Geocaching

Great Caching Debacle

Solved this one a while ago with a very small hint from kablooey. I had some spare time and decided to go up and claim it. Found it pretty easily. I almost thought I needed to squeeze into an interesting place, but then I saw it right in front of me.

Afterwards I did some shopping and picked up a grill for half-price! A successful evening all around. Thanks.

... by any other name...

I tried this one yesterday but chickened out when I saw some Hindus having a meeting here. Came back today and realized that the spot where the cache was is nicely tucked into a corner. We took some time to wander around the gardens and check out the boards. On the way out we ran into Ninja. We exchanged some stories and some hints before heading off. Thanks!

Zoofaunics

We did some of these by driving by, others by walking. By luck, we found a parking spot directly across the street from the final cache location. The only problem was there was a guy having dinner where the cache was. We waited around and played for a bit until finally he finished his leisurely meal and left. Easy find after that. Thanks for the interesting tour.

Tree Bees Tot Lot Not

We tried this one a little earlier in the day, but there were two people making out in the seats near the cache. We waited for a while, but decided to come back later instead. The coordinates were putting us way off, but it was obvious where the good hiding spot would be. Well hidden. TNLNSL. Thanks.

The Little Pictures

We gave this one a try while we were in the area. Found the fist picture and wandered in all kinds of directions after that, but couldn't find the others. There was a cool car art thing going on downtown though so we stopped by to take a look at that.

Shark River

Second try on this one. Once I spotted it, I knew where I had to go, which was mostly away from some of the less pleasant locations near this cache. I was suprised how well it stuck. Thanks.

Pony Loom

Neat spot. We took some fun pictures, but I don't want to give away the anagram!

San Jose Public Library - MLK Main Joint Library

Wow, this was one swank library. A GPSr would be helpful just trying to navigate all these books! I liked the counter of checked-out books. After wandering around, we headed for the cache. It was pretty visible where we found it, so we tried to hide it a little better. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Superior Court Quiz

We took the short walk to this one from another of The Rat's government agency quizzes. Nice spot. I feel so educated now. Hopefully knowing about these courts is something I'll never have to use.

Word Police Quiz

I now fear the Word Police. The garden next to the cache was locked. I can only assume that it's actually a prison for people who misspell. Thanks.

A rose...

I first spotted this place a few weeks ago while doing First Grade. When a cache appeared here I knew where it was. We approached the cache area and found some people picnicing so we took a walk around the roses. After one lap they were still there, so we did another. We got tired of walking so we sat down and waited for them to leave so we could access the cache. They left and we checked the area and the cache wasn't there. Turns out were sitting right next to it the whole time! Oops. Oh well, we got to enjoy the gardens. Thanks.

Toadally Bowers

I looked in the hard places for this one first and got myself scraped up. With the hint I found it immediately. Interesting container. I didn't really want to unload the whole thing, so TNLNSL. I didn't see any toads or even people in the cache area for that matter.

Hawaiian Language Lesson #2

I asked around work and found someone with a Hawaiian dictionary. The coordinates came out OK, but my hint was pretty mangled. I got to the cache site and couldn't find it at first. I ended up finding it 90 feet away from where I zeroed out.

Resistance is Futile

FINALLY!!!!!!

Componenx and some other cachers took pity on me and gave me some help in locating this one. I solved the puzzle so long ago, but in a dozen trips out, I couldn't find it. The cache was where I thought it should be and about 5 feet from where I originally looked, but I just couldn't see it. I found it this time in the dark by just grabbing at it. Whew, I'm glad to have this one stop taunting me now. TNLNSL. Thanks!

A Cache of Palindromes

I found this one in a gas station parking lot right behind the headquarters of AMD, the computer chip manufacturer in Sunnyvale, CA. It took a while to find the right spot as my GPSr was fluttering due to some tree cover. The trees were some kind of fruit trees and the fruit got all stuck to my phose. I got a picture of my GPSr, but I wasn't sure if I actually got it on the right coords until I got home. It was dark, so the flash kind of washed it out. I was going to give it another try, but just then an RV pulled into the parking lot.

A Day at the Races

This was my 4th visit to this spot. The first time I just couldn't find it after a long day of caching. It was getting dark, so I went home. The next time there were some cops stopped near the cache area, so I sat nearby for a while and entered some coordinates while I waited for them to leave. They were there a while, so I left to do other caches in the area. I came back later and the cops were gone, but there was a guy sitting in his car, talking on a cell phone right near the cache.

