Geocaching

Grand Central Station

5:29 pm - I wonder how many people miss their flights because they're out looking for this cache. :-) It's strange how this road is closed now. We actually took the flight out of LAX when the airport reopened on Sept. 13, 2001. Boy, that was interesting.

HitsMan let me right to it before he dropped us off at the airport. Took a golf ball and left a supercuts card with 3 stamps. Thanks.

Pushing Tin LAX

5:18 pm - Another mad dash cache before our flight out of LAX. It was cool to watch the planes overhead. Found the cap and headed back. Thanks!

Holy Donut!

5:10 pm - Found this one on our mad cache dash before catching out flight out of LA. HitsMan led us right to it, and I casually grabbed it and put it back. Doh!

A Seat at the Oscars

3:45 pm - Went after this one while the girls were getting peticures in Beverly Hills.

Two guys were playing with a dog here, so HitsMan and I had to be stealthy. Found it, but HitsMan still had to explain the title to me. Oh. Thanks.

Miracle Mile Riddler (?????)

3:31 pm - Great tour of the Miracle Mile, HitsMan and Chris. I had fun finding all the waypoints. Some of them I guessed right ahead of time - others I was way off. HitsMan himself guided me around and we did the cache quickly.

The final location was nicely chosen as you could search discretely.

Thanks for the cache AND the weekend hospitality!

Tacky x 10

1:06 pm - Whoah. That's a lot of Dave.

Duck and Cover

1:05 pm - Spotted this one while driving around in LA. Do you do anything else besides drive around in LA?

An American Legend

12:57 pm - This is the first cache I've been able to do at 40mph.

I've never been to one of these before, but I sure mean to. Oh well, thanks for pointing it out.

Sign the Peacock

12:18 pm - HitsMan had the right idea on this one right away and grabbed it. The girls just lounged in the car. Thanks for the quick one!

Burbank Troll

11:48 am - I haven't been here for about 5 years when I lined up to be in the audience for The Tonight Show. Some people nearby were playing bagpipes to inspire us to find the cache. I finally found it after some intense searching. Thanks for the cache.

LarsThorwald's Psycho!

11:27 am - I've seen this place much closer up before, but this was an interesting perspective. HitsMan's expert navigation got us through the twisty streets. Thanks for the cache.

Oz Fest

11:07 am - The owners of this cache brought us right to it. We've never been actually inside Hollywood land. Lots of funky stuff here. Saved a few electrons by giving them the answer to the question verbally. :-)

Passion

10:36 am - We were lollygagging around HitsMan and Chris' place when I suggested we go out and do this cache NOW since it's been hanging around as their closest cache for a while.

Anne spotted the access 'trail' after a lap or two around. The hike was very steep and in some places slippery, but quick. I even took a side trip up to the next peak to look at that post which appears to be lighting for the bowl. Great views from up here. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Rabbit on Drugs

6:30 pm - About 10 years ago I came to visit LA for the first time. The person who we were supposed to stay with bailed on us, so we wandered around the area, too cheap to pay for a hotel. We saw a late movie at Third St Promenade then went to the Johnny Rockets across the street from here for some late-night food. While we were eating we asked the waitress a somewhat hypothetical question: "If you were to sleep in a car in Beverly Hills, where would you do it?" She pointed out this park and that's where we spent the night.

Back to the cache - found it in short order while trying not to trample the flowers. The log sheet was kinda wet and very full. There's a very cool big tree nearby. Thanks, rabbit!

Don't Get Sucked In !!

5:16 pm - This area was one of this I miss most after moving out of L.A. It was very busy today with the usual array of activities. Thanks for the memories.

Topiary Tributes

5:16 pm - Found these dolphins on the pier in Santa Monica, California. They're part of Pacific Park, the amusement park there. Chris of "Hitsman and Chris" was nice enough to snap my picture with her camera phone.

the nautilus effect

3:39 pm - HitsMan and Chris brought us here to show us one of their favorite cachers - or rather just laugh at us while we tried to find it. After getting myself dizzy, I stopped to get some perspective and spotted something that looked a little out of place. There we go. Nice log sheet construction. Thanks!

Up we go...

3:10 pm - This was a very cool cache. We made a quick stop at the plaque to get the final coordinates. We had a great time watching the planes take off. Chris finally spotted the cache. Left a geocoin which HitsMan and Chris promptly picked up. Thanks!

360 Degree View

2:19 pm - This one really confused us at first as we tried to look for it at the posted coordinates. Once we read the description, we found ourselves in the right place. I don't know what was going on, but there were tons of snails everywhere.

