Geocaching

Swinging Bridge

It was drizzling a bit here as we approached this one, but what else is new. :-) Crossed the bridge and headed for the cache. There was a chicken guarding the cache this time. It wasn't hard to find. I tried to cover it up a bit more when I left. TNLNSL. Passed the site of the old swinging bridge on the way back. Thanks!

The Last Kukui

What a crazy road out to this one! We drove it for a while in our rented Mustang until we got to a sizable puddle that we were unsure about crossing. A few of us got out to hoof the last 3/4 mile and started on our way when a caravan of 6 cars came driving down in the opposite direction, just blowing through those huge puddles. Well, now we knew we could make it, so we got back in the car and headed in. We stopped at the beach, then two of us ran the rest of the way to the cache. We crossed more puddles, one of them that was up to our knees!

We were surprised by the beautiful beach, even in the rain. We found the cache pretty quickly and TNLNSL. Thanks!

Tiny Bubbles Cache

We had quite an adventure getting to this one as described in our log of The Last Kukui cache. How did these caches get approved so close to each other? Anyway, we made a quick dash over to this one in the rain, liberated the Cinderella TB, and ran out of there. Thanks!

Spouting Horn

It was pouring rain when we got to this cache. We went for it anyway and got pretty soaked. The hillside was kinda slippery and that added to the challenge. Later we found a safer way down to the cache area. It took a while to find, but I finally found it and it was perfectly dry, unlike the rest of us! TNLNSL. Thanks!

Pennsylvania Wanderers

This was a tough one to find. Looked all over the place before I finally found it. The coordinates were all over the place too. Very well hidden. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Honeymoon in Vegas Cache

Very nice beach. I had to be stealthy to avoid the snorkelers close by. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Keeping it Secret

Great, secluded beach. The signs about break-ins freaked us out a little bit, so one of us stayed behind. Enjoyed the walk and the beach was empty except for a guy sitting in his truck. I wonder where that road came from?

Anyway, had to be careful walking over to the cache, but found it after a little while. The container is gone now and it's just a ziplock bag. Doesn't look like it's where the spoiler indicates, but everything was in it, though a little wet.

I emptied out the contents and shook out all the water. I signed the log and tried to take nothing, but as I was loading up the bag again, something red rolled out and down the hill. I didn't really want to go back down and up again, so I picked it up on the way back. It turned out to be one of the Canadian Geocoins.

Thanks for bringing us to this cool beach!

Whale Watching at Ninini Point

This was the last cache of our first day in Kauai. We made three attempts at finding the road before we finally found the right one. Cool lighthouse. Found the cache surprisingly easily. TNLNSL. Not sure if we'll make it to the second waypoint. :-) Unfortunately we didn't see any whales, but we enjoyed the view. Thanks.

De Plane! Boss... De Plane!

Nice falls. We did the cache first. This was a very steep slope and the cache was not near the cliff - so future cachers, don't put yourself in danger. As we were looking around some people on the top asked if there were good trails down to the bottom from there. Uh, no.

Took the Cactus Jack TB. Thanks!

Old Cane Highway

This was a very cool cache. A nice walk along the coast and then a secluded little beach. We almost didn't notice the seals at first, but then had a good time watching them from a distance. Good thing the seals weren't on the way to the cache. Found it without much trouble. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Kauai's best near Kapa'a

This was the first cache we did while vacationing on Kauai and it was a great preview of what was to come. Nice spot and a quick find. Took the Beep Beep TB. Thanks!

Sgt. Preston

Ah, back again in this familiar park. This time I took a turn into an area we hadn't been to before, or so I thought. As I got closer to the cache, I saw another cache we found here once, but I think we wandered in a different way. It took a bit of searching to find the cache as my GPSr wasn't too happy here. Nice container. Looks like I missed the previous finder by about 45 minutes. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Bronze and Stone

I continue to get reports of people answering the questions from all six waypoints correctly, but are unable to find the cache. I want people to find it, so I've added a very explicit second hint. Good luck!

Sun Microsystems Geek Cache

I wasn't too familiar with this area, so I drove around a bit and ended up turning into Sun's parking lot. I was amazed by the lack of security. No gates, no roaming security trucks. The place must have been closed today as there were very few cars in the lot. I found a place to park right near the cache and headed out.

I was surprised to find gate that lead out to the trail and even more surprised to find it unlocked. I should have looked more carefully though because as it close I realized there was a combination lock on the other side. I would have to find another way back to my car, but that was a problem for later.

I made the short walk to the cache and started looking. Lots of places to look here and I couldn't find it under any of them. Finally I threw away the GPSr and looked in a place that was a little further away and found it there. Took a Docent puzzle ball and left a FreeBSD 5.1 CD.