This time the coast was clear and this area of the park was almost empty. We started looking and immedialy a bunch of kids got out of a truck with two dogs and started playing with them right near the cache. We waitied for a while, then decided to take a walk around the park. We waited on the bleachers until finally they left. I found the cache a few minutes after. It was well-hidden. TNLNSL. Thanks.

The "Y" in the Road

Whew, it was hot day out there today. It was a nice walk to the cache though. Just as we arrived and started to look, a family came off the trail and sat down right next to the cache for lunch. I was able to grab the cache quickly with the hint then walk up the trail a little bit to sign it. The only problem was putting it back. I stopped in the hiding spot, pretended to tie my shoe and we were out of there. Thanks!

Big Liar

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of The Rat's puzzles.

25th Anniversary Cache

After running into Marky and Joani, it only seemed appropriate to head over to this one next. I had just been through here last week on the way to NykeBut and I thought it was a cool area that should have a cache.

The GPSr was acting weird here - you're 5 feet away here, no over here! Finally it settled down and after looking in the obvious spots I began to expect that something more sinister was going on here. I got an idea, checked a few spots and found it. Very cool. TNLNSL. Happy Anniversary!

Great Masters

How appropriate that at Great Masters we ran into the masters of Geocaching, Marky and Joani. We had a good time checking out the murals. In my high school I remember some murals, but most of them were only half-finished! Marky found the cache and we signed the log, leaving a US Presidents ruler and taking an orange golf ball. We swapped stories for a few minutes with M&J and we were on our way. Thanks.

Eagle Park

Quick cache at this park. Missed Marky and Joani by a half-hour, but we ran into them at our next cache. Thanks.

Hawaiian Language Lesson #1

I spent a while trying to translate the words and couldn't find any good online translators. Then I noticed a hint was added.

I had about 5 minutes to get this cache before my next errand, so I had to be quick. I saw the spot where the cache must be as I waited at the light. Once I got there I had to wait a while to find an opportunity to grab it. I made my move and I was surprised by what I produced. These caches are getting better and better camoflaged! Dodged looks from the person waiting for the bus as I put the cache back. Nicely done!

Take and MAKE a Cache (aka Momma Cache)

After a long day of caching and just finding Less is Moore, I decided not to press my luck, take my winnings and go home. As I looked at my GPRs to figure out how to get home, I saw this cache directly on the way. OK, one more cache. I got there and started looking through the bushes where I found all kinds of interesting objects. At first I thought that the cache was just all over the place and there was no container. Then I read the descriptiong and found the plaque. I was too tired to do math, so I started brute force searching and found it a few minutes later. This is the SECOND-largest cache I've seen. Lots of cool stuff in there and I took a notepad. In my delirious state I forgot to leave anything, but I'll leave something extra at the next M&J cache I find.

The best thing I found here was not in the cache. In the bushes I found something truly evil to appear soon in a park near you...

Less is Moore

There were some people sitting on the grass near the cache giving me weird looks, but I found the cache quickly after I found the right object to search. Took nothing, left some trees and grass.

Northern CA Solar System Model: Planet Mars

Ah, the red planet. Had to avoid some people playing tennis next to the cache, but I found it without much difficulty.

Meredith's Corner

After a day of Tammie the Dog caches, I knew exactly where to look and I walked right to it. Cool corner. Some people across the street were having a yard sale and I think they expected I was stopping there to check out their stuff.

San Jose Public Library - Willow Glen Branch

This was my second time here. The day before I tried to look, but my GPSr wasn't pointing me in the right direction and the library was closing so there were a lot of people coming out and wondering what I was doing. Today I was alone except for the occasion book-returner. I was looking one area when someone came in to drop off their books and I wasn't sure what to do, so I stood there and pretended to be looking at...something. As I was standing there I spotted the cache. Very cool. It was a lot bigger than I expected. TNLNSL.

Water Park

I had to spend a while looking for this one because I was ignoring my GPS and instead looking at something that I thought was related to the hint. Once I realized I was 30 feet away and saw the real hint, I found it quickly. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Not during the week

I looked all around and under for this cache and I could seem to find it. Good thing there was no one there today, or I would have surely gotten trampled.

Bird Person of Willow Glen

What a racket! I noticed the house on the other side of this one was for sale. I wonder if they were driven out by the birds. Took me a while to find the cache, I was persistent. Thanks. The log sheet is full.