Just as we were approaching the area, some people at the picnic tables conveniently left. Found the cache quickly and TNLN.

Great views from up here. I did not know that this existed. Thanks for bringing us here!

Virtual Cache at The Grove

11:52 am - Had fun wandering around the grove today. I've never been here before. Went over to the farmers market for some very yummy crepes. Thanks for the tour; I'm sorry to see this one archived.

Pressed Penny Cache

11:42 am - Found this one on the way to the farmers market for some yummy crepes with HitsMan and Chris. Signed the fresh logsheet and left Marky and Joani smashed penny #18 and took a future smashed penny, mostly because I had trouble getting everything back in. Thanks.

Cabrillo Trail Park

3:06 pm - This was the last cache on Nostrada's plan for caching out Fremont. Well, we had it clear for a 24 hours or I so I guess. There are so many new ones popping up here recently. Just a few weekends ago, I had none left here and now there are about 40 more? Crazy!

Nostrada and MotorBug fought with each other over this one while I strolled over. Thanks for all the fun.

Secret Stash by Hederbell and Red5

3:01 pm - Nostrada gingerly retreived the cache while some people on the other side of the wall were yelling in a language I didn't understand. I think the terrain on this one is a bit overrated. Thanks for the cache!

1st 4 US

2:54 pm - It's frightening to see that this was TeamSpaz's first cache placed only a few weeks ago and now they've placed what, 40??

MotorBug and me's attempts to find this one were pathetic and Nostrada found it with a sneer. Thanks for the cache.

ISHERWOOD IF YA WOULD

2:43 pm - This was the longest walk of our tour through Fremont today and it was less than 500 feet! We didn't get the hint and looked around for a little while before Nostrada found it in a place that MotorBug and I had previously failed to see it. This is a nice little walking area. Thanks!

Isherwood Staging Area

2:32 pm - The coords seemed a bit off on this one, so MotorBug and I were looking in all the wrong places. Nostrada once again showed us how it's done an produced the cache. Took a craft bell and left a mini flashlight. Thanks.

Marsh Hawk Hang Out

2:16 pm - This was a nice park. Nostrada found this one first and then let MotorBug and I spot it for ourselves. Interesting hide and there was lots of good stuff inside. TNLN though. Thanks!

How fair

2:03 pm - Yet another quick one in the rapidly cache-density increasing Fremont area. Thanks.

Cigar Store Indian

1:37 pm - Pulled over quickly while wandering through the Niles area of Fremont, CA. MotorBug was kind enough to snap me a picture. Woo hoo!

Fisherwoman's favorite foliage

1:18 pm - After my previous failure on this one, I was glad I had backup. Nostrada found it in short order, but not before the foliage viciously attacked him. Bad plant!

Väderkvarnar/windmill

Ran across this one while driving by a garden in Fremont, California USA.

The Bells of El Camino Real (locationless)

So many of these near me seem to be taken already, but I happened across this one while out caching with nostrada and motorbug. It was near the intersection of Mission Blvd and Via San Dimas in Fremont, CA. Pulled over on the side of a busy road for an "emergency" while motorbug took my picture. This one appears to be in pretty good shape.

Dash for Cache!

Do I get bonus points for having the owner of the cache take the picture? :-) Pulled over on a busy road for another geocaching "emergency" to grab Target #10 in Fremont, CA. Thanks for the cache and the picture, MotorBug!

US FLAG

Found this rather tall flag at the center of Union City, California, right in front of the Library and other city offices.

Shinn House

Who are you calling, old, Nostrada?? I guess caching finding skills come with age as I wasn't the one to pick this up. Thanks for another quick one.

Highway 84 TB Hotel

12:58 pm - Without reading the hint, we were a bit confused on this one. Then we noticed the sticker. We considered stopping for some food, but that's not how you find 25 caches in one day now, is it? TNLNSL. Thanks. Sorry I missed the event1

Plaza Park

12:45 pm - Third u-turn of the day. We had some trouble with this one. We looked and looked and couldn't find it when Nostrada started talking about calling it a DNF. I redoubled my efforts and found it quickly after that.

Despite my valiant efforts, Nostrada grabbed the log sheet and signed it ahead of me as #29 and even scratched out space so I couldn't sign on 'his' page. After MotorBug signed, I flipped over the log book and signed myself in as #28.5. Pffffffftttt!

Harmony of Shapes

12:14 pm - Boy these caches go quickly when you have two other experienced cachers with you. MotorBug found this in short order. Cool sculpture. Thanks.