I ended up walking all the way around to the entrance from Willow Road to enter the campus again and reach my car. On the way out I did notice a guy in a security truck, preoccupied with something in a far corner of the lot. Thanks!

PEZtacular view

When a pez dispenser arrived in my christmas stocking this year, I knew it was time to take care of this cache. It was pretty blustery out there at first, but it warmed up quickly.

When I got to the cache area, the coast was clear and began to search in earnest. I saw one spot that looked perfect for a cache and I began to think that the cache must be missing. Once I start thinking that, I tend to not look very well. After a few minutes of searching, I decided to go do Flyway Rest Stop and try this one again on the way back.

As I approached this one for the second time, I read the hint. Again, my lack of knowledge of flora and fauna hurt me here, but I took a guess and found it right away.

I took a Marge Simpson pez and left a Chewbacca pez. If I knew that most of the Simpson family would be in there, I would have brought more! Thanks for the cache.

Flyway Rest Stop

Well, the trail was still somewhat muddy, but I was able to avoid most of it. This was my second trip here. Last time, we just couldn't find it. I was amazed how different this placed looked at lower tide levels. The rock I was standing on last time was a few feet higher above the water. I spent some time looking in all the wrong places, then found it after I read the hint. TNLNSL. Whew! Nice day out there today.

Sunnyside

We had quite an adventure getting to this one, albeit short. We were thankful that the cache was very visible and I was able to reach it easily. Some slippery slopes there espcially after all the rain, but we managed to stay topside. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Don't Bark Up the Wrong Tree

I was a little wary about looking for caches right in front of somebody's house (the owner's?), but luckily we found it quickly. Cool hide. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Visiting Fremont

With the girls out doing girly things, I took my Dad out to see if I couldn't find it in the daylight. Abundant light certainly did help and I found it within a minute. My Dad was amazed at the camo. Isn't this puzzle difficult enough without adding some nasty camo on top of it? :-) TNLNSL. Thanks.

Visiting Fremont

This cache is proof that banging your head on puzzles for hours on end and trying ridiculous solution after ridiculous solution might not entirely be an exercise in futility. I had tried to solve another cache using this method once before, so this came to me rather quickly. I made some stupid mistakes of course, but eventually I got with a little help from TeamAlamo.

I reached the cache area OK and did notice the occasional stench of skunks. Didn't see any though. Checked all the places I could think of, but couldn't come up with the cache. I think daylight is probably required to find this one. I was a bit apprehensive about shining my flashlight all over the place as that might look awful curious to a cop that might just drive by. Since I had a run-in with the law while caching not too far away, I decided it might be best to save it for another day.

I did find a beach ball on the way out though, so not all is lost. I'll be back.

My Meridian

Wasn't getting much done at work and I saw this one come up as my closest, so I spent a few minutes looking up the answers and dashed out to see if I could claim the FTF. I'd probably bump up the difficulty to 2 on this one because I had trouble finding some of the answers. As I worked through them, I started to see the pattern though so I knew I was at least half right.

The coordinates were in in a familiar area and one that needed a cache. My GPSr wasn't liking the tree cover and kept pointing me at one of two likely spots. Despite the note not to trample through the ivy, I had to anyway because I just couldn't see it. Finally found and brought it back to the car to open it up.

The contents were very nice and all in theme. I was pleased to see that I was first in the logbook. I left the FTF prize for another cacher though as my book queue is already stacks deep. I took a postcard and a pen and left a mini-flashlight.

As I went to put it back, I realized I didn't remember where I found it between the two areas I had been looking. I first put it in one spot, only to get halfway back to the car before I remembered that it was supposed to be in the other spot. Doubled back and placed it back where it should be. Since others found it after me, I guess I chose wisely.

Thanks for the educational fun!

A Gathering of Cultures

This one left me rather clueless at first as I only had 1/3 of the required knowledge and couldn't see the pattern. I didn't feel too bad about prodding Wintertime for hints though as I had helped her with some of the more technical aspects of setting up puzzles a few days before.

She corrected some dumb mistakes on my part and then I had it. Headed out there this evening and found it pretty quickly, even in the dark.

This was another of those "who woudda thunk" naturey places right in the middle of some sprawl. Thanks for the cache and the education.

I Can't Drive....21?

Found this 7 mph sign (apparently for bicyclists) on a hike in Belgatos Open Space Preserve in Los Gatos, California. Today I would have advised a much slower speed as the trails were very muddy.