Canoas Flock Revived

There were some people having a picnic and some kids playing right next to the cache. I didn't feel like crashing their party, so I decided to come back some other time.

Where's the Benchmark?

Had to search for a little while to find this one, but I did eventually find it. I should know Marky and Joani better than to think that they'd hide it in the annoying places I looked. Left crayons, took disco ball keychain. Thanks.

Radio Park

Nice park. There was a party going on very close by, but I was able to find it quickly. Thanks.

Treasure Chest

This one was well-hidden. There was a lot of brush laying about and I was afraid the cache had been found and 'pruned', but the location was way too tricky for that. TNLNSL.

Don't forget, International Talk Like a Pirate day is Sept. 19! http://www.talklikeapirate.com

Bikes Cars and Trains

I parked at the city lot to get to this one. That's probably not the best place to park, but no one was around. I started on my walk to the cache. San Jose sure has an interesting collection of stuff. I got to see where the school buses sleep and a large collection of ramps. My favorite though was store of urinals in all shapes and sizes.

I found the cache pretty easily. This was a very well-constructed cache. I liked how the attachment apparatus doubled as a pencil holder. Thanks for the cache.

Curtner Station

Goodwill truck and guy accepting donations was parked right next to the cache. Tried to get close, but he was watching me. I'll be back.

Coyote Creek Pigeonhole

The only reason I went for this cache was because I turned left when I should have turned right. Being male, I decided to just go with it and not turn around, so I quickly recalibrated my GPS and saw this one come up.

I parked in the first place I saw, which turned out to be kind of far away, but I managed to avoid the $6 parking fee.

This was a nice park. I found my way to the creek and then realized that the cache was on the other side, so I started making my way down the embankment. I found a point which looked pretty narrow, so I made a quick hop across without getting too wet. On the other side though was lots and lots and lots of poison oak. Uh oh. I walked delicately around and over it, but I wasn't sure I made it through safely. I definitely had some scratches on my legs - were they from trees or the poison oak?

Once I crossed that gauntlet, I started looking for the cache. Tried a couple of different options, then decided I needed the hint. I need to start paying more attention to the titles of these caches. Found it soon after and TNLN.

All that climbing around sure left me sweating on this hot day. I decided I wasn't going to use the same route back so I went up to the other side and starting looking for another path. I knew I had to go left, but there didn't look like a path there, so I started to go right where I saw some houses in the distance. As long as I could get to a street, I would be able to find my way back. Shortly after I found a *much* easier way to cross the creek and went back the way I came the rest of the way.

So far, no evidence of poisioning, so a successful cache all around!

Brenda Allcia Lopez Plaza

This was my second time here. The last time there were some people sitting on the benches near the cache staring at me. This time the people were further away and I found it quickly with the hint. Thanks.

Tamien Station

I was buzzing by here on my way to some other caches when I saw the sign and remembered there was a cache here. I did a quick u-turn and pulled into the nearly empty parking lot. I went over to the cache area and got concerned with all the stuff overhead blocking my reception. After searching for a few minutes, I decided it would probably be a good idea to read the cache description. I went to look it up, but for some reason Plucker hadn't downloaded that cache. Doh! I logged in and looked up the details. Once I saw that it was magnetic, I found it in the first place I looked.

Too bad the caltrain cache is disabled, it would have been nice to pick up that one too while I was here.

First Grade

This was my second time here (third if you count the other cache in this park). After getting some clarification on the first waypoint from Nostrada, I made a revisit to that location and found the information I needed. For some reason I was being pointed on the wrong side of the street. I couldn't find my previous calculations, so I had to do them all again. Good thing I remembered the information for the other two waypoints. Made a B-line to the cache this time and found it relatively quickly. Left a "Recycle Yourself" bumper sticker and took a bouncy ball.

What does it mean if I went to First Grade after being a Freshman?

Chinese Radicals

There are two types of Rat caches, in my opinion. There are those which are very difficult to solve and may take hours and hours of work to get the right coordinates. Then there are the puzzles that aren't hard, but you assume they are because of the other ones. This one was one of the latter.

Found the cache without much trouble. Thanks.

Namaste

Got here and again there were lots of people driving around near the cache and others just sitting in cars. I sat there for a minute, and then decided to drive around and park in the adjacent parking lot and see if I could approach the area that way. I couldn't once I got over there, so I took out my cell phone and pretended to be having a casual conversation while wandering around looking for the cache. I looked mostly in the places I had looked before and I was getting very frustrated when I grabbed in a place I had already tried before and this time came up with it. Crap, I could have had it last time. Oh well, thanks for the educational puzzle.

