Geocaching

Encinal Park

I went to look for the cache today and it's nowhere to be find. I thought about replacing it, but I decided that it's not such a good idea to encourage people to mess around with sprinkler systems. It upsets the gardeners.

Plus, WeBeDnD is running out of parks to dump his puzzles.

Southern Cross

10:07 pm - I was picking up my wife here so I made good use of my time waiting for her flight by finding this interesting virtual. Thanks!

Secret Stairway #2- Downtown Saratoga

9:00 pm - I got confused and thought I was looking for Secret Stairway #1. As such, the hint just made me look for something that wasn't there while it got dark. Darn.

Stuffed Animal Exchange

8:30 pm - Nice spot! I almost parked on side of road, but then reconsidered and parked on the next street. All the fuzzy guys inside seemed to be getting along, so TNLNSL. Thanks.

Congress Springs Rock Cache

8:16 pm - This one was very well-hidden. It took me a while to spot. I'm glad I didn't really have to search through the ivy. I'm out of rocks, so TNLNSL. Thanks.

Nail Behind Oakland

7:54 pm - I didn't get the anangram.
I did get the cache.
I didn't get the camo.
I did have fun. Thanks.

Silly CA

7:49 pm - Well, I haven't seen that hide before! No barking dogs tonight. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Coin Currency Exchange 2

7:43 pm - Neat spot. Left a Fijian dollar coin and took nothing. Thanks.

Not So Secret Walkway

7:28 pm - In the unforgettable words of Joey Lawrence: "Whoah." I checked this area early in my search but I had to make a second pass to spot it. With the GPS signals pointing everywhere, this is a toughie but it felt really good to find it. Thanks.

Boulter

1:30 pm - Hey look, I found myself. I never expected I would find myself in an italian restaurant parking lot, but I guess it was meant to be. We started trying the wrong interpretation of the hint first, then in a bizarre coincidence WeBeDnD drives by, the calls us to mock our attempt. Then again, maybe it's not a coincidence. I ran into WeBeDnD at Hawaiian language lesson 3. And now he names a cache after me? I'm beginning to think I have a stalker.

Well, the logless cache was produced shortly after and it was very nicely executed. I'm even proud to lend my name to it and to have found it with friends. Thanks, WeBeDnD!

Mind-Parole

12:45 pm - I needed some serious prodding to make sense of this one, as simple as it was in retrospect.

The final coordinates put us in the middle of the parking lot, but I guess that's unavoidable with this one. It took some dedicated searching for this one, but after we looked in all the wrong places, I spotted it in plain view. Thanks!

Ring Around the Rosie

9:34 pm - Rule #27 of geocaching in the bay area: never visit a cache before Marky. If you do, you'll just end up going back again to find the caches he placed nearby.

Gah, finally on this one! Getting the numbers right was tricky and we messed up just about every step. A few attempts to find the cache were twarted by muggles. Finally we went under cover of darkness and snagged the cache. Thanks!

Coleman Ponds

8:48 pm - My autorouting failed me here when it brought us to the end of the street with no access to the ponds. Later we discovered a much shorter access point that just required an easy fence jump. I don't quit understand why they fence off all of this.

We found the high school and parked amongst a bunch of shipping crates. The walk was quick. We passed a few fishermen along the way. We found the cache without much trouble, signed it and started to head back.

A couple of hundred feet later I realized I was missing my GPSr. I checked my backpack, but couldn't find it in there so we headed back to the cache site. Couldn't find it there. Panic. It was almost dark. Then Nostrada suggests I check my backpack again and there it was. Doh! Thanks for the cache.

Lion's Pride

8:11 pm - Nostrada didn't even have to interrupt his snacking to find this one. Nicely hidden. TNLNSL. It's hard to believe such a nice school would be closed. Thanks!

Pick the Bucket...Don't Kick it!

8:00 pm - I was a bit intrepidated coming back here as someone told me later (woofie?) that they saw me here and called the cops, thinking I was doing some kind of high-tech drug deal.

We looked on the right side first, but didn't see it, so we went to the wrong side and looked there. We had to drive there and back. On our second attempt we found it. It wasn't that hard and the title and hint all make sense. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Along the De Anza Trail 3 - Campbell

7:26 pm - This was a quick one, surprisingly enough. Nostrada had barely gotten his bearings before I had the cache in my hands and signed the log for us both. Thanks.

