buckyd's Geoblog

Mar 31, 2008

g.S.F.R?T. Moving Cache

By: 26 Fe via SirGerald, adopted by BuckyD Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

Back in service, in the hands of mini-cacher, who will place it tomorrow. Yay!

g.S.F.R?T. Moving Cache

By: 26 Fe via SirGerald, adopted by BuckyD Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I've adopted the cache, and will work towards having it back in service by the end of the week.

Mar 30, 2008

The Legends of Milpitas

By: GeoBrowns Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Small

The container needs some attention, or at least a dried-out logbook in a ziploc.

More Power!!!

By: way2wild & Anonymous Accomplice Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

We came by and hung out at the site from about 9:30am to 10:15am, and then Geo Baby and I got in a little row about throwing a GPSr and I decided that I'd had enough of the area and we went to get some breakfast. While eating our bagels, WalruZ and I just couldn't stop thinking that we had to be missing something to DNF a cache in that kind of area, so after everyone finished their food at about 10:45 we went back to the site to have another go. Turns out DandM had just arrived and were starting a search. After about 5 or 10 minutes, I spotted the cache in a place that I know we had searched on our first visit. WalruZ maintains that someone must have taken off with the cache and returned it while we were having breakfast, since two groups were logged on paper between Blanston12's visit and ours. I don't know about that, but I'm baffled at how we didn't see it on our first go-round! Thanks for the mystery!

The Legends of Milpitas

By: GeoBrowns Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Small

Nice sculpture. Signed with permanent pen under the names of jholly and sjkel. Good luck getting the pages of the logbook to separate, though, it's thoroughly soaked and took some doing (and a few rips) to find the last page on which to sign... Didn't want to leave a TB or coin, given the moisture issues.

Yellowstone Park

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

Brought some geo-cover back with me today, and after breakfast we all went out "in search of a playground". I was thinking that this cache was going to be harder than it really was, given the past logs, but a little work with Geo Baby's help and it was mine. The container is quite moist inside, but the log is doing okay. Geo Baby chose a mammoth and I dropped in a few Jungle tokens and a traveling geocoin. Thanks!

Mar 29, 2008

The Mint Box

By: geomagguy Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

A little more than 30 years ago, I used to take drama and ballet lessons nearby. I guess I was a little distracted by the new buildings, so WalruZ ended up with the find. Thanks.

The Sam Box

By: geomagguy Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Regular

Yep, been to this park and this very spot a few times. This one looks like it will last a while, and so big too! Thanks.

Where The Sidewalk Ends

By: Somethings Fishy Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

It was the end, alright, but the beginning of our day. People really whiz by on Tasman, don't they? Thanks for the cache.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #39

By: WalruZ Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

It's deja vu all over again. Wait, maybe not, well, sorta, but that's another cache around here now. Geez, are we getting old?

Somewhere Along the Secret Pathway

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

This one was on the way to the Pep Rally, mostly since we were taking the residential streets through Sunnyvale to get there, and WalruZ made pretty quick work of it. Thanks.

Semi-Secret Subliminally Hidden Walkway #42

By: L-grl Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

It is always fun to come back to the old neighborhoods, even though WalruZ and Geo Baby collectively roll their eyes every time I point out a softball field I used to work at or the library I used to ride my bike to many a weekend and summer day. Personally, I think this area could handle a bigger cache, but you do what ya gotta... Thanks.

GW6 Pep Rally

By: BADGES Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Not chosen

Enjoyed the big BADGES-style event, although its getting harder and harder to accommodate the crowds! We're already all set up for GW6, at the level of participation that we can manage, so we're looking forward to the holiday weekend away. Thanks.

School's Close

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

Always a flood of memories when I'm back in the area... I attended the nearby school back when it was still open to the public. My best friend in 5th grade lived in the complex the cache is hidden in. We used to jump the back fence when the yard duty wasn't watching and eat everything in her fridge for lunch. Good times. Traded a geopin for a heart bracelet for Geo Baby. Thanks for the cache.

Knick Knack Paddy Whack ?

By: OT_Tucker Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Large

We enjoyed having a nice big cache to paw through, har har. Dropped a Tb or two, took another TB, and traded a pin for a kitty sticker that Geo Baby stuck somewhere on her carseat. Thanks.

Mar 23, 2008

A Champion's Moat

By: Geokashers Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Micro

I made my way out there in my Easter-wear and looked around for the blinkie, but honestly after looking for a few of 'em in a short period of time, I find them a little tiring, particularly if the area can handle something bigger as one feature of the immediate site could. WalruZ didn't even want to get out of the car, so after this we headed home.