I Can't Chase Hummingbirds

Nobody was in the park today. Once the GPSr settled down, I found the spot easily. While looking for this one I also found a nice plastic ball.

Geez, these 'regular'-sized caches are getting smaller and smaller!

Urban Jungle Metal Sculpture

Found this one with the hint. This was cool and scary at the same time. I would like to see this place when the arch is lit up. Thanks.

Sly Dog's -- Up Yours!

I got to where the cache should have been and didn't find anything. I'm glad I had the logs with me. I used Jay's coords and I knew where I had to look as I had looked in a similar place on a cache earlier in the day. I got a little nervous though as it it happenned to be in the last possibility that I looked in. I'm impressed that it survived the move! Thanks.

Travel Bug Trader II

Some interesting travel bugs here as well as some really big ones. In the end I decided to stick with the ones I had, so TNLN. Thanks.

Indy's Hideout

This was an easy find once I looked at my GPSr and stopped searching randomly. TNLNSL. Now that everyone knows where this hideout is, won't Indy have to find a new place to hide?

The Cache with no Name

I looked high and low for this one, finding a couple areas that matched the location described in the hint. I got really dirty looking around and decided to give up. I had some trouble understanding the description. The Rat and his heavily armed Word Police would be all over this one!

Riddle

After confirming my thoughts on this one with nostrada, I went out to see if I could find it. Lots of muggles in the area and at one point a truck with a huge boat attached to it showed up. I narrowly avoided someone who appeared to be the owner of the property coming by where I was looking. Looked in the hard places first and of course it was in an easy place. No need to go digging through anything, you can see it clearly from the right position. Interesting attachment method. Second to log. I didn't even need my GPSr! Thanks for another interesting Riddle.

Hamann Hangout

I decided to give this another try. I knew approximately how it should be attached, but not exactly where. I did some searching around and then made a blind stab at an area and felt something that seemed like it didn't belong. Probing some more produced the cache. Very well done and interesting construction. Had some trouble getting out the log without spilling all the contents out. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Sorry, no sushi dinner for you, team wwp! :)

Do You Hear Water Running?

Found my way to this one again. Crossed the creek and found my friend the homeless man lounging on the bench. I decided to just ignore him and look anyway. I walked past him and started looking. He wasn't looking my way. I couldn't find it though. After a while, I looked at my GPSr and realized that I was 50 feet away! I was in the wrong place. Went down to where I needed to be and started searching high and low. It was hot and I was getting very dirty. I finally found it. It was very hard to see. When I retrieved it, the cover was ajar. I also found full bottle of bear and a small snake. I left $1 and took a Kealia magnet. I couldn't get the cover to stay on, so I left it as I found it. Thanks.

Le Tour De France

This one brought back some fond memories for me. I spent the summer of 1989 in France staying with a family. One day we went out to a road to watch the race go by. You would think that the local crowd would have been upset that an American beat the national star, but they were just thrilled that the tour had such an exciting finish. People even came up to me and told me that I looked like Greg LeMond, though I think the only similarity we share is that we're both American.

I found all the answers to the puzzle pretty easily and and the cache as well. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Travel Bug Coffee Break

Barista: 'Can I help you?"
Me: ''Actually, I'm looking for a box.''
Barista: ''A box?? Oh, the box. It's over there - '' (pointing)
Other Barista: ''You're not supposed to tell them where it is!''

I felt pretty conspicous pulling out this huge box in front of two other people sitting in the cafe, but I figured there was nothing to hide. I examined the bugs and decided to take the floppy disk and left nothing. I thanked the baristas and was on my way. I like these coffee house caches. There's a similar one in Ft. Bragg. Thanks.

Catch a Rainbow

Easy find on this cache. There were lots of people in the park, but not near the cache. Interesting container. I didn't try to remove it, so I had to open it where it was. I actually had a rainbow pencil, eraser and sticker set, so I left that and took a hacky sack. I wish this one was there whe I did My Tribute across the street! Thanks.

Stomping Grounds

Second attempt at this one. Looked all around for it in most of the same places that we looked last time. I felt pretty suspicious here, even on a weekend when I didn't really see anybody around. I found a plastic bag and started trashing out, so I'd have some excuse if anybody came by. I filled the back and still couldn't find it. I started to leave, but then turned back and decided to look one last time. I decided to trust my GPSr and found it deep in a place I had looked before. It was well-covered. I took a lemon head ball and left $1. Thanks!