Assume Nothing #2 1/2

7 pm - I was out with nostrada and we searched for a long time, but couldn't find it. We twisted everything we could twist, and defintely some things we shouldn't have twisted. I assumed nothing, yet I still made an 'a**' out of 'u' and 'me'.

Boulter

Help! I'm falling apart!

Boulter

500 Server Too Busy

Added a parking hint.

Mars' Park

4:43 pm - It was the end of a long day and nothing looked obvious. So I sat down on the sidewalk to read the description and the logs. Gee, that's a familiar hint. I leaned over and found it right next to where I was sitting. I almost missed it at first glace because of how it was positioned. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Urban Assault #5

4:31 pm - My last Urban Assault cache. They sure were a lot of fun. I had to read the hint on this one as I was just too tired to be searching around much. Thanks.

Santa Teresa Station

4:21 pm - There was only one place that seemed reasonable given the coordinates. I checked there and couldn't find it. Maybe it is gone.

Urban Assault #1

4:21 pm - This was another quick one. Thanks.

Happy Halloween Hex

4:04 pm - On my long walk through the park, I had time to think about this one and came up with an idea of what I should be looking for. Sure enough, it was in the second place I looked. Nicely done. Thanks for the hunt.

Adelante Escondite

3:13 pm - I had been hiking in this park for over 3 hours in the 80 degree heat today when I arrived at this one. I was so tired I was stumbling around. I found the cache without difficulty and took a rabbit ball and left a silicon valley humane society bumper sticker. (Help control the pet population; have your pet spayed or neutered!)

I was grateful that the way back was mostly downhill, but I think I took some wrong turns and it was about 40 minutes until I made it back to the car. This one is probably best done on a cool day. Thanks!

Geocache

2:56 pm - Oh boy, this one really kicked my butt. I took the long way from Bay Area Multiple Hills - 3 and it was looong. It was really hot out there today and I was drenched in sweat. I found the cache and took a few minutes to catch my breath. Maybe I should have done this one in January? :-) TNLNSL. Thanks.

Bay Area Multiple Hills - 3

1:55 pm - I was trying to get to Predator Lives but found myself getting closer to this one instead. I nearly went for it, but then realized I left all my water in the car. I took a different route to Predator Lives and came back to do this one after. That turned out to be a very wise decision on this 80+ degree day.

Even after my rest, I nearly passed out climbing up this hill. There wasn't much shade available at the top, so I sat down under a bush while I applied Technu, sunscreen, water and downed a jumbo-sized Pixy Stix to rejuvenate myself.

I found the cache easily, but disturbed a deer reseting in a bush just a few feet away.

TNLNSL. One more hill to go! Thanks.

Predator Lives

12:42 pm - This was the start of my Santa Teresa park adventure. I wasn't sure how to get into the canyon (I know now), so I ended up taking some trails from the top. Those trails quickly became deer trails and then no trails at all, so I slid down the hillside for most of it until I got to the trail, no harm done.

My 60cs held a signal for a suprisingly long time in the canyon and I had a pretty good idea of where I should be looking and what kind of container, so I went to work. After a while I started probing into some holes with a stick and when I looked more closely I saw the cache right there. Whew! The flies and mosquitos made it an unpleasant place to linger though, so I took off quickly!

The deer carcass is still there, but it's mostly just bones now.

The next question was how to get back. It looked like there was a pretty good trail up the creekbed, so I started to follow that. It did well for a while and then I ended up on some deer trails going up the side of the canyon. Then the deer trails disappeared. I found myself crawling on my hands and knees up the steep canyon walls, through tons of poison oak and thick brush. I could see that I was getting close to the rim, but it was impossible to see how much more bushwhacking I would need to do and how much of it would be poison oak. After a half-hour of scrambling, I made it to a larger trail and then the clearing.

That was probably not a good route to take while out caching along. I guess I survived. Hopefully the technu worked as well.

At least I had an interesting log to write. Thanks for the adventure!