'Waiting for the Train'

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

Quick find for WalruZ (not me, I was flailing around) after having a great Easter brunch with the family at a restaurant around the corner. Thanks.

River Rock Bridge

By: Geokashers Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Not chosen

After pulling out the handy dandy description, this was a relatively quick find. Of course we didn't do that until we were ready to leave with a DNF... Go Figure. Coords had me at the neighbor's driveway, so a systematic search from there was required.

Mar 22, 2008

Under the Tree's

By: Samanthalex Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Regular

We were just kind of lazing around all day today, and had just finished a viewing of The Jungle Book with no real intention of going on our own nature adventure. As Geo Baby was bouncing off the furniture, I opened up the laptop to discover a new cache had been published less than a half hour prior in a nearby hiking area. Better yet, it was an ammo box and so we could legitimately entice both LeChuck and Geo Baby into a hike with the spectre of trading toys. Not really gunning for a FTF (particularly since it took another half hour just to corral Geo Baby from jumping on the bed, out of her dress, and into her hiking jeans and shoes), we met DandM fresh from the kill and enjoyed a round-about walk to and from the cache site with them. Trading was done and everyone left happy. Thanks for the cache.

Mar 19, 2008

SF Playgrounds - Parkside Square

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

After making a nearby mother nervous enough to leave, I was finally able to go for the last reasonable hide location that I hadn't been able to search. Being a mom myself, but with Geo Baby unavailable to help with weekday San Francisco caching, I felt kinda bad. To be fair to future seekers of this cache, I would recommend full disclosure of the relevant municipal regulation that one might end up breaking to get this one (see photo).

Mar 18, 2008

Movie Day

By: beachbum67, BayAreaLiz and Dialerman Difficulty: 3.5 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

The last movie we saw in a theater was Serenity, and since that's been out on DVD now for like forever, it was getting embarrassing that we hadn't had a traditional "adult" night out in a while. Never fear, Grandma to the rescue and we had a bona fide date night. But what would date night be without a cache? I am not sure WalruZ and I have ever gone on a date where a cache wasn't somehow involved, so we attempted this one. It was dark, we were "dressed up" in date night finery, the sweeper person was circling us, we were looking and looking, we read all the found logs on my Treo, and after quite some time WalruZ came up with it. Perhaps it would have been tons easier in the day -- knowing that Kablooey has been here multiple times, probably all at night, I feel for him. I'd seen that kind of hide style/container before, but I wouldn't have guessed it would be used in this way in this environment. Truly evil, at least in the dark without the ability to use a flashlight (talk about using no stealth...).

Mar 16, 2008

Willow Springs Meets Rancho San Ysidro

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

A quick find during a great (windy) mid-March hike! I bet it gets nice and toasty up here in the summer! Thanks for the cache.

On the way in

By: Pal_Al Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

First cache of the afternoon for WalruZ and I. We've driven by here too many times to count, but today was the day that circumstances allowed us to stop. We wandered around for a little, then WalruZ spotted it. Thanks.

On The Rocks

By: #1 geobears Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Small

We had a nice, albeit short, walk in nature to get to this cache, before hitting Harvey Bear for more nature and more walking. Thanks.

Harvey Coyote

By: hotshoe Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Small

I think at this point we were pretty glad to see that the rest of the hike was going to be downhill. I don't know how we managed to get so out of shape, given that we hike carrying a toddler on a monthly basis, but perhaps we need to work on getting out there a bit more often! At the cache site, I walked around the obvious landmark to see what I could see before jumping in and disturbing too many things. I saw what I needed to and the disturbance was naught. Thanks!

Harvey Bear

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

This cache was our last stop on the loop. It sure gets found a lot more often than you might think it does! I had a good time sitting on one of the many spots available to relax and thumbing through the logbook. It appears that two groups of noncachers found the cache and signed in today before we came on site (~4pm)! Great tree for relaxing, which is probably why this one gets discovered so much. We looked around for some natural cammo to help hide it, but there wasn't much out there. Thanks.

Bearly Visible

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

WalruZ and I took a ~6 mile walk around Harvey Bear today, marvelling at the wonderful green rolling hills and how strong the wind seemed to be up there. Saw some interesting birds, a couple of squirrels, and several exercising horses on the loop. I really enjoyed this cache, maybe because most of the uphill was behind us, but more because I could finally see Coyote Lake from the vantage point. Dropped a Tb, thanks!