Chadbourne Carriage House

12:02 pm - Nice hide. Looked all around and finally I found the right spot. Of course Nostrada grabbed the log again and signed ahead of me. How rude.

Afterwards we were low on gas so we stopped at a closeby gas station where I stood dumbfounded as to where I could insert my credit card into the pump. Apparently I found the last gas station on earth that does not have pay at the pump. Geesh! Thanks!

Children at Play

11:56 am - We looked a looked for this one and were about to give up. I saw one place that looked perfect for a cache, but Nostrada had already checked there. I checked again and felt something funny. After a bit grabbing I produced the cache and saved us from tainting our fabulous day with a DNF. Thanks!

GOMES' JUNIPERS

11:07 am - I found this one while listening to MotorBug and Nostrada exchanging explatives. We thought about jumping the creek, but we would have had a long day in wet and muddy clothes. TNLNSL. Thanks.

McPark&Ride

10:50 am - Nostrada, MotorBug and I stopped here to dump off a car and continue our extended series of caches in the Fremont area. I found this one pretty quickly and then we were ready for many more caches. Thanks!

Take a Brake

10:41 am - This was me and Nostrada's second attempt at this one. This time we got off at the right exit. Before I was even able to get out of the car, Nostrada had the cache and brought it back to the car. Signed it and never even had to unbuckle my seatbelt. :-) Thanks for the quick cache.

Hydration Station

10:33 am - When Nostrada and I arrived here, MotorBug was already waiting for us and working out the coordinates. We did the math together and Nostrada found the cache quickly. Very interesting spot and we had it all to ourselves this morning. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Ancient Apartment Complex

9:52 am - First u-turn of the day. Nostrada and I were on the way to Fremont to meet MotorBug when I noticed this one was on the way. There was a guy doing something with a dishwasher in front of the building. I have no idea why. We tried to wait him out,but then decided he wasn't going anywhere, so we stopped right in front while Nostrada went in and grabbed the cache and brought it back to the car.

We sped off afterwards and along 680 I noticed a car with a geocaching license plate frame. We pulled up alongside and saw Marky! Nostrada wrote my cell number on some paper and pressed it against the window. Marky was on his way to work and considered bailing to join us for a day of caching, but he decided otherwise. Where are his priorities?? :-)

Secret Walkway #3 - Over 85

6:15 pm - I started to solve this one manually a few days ago. After a while I got tired and decided it would be easier to make my computer do it instead. :-) I started to write the code when it started to feel familar. Sure enough, I had written some very similar code for another cache. Modifed that a bit and I had my answer.

Went out to grab the cache today and had some trouble finding it. Because of the place I was at, I thought I didn't have the corrected coordinates in my GPSr. I checked my palm and the same coordinates were in there too. So I tried logging into my computer at home to get the solved coordinates, only to find that they were the same too! Oh yeah, my CacheMate coordinates are corrected now too, so I was in the right place.

I got out to look again and I saw it. How do you spot these perfect hiding places? I enjoyed the extra effort needed to grab this one. TNLNSL. Thanks, this walkway was a secret to me at least!

Shades of Gray

6 pm - I went on a long hike with workerofwood, elmo-fried and Marky today. On the way down, the subject of LilDevil's latest came up. Workerofwood of I had both figured out the concept of the two, but I hadn't done the "math" on this one and he hadn't finished Grin and Bear It. It was a perfect trade. :-)

Thanks for putting it in the standard place!

Cheesy Cache

5:20 pm - Found the first waypoint quickly, but got stumped on #2. Maybe some kids found it?

Tried to find the final stage by brute force, but failed there too. Be careful - there is poison oak in this park.

Rock & Roll

5:07 pm - I've seen these before, but none this big. I went right to it as it kinda stuck out. Thanks for the quick one.

Powerpuff Peak

2:17 pm - Finally!! Over a year ago we did The Oaks and in those early days of caching, I failed to realize there was another cache just up the trail a bit and for a year I've been staring at this cache on my first page.

Today I organized a small group to tackle this as well as MotorBug's newest in Rancho San Antonio.

This was quite a hill. I got my stride though and powered up it until I found myself at the top. Great unobstructed view though it was a bit hazy today. I was thankful that the trail was mostly shady on the way up.

When I arrived, two folks offered some space on the bench, which I gratefully accepted. They had these carts with big duffel bags on them. Apparently they were trying out using these instead of frame packs for a trip they were planning in Henry Coe. They turned out to be popeye2 though they were GPSr-less today.