Forest Stump

This was the last cache of the day on a very successful trip with MotorBug and Nostrada. The trail up to the cache was very very muddy and wet. We all had huge gobs of mud weighing down our shoes. I actually found this one first and sure was an interesting cache container.

Took a flag hacky sack, left a mini flashlight. Left the Yosemite Bear TB for a few seconds before it was picked up again. :-) Thanks!

Secret Trailhead #8 - Upper Belgatos

This was the last cache on our venture up the hill, which wasn't a bad hike at all. Some nice shacks around the area. The hint convinced me to focus on a particular area which was wrong and Nostrada found it. The container was a little wet inside. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Belgatos - HOSP

Another cache in this nice park. We had the most trouble finding this one of any today. MotorBug is exceptionally good at finding these things though and he had the idea that brought us the find. TNLNSL. Thanks.

On the Right Track

Apparently we weren't on the right track to find this one because we ended up wandering through the woods and finding the trail we should have taken. Oh well. It was an easy find and we found another interesting container right next to it. Took an 8-ball keychain and left a mini flashlight. Thanks.

Tarmac Trail

First cache of the day with Nostrada and MotorBug. As usual MotorBug found it. Signed it and we were on our way up the hill to virtual plethora of caches. Thanks.

Operation Futari

This was my second attempt at this one. We last tried it in July as part of our "Day of Disaster", attempting several caches in this park, but failing on all of them.

I consulted a satellite map first and thought I saw a road that would take me to the cache. When I got close enough to it, I saw that it was private property, so I had to think of another way.

I headed back down to the access point we used last time, knowing that it didn't take us in the right direction last time we tried it. I looked across at the trailhead and pondered a bit, preparing myself for some serious buckwacking when I remembered that I had a map of the park in my bag. I checked it and saw something that looked like the trail I needed to take. I jumped back in the car and parked at a different spot, then headed up the trail, which seemed very promising.

There were lots of runners on the trails this morning, despite the drizzle. It was a nice hike up and I finally got to a point where it looked like the cache was close. I'm glad I checked the logical places before I started bushwacking as my GPSr read 40 feet at the cache. I took a water ball, left a keychain flashlight and signed the log.

I'm sorry I missed the original multi-stages of this cache, but the hike was nice anyway. Once again, I'm one away from completing The Rat's local caches. Someday...

Digits

This was an interesting puzzle. I thought about how to solve it by hand for a little while, then decided I didn't want to think that hard. I wrote a program instead and let it churn out the answers for me. It took several hours before it got the last one.

When I put the coordinates together, I was dismayed that it was in that cursed park, the place where straight line distances have no meaning.

I headed out there this morning and tried to find an appropriate place to park. I was about to try one access point when I spotted a map and saw where the right trail should be and realized I wasn't near it. So I got back into the car and drove for a while, not finding the trail, so I made a U-turn and parked a short distance from the trail.

It was a nice morning and a good time for a brisk hike. It certainly was a lot longer than the .4 miles that my GPS said from trailhead, but I made it. I had a little trouble finding it due to the tree cover. I liberated the Yosemite Bear TB, took hint sheet #9 and left nothing.

I'm looking forward to figuring out More Digits now and if my method of solving Digits will be useulf. Thanks!

Traffic View

I had flashbacks of "Old Blue Eyes" when I got to this structure. I started looking where I should have first, but couldn't find it. Went to a place where it shouldn't have been and looked some more. Then I remembered a similar placement I found once. Checked there and found it quickly. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Convertibles

I thought this thing kind of looked like a bird. Crawled all around it before I found the plaque. I had some trouble finding the container in the dark, but was eventually successful. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Little House at the Park

I'm gonna guess this one is missing considering how easy it's supposed to be, and also that I found the only object that matched the hint. Bummer.

Mission M&M cache

This was a cool area I had never been to before. I gotta come back sometime and check out the mission. Anyway after doing a couple of u-turns I found parking very close to the cache. Saw the memorial. Just as I was about to start looking a couple started walking by. I waited for them to pass, then went for the cache, finding it quickly. When I came back up to sign it, I realized the couple had stopped at the memorial. They immediately asked if it was mine, since I was loitering about. "Uh, no." TNLNSL. Thanks.

Lake Elizabeth Outlook

I came over from Beyond the Picnic but had some trouble finding a cohort to take my picture, so I nearly left. Then good 'ol Mom and Dad came to the rescue. It took a couple of tries to get in the right spot and get a clear picture, but that's me, cell phone in one hand, GPSr in the other. Nice lake for sure.

The Great Geek Gravitational Generator

This was one of the easiest puzzle caches I've done. As a matter of fact, I didn't solve it. I just "fell" towards it.

No actually I did solve it a long time ago, put the coordinates in my GPSr and have since forgotten how I solved it.

