributed to the confusion of a cacher looking for the cache in the general vicinity (a guy with a 60 series garmin 'round, say, 8:15) becuase I had retrieved the cache out of view just prior to his arrival, and then put it back whilst he was elsewhere looking around. That would freak me out if I came back around and there it was when it so wasn't there 2 minutes before... Thanks for the cache!

Jul 6, 2007

Where are the fish?

By: jellis50 Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

I think I'm just destined to keep DNFing this cache...

Ron Wiley's Cache

By: jellis50 Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

Guy on the bench watching his fishing pole made it impossible to search around 0. Maybe another time, perhaps...

Jul 5, 2007

California's Lucky 7s - Meet, Greet Eat

By: Marky Joani Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Not chosen

I think we'll be stopping by on the early side of seven, as the child's dinner typically occurs before then (and bedtime a mere hour later). Wait, is that unlucky? Maybe I should try to shift her schedule a bit before Saturday...

Jul 3, 2007

ABC - A BETA Cache

By: The BETA Team Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Regular

Yup, a FTF on a brand-spankin' new logsheet. But wait! I'm reading the description (after finding the cache) to see just why in the blarneystone we could've gotten to this cache first. I notice that it's a regular and we just signed a virgin logsheet in a film can. Hmmm. Hey, there's the real cache, not 10 feet away. So what's the micro? You're guess is as good as mine... Thanks for the cache, and a little mystery in our hiking day.

Happy Trails

By: antiqueaddict Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

These caches close to the newish Creekside Terrace parking areas were really just our warm-up caches, so I was a little miffed that WalruZ was already having issues with our hike. He found his stride later on in the day, perhaps he just needed to get up in the wind to remind him how much he liked being in nature (and not sitting down on the ticks' dinner table). Thanks for the cache!

A powerful cache!

By: Team Jack-Jack Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Small

Lettuce appears to be the harvest of this week. That, and a nicely, hidden drive-by cache. We had a fairly late start for a day of caching in Ft. Ord, but we weren't going to risk getting too tired to pick this one up on our way out, and got it on the way in instead. Thanks for the stop on our way to a day of Ft. Ord exploring. I'm so glad that they've put in the Creekside Terrace parking areas now -- much better than finding room by the side of the lettuce... Thanks!

Here's to Friendship!

By: LFoucht RoanQ Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Regular

We had a nice conversation with the BLM Fire guys about all sorts of things just before finding this cache, so it was a pretty appropriate meeting friends and caching experience! Thanks for the nicely-stocked cache!

Forgotten Outpost

By: Koolrat Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Micro

On a nice hike in the Creekside Terrace area of Ft. Ord with WalruZ. We had enjoyed a nice hike up to the nearby ridgebluff, and then down the back of it, and now it was around the side to find some more caches! WalruZ found this one in a place that I had already looked. Don't know why I couldn't see it, but sometimes those types of cammo become invisible to me! Thanks for the cache!

MTBs Beware!

By: LFoucht Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Micro

We scoured the area, and I finally saw it on the ground, but it couldn't have been there before so I must have disturbed the item that I saw it under and caused it to fall. We put it back there. I can see where a MTB might come crashing through there and hit the cache hiding spot and disturb it much more than my use of it as a hand hold would! No MTBs around on the non-paved trails today, for some reason. In fact, it was pretty underused from what I expected, although not everyone takes the extra holiday days off. TFTC.

Creekside Trail Mossy Oak

By: Koolrat Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

A nice little trail to adventure on before starting a long long long loop around the Creekside Terrace area out to where Engineer's road meets Jack's road. We had a fun time with the ticks on this hike. Of course the hike was a lot farther than just this trail, but they were ready and waiting to jump on us here! Thanks.

Topsy Turvy

By: The Plunketts Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Regular

Quite a few muggle logs, but the cache survives. This was our last cache find of the area before hoofing it back up and over the little hump to the Creekside Terrace parking area. I'm sure glad they put that parking area in! The area has some fabulous ridge views and the new parking area makes them much more accessible to the moderate day hiker! Thanks for the cache!

Salinas Ridge

By: Sirius and Red Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 3.0 Container: Regular

Another very nice location in Ft. Ord. We almost passed this one up in favor of heading down the valley and back to the car, but it seemed that the trail we were on could lead us right to the ridge without much elevation gain. I'm glad we did it. Like at Bonus Bench, we had a great view of the lay of the land eastward, and the trails to take back to the parking area. Thanks!