We spent a while regaining strength here, then headed back down. TNLNSL. Thanks for lugging an ammo box all the way up here!

The Oaks

Came up here again today with workerofwood and elmo-fried. After they took turns signing the log, I decided to see what I wrote over a year ago when I found this one. Either someone decided that my log was so memorable that they took it home with them or (more likely) we forgot to sign the log! So I signed it this time to make it official. Thanks again!

Ammo Box Cache

12:40 pm - Wish I remembered that this one was for trading CDs. I have a ton I could dump here. Maybe a better name, MotorBug? :-)

Nice little hike up here via Cache With a View, down then back up. I hadn't been on the PG&E trail before. We took an opportunity to take a break here after our trips around Rancho San Antonio. We probably sat too long as we were kinda stuff when we finally got back up. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Cache with a View!

12:12 pm - I've been up here once before, but this time we approached it from some different trails. That was the great part of doing all these new MotorBug caches - we got to explore a lot of the trails in this park that I hadn't seen before.

This was a quick find after knowing how MotorBug hides these kinds of caches. Then I dropped my stylus pen. As usual, it went flying into the tall grass. No problem, I had 3 cachers with me with over 3000 combined finds. We found a pen in the grass in short order. Thanks for the view!

Valley's End

11:36 am - This was probably the most difficult hide of our trip in the park today, which is saying that they were all pretty easy. This was yet another nice trail I hadn't been on before and with good company the miles just flew by. Not a big day for trading for me, so once again TNLNSL. Thanks.

Rogue Valley Pond

11:14 am - The four of us are walking down the trail to this one with GPSr's, cell phones and various other gadgets. A woman coming up the trail says to us "Can you hear me now?" Marky responds, "It's not nice to make fun of geeks." Riotous laughter ensues.

We noticed the MotorBug trail quickly on this one and I spied it just off the trail. Lots of poison oak in the area, but Marky is especially good at determining what's PO and what's not, so he retreived it. TNLNSL. Thanks again, MotorBug!

Chamise Trail Mini-Meadow

10:29 am - Out caching today with workerofwood, marky and elmo-fried, cleaning out all of MotorBug's recent droppings. I appreciate that you placed them all at once MotorBug and not one a month!

I tried to think like MotorBug on this one and did some unnecessary bushwacking. When I came out the other side, elmo was just arriving the easy way. Oh well, thanks for the cache.

Cache No Cache

9:53 pm - I had done the top of Windy Hill a few times, now I've been to the bottom. A bunch of Team in Training runners were filing by, so I had wait for a clearing to grab the cache. It was still pretty wet inside. Thanks!

Quackie Quack

6:52 pm - Last cache of the day. I was the only quack out here at this time. Armed with my flashlight, I got lucky and found it easily. It was quite precariously placed there. I appreciated the opening tool! The insides were a bit wet; it looks like it's taken a few trips down the river. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Civil war in California?

6:34 pm - Back where I'm from, places like this are pretty common, but it was cool to see one here. As a matter of fact, I did a cache at the grave of the guy who fired the first shot at bunker hill nearly 100 years earlier!

It was getting dark, so I was in a hurry, racing both daylight and the closing of the park. Had no trouble with the first waypoint, but couldn't find #2. Running out of time, I tried to brute force the cache using the hint. After a while I decided to give #2 a try again and this time I found it. The others came quickly and I found the cache. If I had kept searching earlier I would have found it, but missed the cool tour. Thanks for the interesting cache.

RWC History 101: Climate Best by Government Test

5:45 pm - Thanks for explaining this strange motto. As I arrived, I found Geowomyn working on the plaque. We each made different guesses on the route to the cache. I got lucky and ended up on the right side of the tracks. You've to got to guess right at least 50% of the time. There was no log in the cache, but people were logging on the back of grocery receipt. Left a mini-flashlight and took a ball, then let Geowomyn take her turn after I thanked her for her great caches in Coyote Hills. Thank you for the cache.

Girly Girl

5:17 pm - Looked where I thought this one should be with a flashlight, but couldn't find a thing. Might be missing.

Laureola

4:47 pm - Geez, someone eats a lot of Altoids! Walked over from the train station. Thanks for the quick one.

Gustine's Sister Cache

4:36 pm - This one was positively evil. The coordinates just bounced all around the park and I had trouble even finding the stuff mentioned in the hint. It didn't help that I didn't have the image in my Palm either. Cute park, though! Thanks.