Goin' on a Bear Hunt

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

We were all celebrating Grandma Katie's birthday today at my brother's place in Morgan Hill, and Grandma's present was to get to spend a few days with Geo Baby without any fuddy-duddy parents hanging around. So, after the (surprisingly brief) festivities were taken care off, Grandma Katie whisked Geo Baby off to Monterey in her car, and we were left the whole afternoon to take a hike minus 35 pounds. We came to Harvey Bear and did the ~6 mil e loop, catching this cache on the uphill pull. I enjoyed finding a nice big cache and pawing through swag (didn't see any travelers), and WalruZ commented on the nice placement. It's quite beautiful here when it is so green out. Thanks.

Mar 15, 2008

Pecot Place - #2

By: cjspontiac Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

We came here as our first stop this morning, giving WalruZ just a little support in his old DNF, and also in the hopes that the rain would subside so that we could get a little walk with Geo Baby in. That big grey cloud was just hanging over Milpitas, sporadically dropping lots of rain, so after finding the cache we opted to head a bit northwest up the peninsula where it looked sunnier. Thanks!

Auld Lang Syne

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

We were toodling around today looking for a nice non-rainy spot to take a family walk. We headed for this cache as a warm-up, as we have a few puzzles in Shoreline to get, but just after finding this one at 11 in the morning Geo Baby decided that she was hungry and it was time for lunch instead of "hiking", so over the freeway to get fake tacos we went. After lunch, the executive decision was made to delay nap so that we could actually do some walking. No coins were in the cache when I was there... Thanks for the cache.

Jackrabbit Crossing

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

Instead of sticking my hands blindly in holes, which I never recommend as a geocaching strategy, I used the tried-and-true method of looking at the terrain rating and behaving accordingly. With that as my guide, I selected a vantage point that allowed me to spot part of the cache and most of its environs before I reached for it. What skill! What knowledge! What prowess! Okay, well, enough of that. No rabbits anywhere today, but it was midday and there were people reasonably nearby, so if I were a rabbit I would make like a tree and leave, too. Enjoyed the "seat" at the location and fit in a TB while I signed the log for my group (who opted to remain at Terrain 1 locations). Great hide and thanks for the cache.

Five a Day

By: fulmar2 Difficulty: 4.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

This cache was brought to my attention by WalruZ, since the posted coords are way out of the range that I typically have for looking at puzzles, and he usually doesn't do puzzles, but he somehow figured out that we have managed to walk by it repeatedly since it was published. We solved it some time ago, and were waiting for our next trip out that way, when it wasn't raining, to pick it up. Nice construction. thanks.

The Yellow Brick Road

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

I did the necessary legwork with my brain a while back, and being somewhat familiar with the area I was pretty confident that things were where I thought they were, except for that little twist at the end... WalruZ made quick work of the first part, and Geo Baby enjoyed most of her walk. Unfortunately on the way there, though, she was running on the trail and stumbled and split her lip a bit -- now with a fat lip she's even harder to understand! She's a trooper, and once we got her cleaned up a bit and things were clotting over, she wanted to keep going on our walk. Dropped a traveling coin here, thanks!

Northern CA Solar System Model: Ganymede

By: bthomas (Maintained by MotorBug) Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Small

Out for a little walk today in the area, and left the family behind at an interpretive plaque to run over here and take a look for this cache. Geo Baby had just about had it and was ready for nap, so it seemed like the right thing to do to let Dad take her back to the car to start a nap. After many visits to this particular bench area, I finally found the cache! Yay me. Swapped traveling coin for traveling care bear. Thanks for the replacement!

Northern CA Solar System Model: Shoemaker-Levy

By: bthomas (Maintained by MotorBug) Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

Out for a walk in the area today, picking up lots of puzzles that have been sitting in our "solved" bookmarks as well as letting the child walk a bit so that she'd have a quality afternoon nap. Geo Baby accompanied me all the way to the cache site, apparently feeling like a lion while braving the head-high plants on the way. With all the green growth around, I almost missed the cache! Thanks.

Mar 12, 2008

Cache of the Lake

By: Ukrainian_by_tha_bay Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Regular

Beautiful morning to take a walk around the Lake. Alas, I had to get some work done reasonably soon, so I couldn't linger much longer than it took to wait out some mini-loiterers on the dock. Left two travelers, took one. Thanks for the quick stop on my way in to work!

Mar 10, 2008

Fishing for Nemo

By: WalruZ Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

Looks like c-pin found that shark I was angling for...