Support the Troops

11:47 am - Forget the poison oak, worry about the ticks! I found a couple of them on me as I was signing the log. Huge cache! TNLNSL though. Thanks.

Bear Tree Lot

11:28 am - Funny, I thought this was one of Marky's anagramed cache titles. No, it's actually a called Bear Tree Lot.

As I was doing the math a couple walked by and the guy asked me if I was geocaching. He said he lived just around the block and had tried to find the cache several times, but failed. He appeared to point me in the general direction of the cache and went on his way.

When I finished the calculations, my GPSr was pointing in the opposite direction that the guy had indicated, so I checked my math again. When I couldn't find anything wrong, I went to go find it anyway. I did find it after a short search. Mean hint. :-)

TNLNSL. Thanks.

Other cacher
checked coords

Santa Teresa Spring

11:06 am - I found this one very visible. After I TNLNSL, I stood it up so it was harder to see. Cool spring. Thanks.

Watch out for Snakes.

10:56 am - Phew, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to find this one, but I made a blind grab and came up with the cache. I managed to avoid all the snakes except one, but he didn't appear to be poisonous. Thanks!

La Colina

10:34 am - It looks like there was a recent grass fire here, but the cache was in perfect condition. Nice park. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Britdog's Frisbee place

10:23 am - Ow, this was very prickly. I saw something I thought was the cache first, but it turned out to be empty. After another lap I saw the real cache. Nicely done. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Decon Water Park

10:08 am - This one was pretty easy too. It was very wet on the outside, but ok inside. TNLNSL. Thanks.

The next development is coming

9:59 am - This cache is hot! Literally, it was burning in my hands, especially that whistle inside!

I had to make a couple of u-turns to get here, but I found the hot cache quickly. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Original Arches

9:45 am - This place is pretty nice. Good hiding spot too. After the grab I went inside to check it out. This is the 3rd cache I've found at one of these establishments. Thanks.

"We Live Here"

9:30 am - Searched for a while in all the places the cache should be, but couldn't find it.

Stonehenge

9:09 am - Sometimes there are those puzzles where if you stare at them long enough, the solution just pops out at you. I've actually tried this technique on other puzzles, but this is the first time it's worked. :-)

It's always good to know you're in the right place. Unfortunately the sprinklers were on and I got pretty wet getting to the cache. Luckily it was in the first place I looked. Thanks for the neat puzzle.

Secret Walkway #6 - Los Gatos Creek Trail?

9:00 am - I found the bridge too and took the short walk to the cache. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Adobe Slough Bridge

7:58 pm - After a long day of caching, I gorged myself on meatballs and lingonberries at IKEA. I decided to head over here on the way hope to walk it off.

I parked at Flyway Rest Stop II at first, but decided I didn't eat THAT much, so I went over and found the closer parking, which actually seemed new since I was last here.

This really is a nice park and one of the first I found when we moved here. I even saw an egret just off the bridge.

I found the cache shortly after some muggles finished taking pictures on the bridge. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Earth Filters

7:30 pm - I think the earth filters were broken today because it was really stinky here tonight. The cache was an easy find and I checked the sign just to make sure that WeBeDnD wasn't making this stuff up. :-) Thanks.

cookie box

6:09 pm - I wasn't sure where to park for this one, but I saw a roller blader lacing up so I parked next to her and followed her to the right spot.

I surveyed both access points and deemed the upper one unsafe, so I took the lower. That was a bit of an adventure it itself, but I lik these kinds of physical challenges. TNLNSL. Thanks.

The Secret Park

5:35 pm - I had the right idea from the beginning on this one; it was just a matter of trying them all. This park really is a secret because I was the only one there. Thanks.

George was Here?

5:16 pm - I've been to this park many times for other caches, but I didn't know George was here too! Thanks for the fun.

Shopping by Numbers

4:42 pm - It's been a long time since I've been in a mall. I guess I buy all my stuff online these days.

Luckily I didn't have to go in very far before I found the directory. A few of them I knew right away, some others I made some educated guesses and one of them was a compelete guess.

I was suspicious of my coordinates though since they seemed to be far away. Once I got there I realized I must have gotten them right when I found myself at a park.