Gateway to San Mateo

3:59 pm - Wasn't sure where to look for this one at first, so I ended up looking in some unsanitary places. Yuck. Found the cache soon after. Thanks for the quick one.

CalTrain - San Mateo

3:46 pm - I had to wander around a bit before I found the right place for this one. Ended up hopping the fence at the station. Some CalTrain workers were working on the lights nearby. I'm looking forward to when these trains start rolling again on the weekends.

It took some effort to find the cache. It was completely crushed and the top was coming off when I found it. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Wooden Brother

3:35 pm - Found this one hanging out, probably a little more than it should have been. TNLNSL and tried to hide it a little better. Thanks.

Joani's Prize

3:16 pm - The scene: two people making out on a park bench, two kids on bikes playing with matches between giggling at the people on the bench, and a geocacher trying to get inbetween all these people. The kids eventually tried to light things on fire a ways away and the couple was definitely occupied. Felt strange feeling around in some unappropriate places, but then finally found the right spot. Thanks for the cache.

Kiss the Dog!

3:04 pm - This one was intimidating, but I found it without smooching with any canines. Once people finished parking and the GPSr settled down, it was pretty obvious where it was. I still hate this container though. :-)

Little Fellows

2:44 pm - Thanks for the history lesson here. Man, those magnets are strong! The little bag holding the log book was ripped a little. Thanks.

Genial Gene

2:31 pm - I was grateful for the hint on this one as I could have been there for hours looking for this tiny container. My GPSr was pointing at a much different area. It turned out that finding the cache was the easy part. It took about 10 minutes to get the log out of the cache container. I now really hate these containers. Thanks!

What a Wonderful World

2:17 pm - I found this one quickly, a little too quickly for a cache of this difficulty. I happened to go hiking with Marky the day after and asked him about it. Apparently it wasn't placed correctly. Oops!

Hit the Target

1:57 pm - Very creative puzzle. Almost missed the target myself. Took Marky and Joani penny #0018. Thanks!

Park Place

1:27 pm - While some kids were fighting about bikes nearby, I made the quick grab for this cache. Thanks!

Mailboxes (1 of a kind)

1:20 pm - Saw this dalmation mailbox while heading for another cache. The also had some signs about "dalmation crossing". The mailbox was pretty cute.

CalTrain - Hillsdale

1:14 pm - So I guess this is the modern village - homes, shops and places of work all right next to each other, but they're all supersized!

Cool fountain. I was tempted to jump in on this hot day. Drove to the final coordinates and had no problems finding a legal parking spot. Passed a mailman on break smoking a cigar in his truck. Had some trouble finding the cache, but eventually it produced itself.

I thought that Caltrain - Tamien was actually missing while it was disabled. Otherwise I would have braved the plant and looked for it. Thanks for the cache.

Benny

12:28 pm - Nice little tour. I had to go up to the top level of the parking lot a few times to reacquire a signal. Took the geocoin. Thanks!

Community Garden

11:39 am - Neat garden. I had to wait for some people to clear out before I could grab the cache. The cache was not held up by gravity though, more like pressure!

I signed it on a barrel full of that nasty oxyalis weed. I hate that stuff! Thanks.

Searching for E-T

10:49 am - Last weekend I found E-T the cachers (or maybe they found us?) so I figured this weekend I'd find E-T the cache. Did the hike up and found the cache in short order. People were looking at me strangely for doing "paperwork" way up here. Or maybe not. Anyway, thanks for the cache.

Dish Walk

10:33 am - Quick walk up here. Either the terrian on this one is overrated or Searching for E-T is underrated, but they both can't be 2s because the other one is considerably further up the hill!

The paint was coming off this one quite a bit. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Francisco's Hideaway

10:24 am - Walked right past this one into an area with lots of poison oak. Nimbled around for a while, then decided I must have gone too far and found it in a very easy, poison oak-free spot. I wonder how this trail came to be. Thanks for the cache.

Mr. Ranger's view from work

9:03 am - Hooray, the trails were open this time and I got a parking spot. Saw dogs, wild turkeys, birds, alpacas and even people on the way up. Nice view from up here. My view from work isn't this nice, but I can at least see this ridge.

Took some earplugs and left a compass keychain. Thanks!

CalTrain - San Carlos

4:17 am - One thing that's great about these Caltrain caches is that there's never a question of where to park. Saw this one from 50 feet away and made the quick grab. Thanks.

Blown Away

3:33 pm - Ah, the final cache of the day. Many hills were conquered on this lovely day with practically no wind at all. Apparently Thefogheads share a birthday with Anne as we were celebrating her birthday out caching today.