Dead Poets' Society

We started this cache a long time ago. We miscounted on 'A' and thought the next waypoint was a mile away. Today I went there and realized our mistake. Went back to the park and got back on track. Counted correctly this time got the final coordinates.

Now for the bad news - when I got to the cache location, the cache was completely exposed and its cover was off. A snail and some other less pleasant creatures had taken up residence inside the container. The snail appeared to like poetry though as he had digested lots of pieces of the paper. I signed the log as it was, then moved the cache to the nearby corner of two fences and covered it so Ninja can come give it some TLC.

Will the dead poets be resurrected again?

A's & Giants 2002

Wow, has no one really found this one since the start of the baseball season?

I tried to get to the closest access point to this cache. There were lots of no parking signs around where I parked, but not right next to where I parked, so it was legal, right? [:)] I made a quick dash for the cache. Quite a hilly climb to it. Found it easily. Took A's and Giants antenna balls, left a Puffkin doll. Sorry I didn't have any baseball-related items.

I enjoyed the view for a little bit, and then made my way carefully back to the car. It was still there. Thanks for the cache.

A PARKLAND VISIT

Walked over to this one from more quick cache. As I approached it, I saw the neighbors directly across the street doing their gardening. I walked by and took a quick look. I then walked up the street a little bit to see if they'd finish. No luck. So I went on another quick walk up the hill, thought about it, and solved the anagram. On the way down I spotted the cache. A made a quick grab, signed it, and I was on my way. Thanks.

more quick cache

Third time is a charm. I searched all kinds of places first, then found it in a pretty simple spot. I don't know how we missed it last time. I guess we were looking for something smaller and it was surprisingly large. TNLN. I'm glad I enjoy this park! It was empty this morning. Thanks.

NykeBut

Well, I tried a couple paths to this cache. I tried to use PhillipeGPS's favorite entrance on Mora, but I couldn't find a place to park. I tried another way to get on the other side of 280, but met another dead end, so I went the standard way and parked at Rancho San Antonio, which seemed to be the closest place to park. The parking area was 'Full', but I managed to find a space and start my walk. I enjoyed the ponds and benches on the way. I took the dirt path up and down the hill, then realized I had gone too far and had to bushwhack a little bit to get where I should have been.

The cache took me a little while to find. At one point I got on my hands and knees to check one spot only to look down and see tons of broken glass. I was lucky. Found the cache in a simple place, I expected something more evil. ;) Thanks for the fun cache.

Hail Ceasar

After my last experience at this cache, I was very apprehensive about trying this one again. This time I had the real coordinates though and I planned a place to park not too far away. Parked no problem and took a brisk walk to the cache site. Found it quickly. I don't think I've ever signed a log that fast before. TNLN. On the way out I made sure I was extra friendly to anybody I ran across. As I returned to my car I noticed a sign -

Neighborhood Crime Watch
Report any suspicious persons or activity immediately to the sheriff

I never thought I looked like a suspicous person! :)

Border Patrol #3

Came back for a return visit to see if I could find the cache this time. Last time, 3 of us failed to find it. There was no one in the park this morning, so I searched with reckless abandon. After searching in several difficult places, I found it in a pretty straighforward place. I have no idea why we didn't find it last time.

The area with all the plaques has been fenced off for construction and people won't be able to get to the plaques for now. The cache itself is still in place. Thanks.

Namaste

I solved this one with some help from Nostrada. Had some time to go find this today so I gave it a try. When I got there, there were some people backing up in a car very slowly. I nearly approached them as I thought they might be looking for the cache, but then they took off. Once they left, I went searching for the cache. Tried a few places, but it was starting to dark. I went in for a closer look and some other people showed up and started backing up slowly, stopping right on the other side of the bush I was hiding behind. They repeated this 3 times. After waiting for these people to leave, it was too dark to see and I had to go. It's a bummer that it's getting too dark to do much caching after work these days. [:(]

Dr. Mahoney Baloney

Spent about a half hour looking for this one before I had to go. Lots of nooks and crannies to investigate, clue didn't help at all.

Flood Cache

We balked at paying the 5 bucks, so we went down the adjacent streets to try to find a back way in. We saw the restricted parking signs and decided that one of us would go for the cache while the other waited in the car. Found the cache after a few minutes of looking. TNLNSL because we were in a hurry! Thanks.