It was an adventure to grab the cache, though I'm not sure that's where it was supposed to be. Some kids seemed to be the last finders and they wrote in the log book, one of them calling the other "dum". I TNLNSL. Thanks.

It's Easy To Be Organized...

4:08 pm - It's a geocacher hider's paradise! I always thought there should be a cache at one of these. Found it after avoiding stares from an organized worker. Thanks.

Hail a Cab!

4:00 pm - guessed this is where I'd end up for this one, though I didn't know about this particular location. I had to look a few times before I saw that cache. Thanks.

3 strike rule

3:45 pm - This really was an exercise in stealth. The all-star games were in full swing and people were everywhere.

I sat down and noticed some change conveniently lying on the ground directly below the cache. I "picked up some change" and also happened to find a cache with people just a few feet away in every direction.

After I finished signing the log, I waited until a passed ball for everyone to be distracted to replace the cache. Thanks.

Sugarloaf

3:11 pm - Oh my, this was one steep trail. The views were rewarding. I found the cache with no problems and TNLNSL.

Once I caught my breath I took a few minutes to relect and be thankful for all that I have. Thanks for bringing me here.

Belmont Beauty

2:38 pm - I thought I might have to crash "Joe and Ann's 60th", but it turned out that the cache was on the other side from the party. TNLNSL. Thanks.

1870 Art Center

2:22 pm - I parked in the wrong spot to get to this one - twice. I finally made it to 1870 and started searching. I looked for about a half hour but couldn't find anything. I gave up when I couldn't find any other places to search.

Unless I'm missing something, the hint doesn't tell me anything that my GPSr doesn't already.

Tube

1:19 pm - This was an odd park. I've never had to walk a half mile just to get into the park. I'm suprised I even found the access point, but I followed the dog walkers.

There was lots of Poison Oak along the trail, so after I found the cache got out my trusty technu tube.

TNLNSL. Thanks.

Cross Country

12:39 pm - I used to spend a lot of time at these places in my youth, but now I get all my exercise from geocaching. :-) Thanks for the cache.

Fox on the Hill

12:34 pm - This was quite a nice view and and easy find. Thanks!

Eichler View

12:12 pm - A few weeks ago I had never heard of an Eichler before , but now they seem to be everywhere!

I had to avoid the gaze of the guy working on his house next door who had no tresspassing signs plastered all over his property.

At first I entered the coordinates wrong and it has me going on the other side of 280. I'm glad I checked them twice.

The coordinates do seem to be off, but find the cache was easy with the hint. Thanks.

Queche Sera Serra - Southbound

11:46 am - I thought I would have to be going south on 280 to get to this one, but there was an exit from the northbound direction as well.

I just couldn't see this one and it was a while before I was able to grab it. Meanwhile, there were lots of suspicious-looking older men waiting by themselves in their cars and staring at me. No wonder this place is closed after dark.

Thanks.

Cordilleras Creek Cache

11:13 am - This was my second attempt at this one. Last time we couldn't find our way into the park and ended up doing a bunch of caches in Edgewood park instead.

Anyway, had a nice walk over to this one except for the last few feet which had lots of poison oak. The cache was pretty much out in the open.

The park had signs for a Search and Rescue exercise and I saw a truck setting up for the event. When I got back to the car there were teams of people heading up to rescue something and they had GPSr's in hand. Who knew that GPS could be used to something useful? :-)

2nd
so much po
search and rescue gps useful

Doggie Do (revived!)

10:50 am - Nice cache. Both were easy finds. Maybe a little too easy - someone named "stalker" stumbled across it recently. I enjoyed the walk and left my "new" old timer travel bug. Thanks.

Pole Position

10:09 am - I solved this one a loooong time ago, but finally got up to the are to grab the cache.

I checked the right place first, but didn't see it, so I looked in a bunch of other spots before I came back and made sense of the hints. Thanks.

Handle with Care

9:54 am - It took me a while to figure out what to do here. Finally I just found the micro and signed it. Nice park.

RWC Hills Beacon - Endangered Landmark

9:29 am - Thanks to the miracle of autorouting, I find my way right up all these twisty roads to just below the landmark.

Nice camo. I had to do two laps before I saw it. TNLNSL.

There's a similar cache in Hollywood called "The Passion" that I've done. Thanks.