There were plenty of people up here today, but not enough to make the search difficult. The benchmarks were practically jumping out on you here!

Removed a lighter (not appropriate for children). Thanks for the cache.

Passing Wind

2:39 pm - We attacked this one from Bob's Bench and descended into the Gulch. It's a good thing the trail was fairly obvious as we had forgotten our maps in the car. It's not uncommon that we didn't have a map, it's just that we had made a point to bring one this time!

Ran into E-T Explorers on the way down and they seemed to be having fun. The cache was in a nice spot with lots of great views. Going back up was a bit more painful as we had already hiked up and down for several miles earlier in the day. Some Jelly Bellys powered us up though and back to Bob's Bench where we enjoyed a nice sit. Thanks for the cache.

Bob's Bench

2:04 pm - After several longer hikes up on Skyline today, we were grateful for a quick one. Then it was down again to Passing Wind. What an up and down day. Ran into Thefogheads in the parking lot as they were leaving. The log is almost full. Thanks, Motorbug!

Crazy Pete's Money Cache

1:22 pm - Came the long way to this one via Ridge with a View. It was a nice little trail up to this point, with the nasty uphill only beginning. Left a wad of oversized Clevelands and took nothing. The hike up was pretty strenous, but we made it. Thanks.

Tue Zane

It's sad to see probably the only Rat cache that was completely obvious to me and members of my family archived. I guess it helps to be a new englander!

Anyway, if anyone ever needs to score a cribbage hand, I wrote a crude little web page to do that at (visit link) . Enjoy.

Ridge with a View

12:37 pm - We debated for a while on how to approach this one and Crazy's Petes, later deciding just to do them in a big loop. Getting to this one was the easy part. It got more challenging after that. Nice views, quick cache. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Bobwire Bobcat

12 pm - We thought about parking on Skyline, but then decided to see if Alpine Road had any parking spots. We weren't too hopeful, but suddenly we found just a few spots, just .2 miles from the cache. Great views along this short hike and we found this fresh cache without much trouble. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Peace Of Mind

11:17 am - This was a very nice little walk in the woods and it made us wish we had brought our bikes! Later in the day we even ran into the owner at another cache. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Poohs corner

3:53 pm - Grabbed this one at the end of a day of caching and just before a trip to the Berkeley Bowl. There's a nice little park here. We had some trouble searching at first because of the guy peeing behind a tree nearby. Then we found the right spot and found it after a little searching. Didn't have any Disney stuff, so TNLNSL. Thanks.

Sniff / Safe Deposit

3:08 pm - As we were walking to this to this one from parking, we noticed a car with a big Geocaching sticker. Hmm, I wonder who that is and if we'll meet with them?

Sure enough, when got to the first waypoint there was Geowomyn and her posse. We really enjoyed Geowomyn's multis, so it was nice to finally meet her. We found the first waypoint together though we were a bit confused because it didn't look like a geocaching logo.

After that we were off past more bizarre but interesting styrofoam art out to the levys which we had wanted to check out anyway as we came in. This one was quick. The rocks were just passable at this time and we made it back onto dry land in no time to check out the pirate ship.

Finding the cache was a bit more challenging. I pulled a muscle while trying to not fall off a cliff and it took us a while to find the cache even with the hint. Took a golf, ball left a cheerios car and limped a bit back to the car. Thanks for bringing us here!

Stay on Target

2:24 pm - I had a lot of trouble staying on target for this one because all the metal in this place was making the compass in my GPSr go wacky. Turned that off and then we got headed in the right directly. Strange stuff here. Not sure I'd want to b here at night. Found the cache easily. I thought it was funny that the chain was attached to the lid of the box, but the lid (as in most ammo boxes) comes right off at the hinge! TNLNSL. Thanks for the cool spot and cache.

Ye Olde Fishing Holes

1:50 pm - Glad we read the description on this one before we left the house so had the proper tools. Maybe I should add these to our "standard issue" geocaching toolkit!

Tried about 4 holes before we found the right one. The most difficult part was that valets were parking cars right behind us. They didn't care much about us though. TNLNSL.

I guess this place would be a good place to make the proverbial short walk on a long pier after you've lost all your money next door!