Turned out that retreiving the cache was more challenging than the puzzle. Got to the location and found an unusually high number of people sleeping in their cars. Maybe this gravitational field has a sedative affect as well? I was able to negotiate around those people and looked in a few spots but didn't find it. Then I spotted a logical spot, but it was "guarded" by a employee on break playing with his cell phone right in front of it. I thought about waiting him out, but then decided to come back later after some other local caches.

When I returned, the employee and the dozers were all gone and I grabbed the cache. Cool container, where can I get some of these? TNLNSL.

Just as I was leaving, I got a call about a lightbulb emergency, so I was able to stop inside for a bit and save the day.

On the way home, I got excited when I saw a freeway sign for "Caching Parkway". Well, that's at least what I thought it said, it was actually "Cushing Parkway". Clearly I've been doing this too long.

Beyond the Picnic

This was an odd puzzle, but I guess I got it. I parked very close by and made a quick dash to the cache. Found it easily and TNLNSL. Sorry I missed the picnic!

Bayside RC Rocks!

This a cool place. Lots of people around piloting devices of varying transportion methods. Me, I was in the corner looking in all the wrong places. Just as I was starting to get frustrated I accidentally found it. No need to get dirty on this one at least. At the same time Wakka showed up and I spared him the evilness of the hide. Wakka and I chatted for a bit and then we split. Thanks for the cache, just don't do any more like this.

Catching the news

Aha, this time it was right where it should be. Signed the fresh log sheet. Thanks for replacing it.

BADGES January Geocaching Dinner

Just curious, who are these mysterious figures behind BADGES?

Arastradero Path

Nice path. We made a quick stop here on the way to more Christmas-related activities. Found it easily. Took a superball and left a mini flashlight. Thanks.

Alien Message

Well, I'm still not sure I understand the puzzle, but I guess that's not required anymore. Great spot. We had never been here before, but it's clearly not a secret by the number of people around. We took the shorter route and had a nice distraction from all the Christmas chaos. Thanks.

Bronze and Stone

I added to the hint to make it a little easier. The point is definitely not to make for a difficult find after visiting 6 waypoints. This is usually the first kind of place I look in California caches!

Take a ride on the trolley

We've been working on this one for quite a long time. We did the first one (Lockheed Martin) almost 7 months ago. As we expanded our caching radius, we've been picking up others until last weekend when I finally picked up Snell and Branham so I had all the information I needed.
We still have one go to (Cottle), but we'll pick that up eventually anyway when we're in the neighborhood.

We drove to all of them (some of them multiple times) except for Moffett Park and Lockheed Martin which we walked to. We still have yet to ride the light rail, but we really should one day. I wish the nearest station wasn't exactly halfway between my house and my office.

It wasn't until recently that I even bothered to look at all the words we've been writing down and try to figure out what they meant. That part was easy though.

With the Red Ryder travelling cache to dispose of, I thought this would be the right night ride the trolley, so to speak. Found close parking (unlike my last time in the area) and found the cache easily - maybe a little too easily. It wasn't really covered and there was evidence of geomuggles around. All the contents were intact though.

It's been a while since I've found a cache with so much quality stuff in it. I took the wire cutters as mine seem to have run away some time ago and left two mini flashlights and a (wrapped) toothbrush in addition to Red Ryder (which isn't red at all). I tried to cover up the cache a bit better, but it's still kind of out there.

Thanks for all the work put into this series. It was fun and felt like quite an accomplishment to finish it.

Catch Some Air Too

I've definitely been to this park a couple times before. No one around tonight and I surprised myself by finding the cache in the first place I looked. Getting all the contents back in was definitely a challenge. Thanks for the quick one.

Can You See Me Now?

My portable UV light ($10.23 including shipping) arrived yesterday. Thanks for the excuse to buy a new toy. I ran around the house last night looking all kinds of stuff under the light. Looks like the cat has been throwing up again.

Anyway, Nostrada was interested in taking advantage of my toy, so we arranged to meet to take care of this one. We got to work and the first thing that popped out was not the cache, but a caterpillar which was glowing bright yellow under the light. While I was looking all around with my light, nostrada found it with his regular flashlight. Doh!

Took us a little while to figure out that it opened up, then getting the paper back in was even more difficult.

Now my question is, what the heck is this thing supposed to be used for? Some kind of spy tech?

Red Ryder

Gee, I didn't know there was a cache at mmp's house. What's the waypoint?

Sometimes I get the urge to do some night caching around 2 am. I'm sure you won't mind strange geocachers lurking around your backyard at that time, right mmp? ;-)

Red Ryder

Uhh, yeah. It all happened EXACTLY like nostrada described. Sure.