Men of Stone

This was one of the best caches we've done a while. The stone figures were really neat and we had fun looking for them. The coordinates were all right on and getting from stage to stage was easy even if we had a hard time staying on the paths. The cache was easy to find; we covered it a little bit better than we found it. TNLNSL. We had the whole place almost to ourselves. Thanks for the fun!

Day at the Dump

Ended up near this one while Doing Men of Stone. It was very windy on bay side of the dump and hot on the inland side. The salt ponds were all white today and it looked like snow. The cache was not covered at all. We covered it with some pine needles as we left. Took two mini koosh balls, left a marionette doll. Thanks.

The Dead

I had previously researched The Dead and came up with the final coordinates - or so I thought. We decided to go to the grave anyway to make sure. Good thing we did, I was way off. Found the cache at the final coordinates easily. Thanks for the interesting cache.

Noble Steed

Driving to this park sure was tricky - lots of roads, all of them dead ends! Finally found the park and had a nice walk to see them donkeys. As we were figuring out the coordinates one of them came to say 'hi' (read: beg for food). He(?) even made whatever sound donkeys make when we started to leave. How cute.

We went to the calculated coordinates and had a lot of trouble finding the cache. After a few minutes of looking we decided to back to the donkeys and recheck some of our numbers. We were right the first time. While we were over there, we noticed we were missing my sunglasses and our pen. We went back to the calculated coordinates and found them both laying in different spots in the grass. Oops!

We were about to give up on this one when I decided to check one obligatory place 30 feet away. There it was! We struggled for 10 minutes to get it out but finally succeeded. Thanks for the fun cache. I think we made some new friends.

Old Page Mill

Quick find today on this nice road. We knew where it should be, just had to check all the various permutations. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Bald Spot

Found it on my second visit. Last time I was looking in the wrong place, then someone stopped at sat down on the bench with the cache area in full view, so I aborted my search. There were many good places to hide this one. Today we ended up wacking around for a while before we finally found it. TNLNSL. Thanks for the cool spot.

Geometry Quiz

I'll admit that this one stumped me for a bit. My first solution was way too complicated, so I resorted to searching for a simpler solution. I managed to find nearly the exact same problems and solutions with a very similar-looking graphic! :-) It was quite humbling to see 14 year olds who had solved these problems. I was amazed how I had retained some of the skills needed for this puzzle without using them for so many years. Then again, other parts I had completely forgotten. Once I had a solution for both, I went to check my solution and found that I was a few short on my digits. I went through the solutions again and tried to figure out what I did wrong with solutions that looked so perfect. Turns out that I have no problems with geometry but my skills with the alphabet are poor. I forgot 'X'. I was also able to verify my coordinates against the ones that a cacher accidentally posted in his log. That was convenient. :-)

We found the cache easily and then spent a few minutes lying on the soft grass before the next cache. Thanks for the re-education and nice location!

I Kings 7,23

Solved this one a few days ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. Today we drove all around trying to get to the cache and finally found the access point. Found it easily. Just as I was putting it back, I noticed someone sleeping in the car parked next to us. I don't think they noticed what we were doing though. Thanks for the interesting puzzle!

Chameleon Row

Foooffffyyy! I thought I had moved back to LA! There were all kinds of people here with designer bags driving around in hummers and mini coopers and gabbing on their cell phones.

We hadn't been here before, so we took some time to wander around. We decided to have some crepes for lunch and figure out where the cache was later. Finishing up our Nutella and cream, we turned on the GPS and found ourselves 80 feet away. The area described in the title was occupied with some workers filling up the fountain, so we decided to sit down and play a game of chess. It was a trouncing and when we finished the workers were gone. We went over to that area only to discover we guesseed incorrectly and the cache was in an accessible place all along. Once we were in the right spot, we found it almost immediately. Thanks!

Freshman

I solved this one with a lot of help from nostrada. I just didn't quite get it. The hide was easy though, except for when I slipped on the mud and nearly landed in it. Thanks for the puzzle.

Cataldi Walnuts

The cache was easy to find. Putting it back was harder with all the walkers and joggers about. Finally did so. Nice park.