New Stinky

1:04 pm - There were a bunch of cops in the parking lot. Not sure what was going on there. On the way we caught some guy along the shore digging or banging on something. Weird. Found the cache OK along with a lot of bricks. Watch your footing here. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Dog Day Afternoon

12:26 pm - Great park. Watched the kites and people, then stopped to admire the view. As we got close to the cache, another pack of cachers appeared who turned out to be rascel and friends. They found the cache and I signed the log and TNLN. Thanks.

Sundials

11:47 am - I'm really surprised no one has logged this monster Sundial in Berkeley, CA, especially since it's really close to some other caches. No matter, I'll take the honor. It's right at the foot of a .5 mile-long fishing pier jutting into San Francisco bay. There was a plaque describing the significance of this sundial, but all I can remember is that it was built in 1970. Given that this is Berkeley in the 1970's, I'll guess it was built to promote peace, love and understanding in some way. It was interesting nonetheless.

Test of Time

11:47 am - Jeesh, that sure is a biggy! Walked right by it on the way to the other cache. By the time we got back we had our descriptions figured out and knew what questions to answer. Cool spot, thanks.

Hangin' Out Near Alcatraz

11:34 am - We were walking out on the peir for fun and noticed there was a cache directly ahead of us, but it was a half-mile out, so it must have been on an island or in the water somewhere, right? We kept walking and walking and found ourselves at the cache. At first we thought this was Ye Old Fishing Hole and we had forgotten the proper tools.

Once we figured out what cache we were looking for, we set out to find the rusty lid. It took us suprisingly long to find it considering it was right out in the open. Yup, very rusty, but still there. Thanks!

Ohlone Sanctuary

2:38 pm - This really is one of my favorite parks and I was happy to have an excuse to return. We ran out of time, energy, and smarts on our last trip here to complete this cache, even though we went right by it at one point!

I drove up to the gate all ready to put down some cash for my East Pay Parks Pass, but the booth was empty. Apparently the "shell mounds" were open today, but I didn't get a chance to check them out.

I went over to the newer salt ponds cache first and then traveled by foot to this one. Along the way I also stumbled upon a letterbox, my first.

Once again, great series and I'm looking forward to doing Ardenwood and Goblet of Fire.

Coyote hills salt pond cache

1:48 pm - I really like this park. Lots of good wildlife, the bay and some good hills. Better yet, this cache took me to a place I haven't seen before. Cool! The trail was a bit rough on my bare legs, but I came away with only a few scratches. Took a golf ball and left a girl's hair thingy from my Encinal Park cache. Thanks for the incentive to come back here!

Buzzy Kaboom

Pitched in on a team effort with this one and was rewarded with a cache. Busy place! Very creative cache.

Trow Da Rubbish

12:52 pm - I failed the parking test on this one, but I got a nice little walk out of the deal. The cache was nicely hidden and in good shape. TNLNSL. Thanks.

My Valentine Pearl

12:29 pm - This was a nice tribute. I nearly gave up on finding this one though. I resorted to the hint but got confused because my decrypt button didn't seem to work. Oh wait, it does. I looked again in the right place, but still couldn't find it. Finally I spotted it a few feet away. I may have brushed it away myself on my first attempt. Oh well. I tried to put it back where the hint described. Thanks for the cache.

Oh, say Cann U C...?

12:02 pm - Quite the witty title on this one. Found stages 1 and 2 with no problem and I was glad that I read the description carefully. Even so I was suspicious of my final coordinates because they weren't where I though they should be. They brought me right to the well-hidden cache though. Sorry I had to disturb the "locals".

LeChuck's Landlubbers Treasure

11:41 am - Nice park here. Everyone was out and playing their favorite sports. The cache was nicely tucked away in an empty part of the park. TNLNSL. Thanks.

SuperGenius #20-More Niles Canyon

11:26 am - Took a wrong turn and ended up taking a ride down through the canyon for a while before I could turn around. It was a nice day for a drive though and there were a lot of motorcycles enjoying the weather. Found the cache without any problem once some people turned around. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Fisherwoman's favorite foliage

11:07 am - The little league games were going on full force today, but I hung out and tried to find the cache anyway. I'm going to say that this is my least favorite foliage as I DNF'd on a similarly hidden cache not long ago, and now this one. Ug.

Veteran's Memorial Park

10:31 am - Quick and easy one today. I was the only human around. Got to the cache and realized I didn't have a pen, so I was grateful for the pencil inside. Afterwards I had a problem though as I couldn't find any pens in the car. I made a quick stop at the Walgreens across the street and picked up 10 gel pens for $1.19 in the bargain aisle. Now that you're completely bored, TNLNSL. Thanks.