Sitting Off The Fence

9:08 am - I didn't find this one until I pretty much stumbled on it. Alrighty then, TNLNSL. Thanks.

Rafts Stalk Up!

8:50 am - I've been meaning to do this one for a long time. It was a nice walk through the park and a reasonably easy find (though I did use the hints). TNLNSL. Thanks!

Hetch Me If You Can

8:18 am - Neat spot. My John W. Christian Greenbelt cache is on a more eastern part of the Hetch Hetchy system. Found the cache without much trouble and TNLNSL. Thanks.

Old Coyote Bike Trail

8:50 pm - There aren't many days in the year that you can go caching at almost 9 pm and have it still be light out.

It took me a while to figure out the approach to this one. Once I found it, I started heading over and did some unnecessary bushwacking. That led me nowhere and I ended up back on the path, on a hastened pace to find this before darkness set.

I still had to use a flashlight at the cache location. I didn't find the cache until I accidentally stepped on it. I signed it quickly, TNLN and took the easy way back. Thanks for the fun.

Coyote Crossing

8:27 pm - This was a quick one on my way to figuring out how to get to Old Coyote Bike Trail. Thanks.

Pennies From Heaven

8:08 pm - I had heard about this one and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get it. It turns out that it wasn't that bad. I enjoy these kinds of physical challenges when going for a cache. The scariest part was the parade of ants I had to cross. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Merry Christmas Cache #2

7:57 pm - In retreiving the cache, I managed to awaken several thousand mosquitos, which necessitated that this one be quick for me. TNLNSL. Merry Christmas!

Urban Assault #20

7:39 pm - Oh boy, I don't know what I was doing on this one. I looked in all the wrong places then I saw it plain view. Geez! Thanks for the interesting object to search. :-)

Sharkie Cache

7:19 pm - I didn't see any snakes, but that doesn't mean I didn't think I saw some. The logs had be paranoid and when my GPSr beeped when I got close to the cache, I jumped a couple of feet. Nice cache and an even nicer view from up here. On the way down I did see a snake skin, so they're definitely around. Thanks.

Natural Camouflage

6:59 pm - I had the park to myself this evening. I flushed out the cache in just a few minutes and I was on my way. Thanks.

HAPPY CACHE

6:46 pm - Third time was a charm for this one. Apparently it was replaced beacuse I definitely checked that spot on my previous visits. Thanks.

Ginger Peach

8:10 pm - Darn, we parked in the wrong spot, a whole 250 feet away. I could almost spot the cache from there. TNLNSL. Thanks.

"Media"

8:05 pm - Convenient parking! We parked 8 feet away. I don't get the title, but I guess I don't have to. Thanks.

Bottle H2O

7:30 pm - This is an 'easy cache', especially when it isn't missing! It was right where we were looking last time. Thanks.

What's in a hut?

7:10 pm - I've been eyeing this one right off 101 in San Jose, CA for a while. I'm sure there's some geometric advantage to storing round tires inside a half-cylinder, right?

Old City Hall

2:57 pm - Neat building. There was a guy walking around surveying the building, maybe trying to figure out how they could demolish it. Sounds fun!

The hint led me astray, but I eventually found it. Thanks.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #25

2:40 pm - I was thrilled when I approached this one and not a soul was around. Once I found it, I realized I could have pulled it off when last time though. The cache was missing its cap and I didn't have one handy. Thanks.

Golden Spike

2:25 pm - I couldn't find this one last time, but since then another cacher confirmed I was looking in the right area.

While I was trying to make my arm do some unnatural bending, I spotted it. Thanks.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #28

2:13 pm - Hooray a quick one

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #30

2:05 pm - Another JoeSpaz cache, another DNF.

Niles - Off the beaten path

1:41 pm - This one beat me after a half hour. I used all the logs and hints. I came up with several possibilites for the type of camo, but saw none of them.

Niles - "On the Rocks"

1:00 pm - Hmm,where could it be? Where COULD it be?? Gee, in that spot right over there. Of course! Nice spot. TNLNSL. Thanks.

CITO Cache - Fremont #3

12:54 pm - There were some people playing bocce close by, but they didn't seem to mind me. I took a can and then took a walk to some other caches. Thanks for your CITO efforts.