Berryessa Creek Cache

I hunted for this one stupidly and ended up crossing the creek twice. Good thing it was dry. The cache was in good condition. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Yellowstone Park

Looked around for this one for a few minutes, then decided I was looking at things from the wrong angle. Changed my perspective and saw it instantly. Nice big cache. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Therapy Cache #3

Found it on my second try with a hint from Marky. The hint really confused me. Devious hide. Some people were walking by as I was signing the log and since I didn't want to detach the cache container, I stood on top of the container until they passed. Thanks for the fun one.

Overlooking a Hidden Lake

Easy find now that the cache has been replaced! Thanks. First to sign the new log sheet. A nice place, I'm glad I had the opportunity to come back.

Olive 2 Pardee

This was my second time at this one and this time there were a lot fewer people around. The hint led me to believe this would be a much different type of placement, but it turns out I just missed it on the first try and it wasn't very hard at all.

As I was signing the log, thebigdp showed up. We chatted a little bit and had a little early morning caching pardee before work. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Shark River

Looked around for a while on this one, but got no love. The area was clearly a home to some homeless people and it kinda scary crawing around there. I looked in some places that seemed liked they matched the hint perfectly, but didn't find it.

CalTrain - San Jose Diridon

Nice station. My GPSr was going all wacky here and I was walking around in circles. I found it pretty easily after having experience with others in this series. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Forgotten City Gardens

The park was completely empty when I arrived. I too had GPSr problems, so I used the hint and it was easy. What an odd, old park. Either people are going to have to start using the back sides of the paper in the log book or the log book should be replaced. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Urban Jungle #3 - Planes and Trains

I drove around in circles in a while trying to get to this cache. I finally found a way in. This was not the most pleasant location, but I was very appreciative of it after spending the previous 2 hours on a multi that I never found. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Get Your Wings

What a nice big cache. Found it easily, left the Bison TB. The log book is full. Thanks.

Do You Hear Water Running?

After driving around aimlessly for a few minutes, I stopped at the end of a dead-end street to figure out how to get to the cache and there, right across the street was a path to the trail! I quickly figured out that I was on the wrong side of the creek, but there was someone sitting right near where the cache would be. I went over anyway and saw that it was an "urban camper" and he was well-settled in. I decided to go do another cache and come back later. Did that, but the man was still there, so I'll catch up with this one another time.

Yes Way, Jose!

I blew by this one on the way to another cache and wondered where I would park when I came back. I actually found a spot very close. The cache location was very conspicuious. I found the cache rather unexpectedly and I'm sure people waiting at the intersection thought I was stealing something. Very evil. Thanks (I think).

Campbell Park Troll

I drove around and around to get to this one, then parked at a place where there was a sign saying I shouldn't park there. I went in search of the cache, didn't find it after a few minutes, then got worried about my parking spot and decided to go back and move my car. I found a spot in the park's lot this time. I found the cache pretty easily after that. As I was getting back to my car, I saw some people getting out of an suv with GPSrs. It turned out to be KennyHannahJacob and Peter49. We chatted a bit and I wished them luck. It's nice to meet other cachers along the way and match faces to logs!

Thirsty?

Easy find on this one. Thanks for the cache.

Monsters Could Hide Here!

I'm pretty sure there were some monsters down there hiding. The sure were making some odd noises! This was the second cache I've found hidden like this though the last one said exactly how to find it. Not sure if I would have found this one otherwise. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Hamann Hangout

Searched high and low for this one for quite a while, but came up empty. What's the going rate for bribes on this one, anyway?

I Never Promised You

Quick find with the hint, though the film canister is black not white. I started to work on another cache in this park, but decided it was such a nice spot that I'd save it for another trip back.

Old Blue Eyes

I found this one in only a few minutes. I guess I got lucky. The hint and the color of the cache helped. I had more trouble getting the cache out and opening it up. I didn't realize that the cover comes off! Where can I buy some of those log books? [:)]

Northern CA Solar System Model: Planet Earth

Easy find with the hint. As usual, I parked on the wrong side of the highway. I was able to walk underneath it to get to the cache. Planet #2 down! TNLNSL.

City Plaza Park of Santa Clara

I couldn't get the count right on the first part, but the checksum told me what it was supposed to me. Even with that, the coordinates seemed to be off. After double checking the coordinates, I tried the brute force method. It was in the kind of place I expected, just further away. Looks like someone started a small fire in the gazebo, but just burned some newspaper. TNLNSL.

The cache area was really smelly this morning. Maybe some fertilizer was recently laid down. It seemed to keep all the people out of the park though. ;-)Thanks.