Mar 9, 2008

It's deja vu all over again

By: Maverix Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 3.0 Container: Small

WalruZ, Geo Baby and I decided to take a hike today (well, Geo Baby wasn't entirely on board, but she enjoyed herself anyway). We had originally planned to hang out in Sunol, but because of the time change and breakfast and reading a few books and getting everyone dressed and everything else involved with toddler-friendly weekend mornings, well, Sunol really wasn't going to fit in the remaining hours of the day. So, off we headed with the idea that we might make it to the two caches remaining for us on this side of the park. We enjoyed the walk up to this one (well, Geo Baby enjoyed walking until the uphill part, where she opted to ride), and the views while we swapped travellers. After surveying the direction over to the other cache, we decided to leave that for another day, as Geo Baby was already asking when lunch was going to happen. Thanks for the cache.

Mar 8, 2008

Ben there, done that

By: GeoBrowns Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

This morning Geo Baby happily jogged into our room and made sure that we knew that she was awake and ready to have fun, so it looked like someone was going to have to get up work-early and go run the child. Today I seemed to be the more coherent, which is not always the case, so after a bit of breakfast and getting ready, out we went to find a playground. Somehow, my car drove us to Milpitas where, after a necessary coffee stop, I saw this green box-thingy on a green patch of map on my GPSr. It looked promising, so off we went.

We parked near the cache site, but went directly over to examine the playground area, which took about an hour or so. We made friends with the rest of the park patrons, flew high in the baby swings, not-so-high in the big kid swings, found out that the slide was still wet, rocked on the motorcycle, and then went to look at the flowers near the cache area. While Geo Baby was having fun picking flowers out of the grass, I got a nonchalant-like chance to look around for the cache and try a few things out. Eventually, I tried the right thing. When I sat down to the business of signing the log, Geo Baby came over and helped, clearly pleased that a cache was part of our morning playground expedition. Later, while we were still there looking at little flowers, she tried to find the cache again by herself, but alas I had rehidden it too well... I think I must have the only 2 year old that can clearly say "I'm going to find the cache, Mommy, be back later". Thanks for the cache!

In Around the Park

By: Kenny162 Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

This is exactly the kind of cache that Geo Baby loves to do, and the kind of cache that Geo Baby is immensely helpful to cache with! We stayed about 45 minutes after the find, since the slide beckoned... Thanks.

Mar 5, 2008

SF Playgrounds - Children's Playground

By: abngreg (adopted by BuckyD) Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

On the few days a month that I work at our alternative location, this area is where I park (and move, and park, and move...). I had a little difficulty getting the log out of the container: tweezers would have helped, but I don't carry them in my work backpack. I also noticed, after replacing the cache, that someone was getting dressed in the backseat of the nearest car. Ooops. Anyway, after finding the cache, I strolled by the new playground -- they did a fantastic job on the design! Thanks.

Secret Shoreline

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

Just tryin' to keep it clean , erm, real man... I was on my way to work this morning on one of the few days a month that I drive to our alternative location (and at $3.50 a gallon, I'm glad I no longer work at that location all the time). Although I really wasn't running [i]that[/i] early, the day was so nice and all that I thought I'd do a lit tle home query map cleaning. I love these sorts of areas, although it was a bit of a challenge to find legal access (and apparently legal parking since what was available seemed to be filled with "non-public" folk). Spotted the nicely-made cache quickly and enjoyed a nice stroll by the water. Th anks!

Mar 2, 2008

No Camping

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

I ran my 100 cache query for our visit to the Jungle on this cache, so we just HAD to find at least this one today! Thanks for the cache.

Mar 1, 2008

Yosemite Passage

By: TeamSpider3 Difficulty: 1.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Micro

I focused on one particular hint-friendly location, but had mechanical difficulties with the search. I'll be back.

Yellowstone Park

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

I had part of a morning to "run errands" by myself, and somehow I ended up around here. Geo Baby was indisposed with her Daddy at the library, and these are just the sort of places that it comes in quite handy to have her "help" me cache. As I was starting to mount a search in the area, a group of tykes came to the area and were obviously waiting for me to leave, as this was the location of their playspot... Maybe another time, with more geo-cover.

Headstoned

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

I would like to say it was a quick find, but I had a certain mindset about where the cache would be, and it wasn't until I read a previous log that I figured out my mistaken thinking. After that, well, it was all about getting that little log taken care of... Thanks for the cache.

Hanging On

By: Rocket Girl and DuckeyLee Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Micro

Not where I was expecting it, but glad to find it nonetheless. Thanks for the smiley!

UNO JUNIPER

By: Rocket Girl and DuckeyLee Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: 2.0 Container: Small

I tried to act as nonchalantly as possible, since I didn't have Geo Baby with me on this sunny and pleasant Saturday (I was ostensibly running errands). I felt quite fortunate to have found it rather quickly in the first area I looked. Left a traveling geocoin, thanks!

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