Bonus Bench

By: Sirius and Red Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 3.0 Container: Regular

For as simply-hidden as this cache is, it was sure hard to find. We were combing both sides, going down a little, going back a little, going forth a little until we found... a letterbox. Oops. So excited for the wrong thing. Okay, back to the drawing board. Start at 0 feet. Moving out and around in a circular fashion trying to check everything eventually did it for me. I located the cache in a perfectly reasonable spot. Nice area for a little lunch. Thanks!

Green Acres

By: Just a Short Walk Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

I was thinking we were heading a little too far off trail for a 1.5 terrain, but then I saw this was a 2001 cache, where you take ratings with a grain of salt. They are getting pretty weird about the off-trailing around here, some BLM Fire guys spoke with us later in the day about it and about the bad rap geocachers are getting with the rangers. Because the park is overrun with geocachers and all... 'course there's no on-leash rule for dogs, either. Enough ranting about that. Anyhow, prime tick biosphere and WalruZ and goes and sits down right in the middle of it. Collected at least 5 of the buggers that I could flick off. Saw two in the evening that had been hiding out making their way up his shirt to the cover of his hair. I'm not tick-phobic, but I'm not going to plant myself down on their dinner table, either.... TFTC.

Jul 2, 2007

Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines

By: The Saints Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

We all somehow forgot to log this one from our trip down to Monterey over the 4th. It was fitting to find this one over the weekend of patriotic activity, and we usually love wandering through this particular establishment to see what supplies we might need, but we were in a hurry to get down to Grandma's this time and didn't go in after finding the cache. Thanks!

Chalk Walk

By: Wavesprite Tigsurfn Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Small

I'm not too fond of night caching these days, but WalruZ really wanted to catch this one on our way back to our Monterey abode after hiking up Palo Corona. WalruZ has a nice 2-LED flashlight, and I carry a maglight. I think my flashlight was a little more diffuse than his, allowing me to pick up the cache spot quickly and from much farther away. This was good since we didn't need to attract any nude people's attention with waving beams and such. Thanks for the cache!

Animas Pond

By: LBREWSTER (maintained by Walruz) Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Micro

We had the OSP to ourselves today, apparently being the only permit issued. We got down to the Monterey area in mid-afternoon and promptly all fell asleep. When we woke up from our naps, we checked to see what the OSP closing time was and were happy to see it was sunset since that would allow us enough time to get up and back. I had a nice dinner with the WalruZ near the cache site, and although I prefer the views at You're Inspirational, the sounds at this cache are much better. This hike is becoming one of my favorites, having done it just under a handful of times now. Thanks!

You're Inspirational!

By: WalruZ Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

This hike just keeps getting better and better. Watch for ticks on the way out to the tables, though!

Cemetery Cache

By: 50sumtin Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

Geo Baby took an uncommon interest in a nearby redwood tree with a nice stone and wrought-iron gating around it. Since I wasn't reading better than 80 feet anywhere, I just decided to center my search there and watch Geo Baby (who was also carrying a duckie TB that I didn't want her to lose) as well. WalruZ ended up finding the cache after saying several choice words about my GPSr (which HE got for me as a birthday present, sheeeesh!). Thanks for the cache!

Santa Cruz Mission Plaza II

By: 50sumtin Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

Ah, now this plaza certainly is a waymarkers' paradise... I was looking around for a Bell, but it seems that the current catholic church is not impressed with their own history and place in the building of California, so I'll settle for visiting the CHM plaque. Anyhow, Geo Baby enjoyed watching the fountain (while Daddy took some photos of that too) and yelling "water water". I think our exuberant toddler ran off one of the three solo guys that were napping on the lawn, the other apparently needed a hit to deal with her. Man, it was starting to get hot here -- and here I thought we were coming out to the coast. where's all the fog!? Thanks for the cache.

Bluegrass Bob TB cache

By: capnjack46 Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Small

We had quite the epic adventure while searching for this cache! I had no good idea of where we should be since the GPSr was always reading 250 feet at this point, and I didn't seem to be able to letterbox my way to the cache with the clues in the hint. I blame it on having the almost-2 year old either hanging on my hip or fighting about holding my hand for the whole journey. It was a great cemetary with lots of nice history and old-timey landscaping. I had the kid out and walking for most of our search, up the (wrong) foothill path, looking at all the interesting scenery, until we started having a little too much trouble with the toddler going to grab cast-off bottles and such. After WalruZ backtracked and got signal, we realized that we were no where near where we needed to be and he was able to find our clues to get the cache while I wrangled the toddler toward the proper direction! Thanks.

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