Placed it in GCFF2B, "Take a Ride on the Trolley". It's a puzzle cache, so I can't post the coordinates, but it's not far from its last stop.

The Two Towers

What a way to get cache #400! The fellowship regrouped to tackle this one and met with much success. It was great to meet some of the cachers we haven't met before including the infamous Rat.

The first stage was a quick but interesting hike. We made it back to our transport just in time before the rain really started coming down. After working on the answers for a while, we decided to take shelter in a nearby village. There was no room in the local pub, so we settled for some benches in the town square. MotorBug endangered the mission by informing strangers of our quest, but the stranger did not appear to be a spy of Sauron. After picking up another nearby cache, we had coordinates to hit the marshes.

Stage two was near our home, so we helped direct the group to the cache. We had an easy but long hike to the cache and took the loop back. The stench of Orcs was in the air we saw evidence of their slaughters on the trail. Heading back SilverDollar obsessively worked on the challenge presented to us and by the end, she had solved it. mmp provided some of the other answers and we had the final coordinates. We headed home quickly to pick up a map, clothing and first aid for our fellow cachers. When we reunited with the group, a few of our travelers were fatigued and vowed to continue the quest another day. We bade them a good journey started the long trek to the hills.

The travel to the third stage was frought with peril including mmp's near collision of his mighty mustang with another steel horse. The winding trail finally brought us to meet up with the continuing members of the fellowship. The hike to the cache was easy, but we feared the trip back. We only realized too late that it would be advantagous to park our horses at both entry points. The young Nate found the cache quickly while MotorBug fought through the thicket. We took many memories from this cache and left a lot of calories and sweat, but nothing else.

We appreciated the companionship of the fellowship, especially on the puzzles where our meager knowledge of the subject was of little help.

Thank you mbrill for the classic cache. It was definitely both more mentally and physically challenging than the first one. We look forward to the final installment and maybe even the prequel!

Fountain of the Dog

This was likely the easiest cache we've ever done. Some of the members of the fellowship picked it up and delivered it into our hands. They seemed to have no reservations about grabbing it with others walking about!

We did attempt this one before though, so I'm gonna say it counts. The coordinates we had seemed be a bit off and we were looking in the wrong place last time. Thanks.

Bronze and Stone

The snowstorm made me realize that the Pulaski waypoint would be pretty difficult in the snow, so I changed it to one that should work in all seasons. Cache on!

Snell Station

Went a little out of my way to grab this one, the last one I need to figure out the trolley coordinates. No guard around today. I had some trouble finding this one as it was hidden well and there were lots of objects interfering with GPS reception. Thanks.

Branham Station

#5 of 5 on my morning of revenge, visiting caches I had previously failed to find.

I saw the guard's car, but he was nowhere to be seen today. THis cache was well hidden. I checked the location a couple times before I finally found it. Thanks!

Benchmark Moon

#4 of 5 on my morning of revenge, visiting caches I had previously failed to find.

With some help I realized that on my last attempt the object I found was not a benchmark. Not having seen many benchmarks in my life, I thought what I had found was a very old and worn benchmark. I found the real benchmark quickly and got the final coordinates easily. I had more trouble getting the cache container out of its hiding spot than anything else. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Not during the week

#3 of 5 on my morning of revenge, visiting caches I had previously failed to find.

With some help I was able to find this one pretty quickly. I had trouble accessing the cache and I wasn't able to put it back exactly where I found it, but it's close and still consistent with the hint. Glad to get this one off my list!

Watto's Junk Yard Cache.

#2 of 5 on my morning of revenge, visiting caches I had previously failed to find.

This time I knew where to park and there weren't many people around. Spotted it in the second place I looked. Thanks.

The Cache With No Name

#1 of 5 on my morning of revenge, visiting caches I had previously failed to find.

I was surprised how quickly I found it this time. Then again I had some very explicit help on this one as the description and hint are very misleading. No need to dig around though.

Ames Geocache

I wasn't sure what kind of security they had here, so I was a bit worried about people thinking I was sneaking around a federal air base. No one bothered me though and I found the cache pretty quickly. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Token Gesture

It was very strange to be in this park in the dark and rain with no other cars around. I checked on my own cache on the way to this one. Found it without much difficulty. I'm glad I brought my headlamp! TNLNSL. Thanks for the gesture!

Silicon Valley Slept Here

Can I get the FTFIAY on this one - First To Find In a Year? :-)

I had been to two of these waypoints before for other caches, but I went back to collect the required information. Fun cache and easy enough. Thanks.

Catching the news

So, what's the news on this one?