Follow the Rules

4:31 pm - A couple of weeks ago, I was in the area on a rainy day and stopped by to do this cache. I found the rules, but the solution was not immediately apparent and the rain was miserable. I grabbed my camera, took a picture of the rules and solved them from the comfort of my couch a few days later.

After some ridiculous hiking with nostrada, mmp and workerofwoood, we stopped by to do this one which I was thankful for, since it might have been difficult for someone with my physical limitations. nostrada retreived the coordinates, I entered them and we were off through the park.

We spotted the cache pretty easily when we arrived and mmp retrieved it. TNLNSL.

This was the first time I've ever done the cache with the owner. No chance of a DNF here! Well done.

Joani's Crafty Cache - Crochet

4:15 pm - I have the good fortune of having friends who are willing to assist in cases where my expertese is limited. I tried to bribe my sister into doing it, but that didn't work. I think I need to go over and mow somebody's grandmother's lawn in repayment.

I think I get how this works now, but I'm going to stick to things I'm already good at. :-)

Stopped by with mmp, nostrada and workerofwood to grab the cache. A mother and sun were on the other end of the fence shooting us suspicious looks, but we shot them right back since they were standing around looking strange too. I delivered the cache to mmp's car for the second time today. TNLNSL. Thanks for the crochet lesson.

Sierra Azul "Relief" Spot

2:25 pm - So we're wandering down Sierra Azul having done over 9 miles of our 13-mile trek when I notice that I'm the only one of our group paying attention to a GPSr. I don't think nostrada even took his out the whole day! With everyone else heading down the hill, I slow down to start to look at the cache. I could have been mean and not stopped the rest of them, but my conscience prevailed. :-)

The cache was wet inside, so I tried to drain out the water. TNLNSL. Thanks for the great views.

Sierra Azul Bike Parts

1:40 pm - I forged into the side path only to find a nice view but no cache. Then I heard the others in the group find it. Took a golf ball and left a "hair pretty" that workerofwood's daughter left in my Encinal Park cache. OK, we're ready to head back down to Kennedy Road now!

The Amazing Race

Disappointment on the Deathmarch

After a long hike, we tried to find the end of the the first stage. We saw signs for the pipeline so we thought for sure that we were in the right place. After searching for a half hour on the side of a cliff full of poison oak, we gave up and finished the hike in a somber mood.

When I got home I solicited the help of another racer who helped clarify some of the values. That gave us new coordinates to try later. I'm not sure if stumbled across an intentional deception or not, but we were definitely at a pipeline (there was even a sign) at the wrong place.

Sombroso Spur

12:39 pm - Uhh, nice arrow. No problem finding this one. Getting up here was a different story as I was the only one of our group wearing shorts. Great for keeping cool, not so great for kicking through brambles. Ouch. TNLNSL. Thanks.

El Sombroso

12:16 pm - Powered up the hill to grab this one and found it in a good spot. Nice views from up here. I took a few minutes to grab something to eat and celebrate the fact that we were already halfway done with our 13-mile hike in Sierra Azul. Fun times. Left a Mickey Mouse Traveler and took nothing.

Mars' Cache

10:15 am - This was the third cache found by myself, mmp, nostrada and workerofwood on our 13-mile Sierra Azul "deathmarch". Wow, there was a lot of poison oak around here. At least I'm finally able to identify it! TNLNSL.

Even scarier than the poison oak was the fact that after the first 3 caches, there were nine other caches closer than the ones we were heading for in Sierra Azul. Oh boy.

Woods Cache

10:11 am - Second cache of our 13-mile Sierra Azul "deathmarch". mmp saved my bare legs from poison oak by tossing the log book to me. There was still much more to come though, so hopefully that TechNu really works! Thanks.

Secret Trailhead #14 - Sierra Azul

9:38 am - This was a quick grab at the start of our 13-mile Sierra Azul "deathmarch". With an easy one to start with we were all pysched up for some hiking! TNLNSL. Thanks.

Camo Micro

9:27 am - Made a quick stop to grab this one just before starting our 13-mile Sierra Azul "deathmarch". Found it quickly, but it was sans log. Nostrada gracefully provided a replacement and I handed it to mmp who never had to leave the car! Thanks.

Ornithic

6:30 pm - The puzzle looked similar to another one I had already solved and my first instinct of how to solve it turned out to be right. I went to try to find the spot last night, but didn't find anything.

I contacted WeBeDnD and got confirmation that I was in the right place. Headed out again tonight and found it right away. I don't know what my problem was yesterday. Thanks for the interesting puzzle.