SciFi kids

12:46 pm - This is a cool area. I found the cache easily and took a golf ball, leaving a plastic wrench. Thanks!

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #29

12:34 pm - I got my groove back with this little cache. Tried a few places and then read the logs to find it quickly. Thanks.

"04 Spring Break

12:04 pm - Either I'm getting worse at this sport or this one is actually missing. I talked to another cacher and he said that it was pretty visible. I dunno.

Los Cerittos Community Center

11:32 am - Spent a half hour here crawling through the bushes because I couldn't see any other way to find this thing. After getting all dirty and CITOing some trash, I decided to give up and come back some other day, hopefully with backup.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #2

11:00 am - I surprised myself by finding this one that I had previously DNF'd. (I had no better luck ony any of the other JoeSpaz caches I had attempted before.)

Unforunately film cans aren't waterproof and this one was completely soaked. Given its placement, I think this is probably unavoidable.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #1

10:32 am - I blew right past this one because I was looking for a park. Ok, I guess this is an exception. I finally got #1, but I think I still have at least a half-dozen left.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #22

10:21 am - I spent 45 minutes looking for this one today and this was my second attempt. I'm not sure what I'm missing here, but maybe 'soon' will come and they'll be a hint when I return.

Halfway House

9:34 am - There were lots of walker out today. The cache was an easy find and I then I continued on my way. Thanks.

Waiting for School

9:20 am - This one was quick and easy, even with the guys tearing up the street close by. Thanks.

DOUBLES ANYONE?

9:09 am - "Damn it!" is what I said out loud when I finally found this after searching for a half hour. I was bit disturbed by the homeless home next door, especially with the decoration of the trees with condoms. Yuck.

TNLNSL. There's a nice wallet knife in there that I didn't take, but should have since it's probably not good to have things like that in there if a kid finds it.

Happy Birthday JoeSpaz #7

8:39 am - A while back I got some information about what to look for here. I looked for another half hour and found nothing.

Union City Underground: "Tag Alley"

7:57 am - I really love autorouting on my new 60cs. I never would have found my way into here without it.

From the description, this place sounded a lot more scary than it actually was. I found the cache quickly, struggled to get it up, then TNLNSL. Thanks.

Osborne

7:36 am - I found the cache completely open with its contents strewn about. Everything seemed to be stil there though, so I put it back together, signed the log and took a Team Dakiba item. Thanks.

Above It All?

7:19 am - Wooo - what a view! :-)

It took some searching to find this one, but eventually it revealed itself. Thanks.

In Suspense!

6:54 am - Searched for a while, but couldn't find it.

I questioned a mutant turkeyduck about the whereabouts of the cache, but he didn't know either.

LEAF ME HERE!

6:36 am - Yup, this park was empty. Nice camo. TNLNSL. Thanks

Big Worm-Gear Needed

7:20 pm - I've been avoiding this one for a while now, but I've done most of the caches around it, so I decided to give it a try around the local girl's swim practice time. There was frequent traffic on the path, so I had to whistle away a few times.

I saw a girl in a swimsuit go by, but she offered no help. Maybe I should have been more obvious. I thought I knew where it should be given the hint, but I couldn't find it, so I called a lifeline. That narrowed me down to 1/4 of the possibilities, though it was the furthest from where my GPSr was pointing. I caught slight glimpse of it then.

This cache was a lot different than I expected from reading the logs, but I guess that's the surprise of geocaching. Thanks.

POP #5

6:40 pm - I'm having an event cache this weekend. It's at WeBeDnD's house and the activity will be to finish their bathroom. WeBeDnD will not be allowed to participate. We will be removing anything resembling tiles. The color theme will be black and white, since they're clearly colorblind.

I got half of this puzzle, but had to work with another cacher to get the rest. But I'm going to hold up my end by giving a hint on the cache location, not that it was very hard! Thanks for the mind-bender.

500 Server Too Busy

I apologize if anyone was unable to get to my tool last night. It appears that someone was running a robot against it, making many consecutive requests. This could have caused some error messages for others. It seems to be fine now, so give it a try.

500 Server Too Busy

Any computer will work just fine. Maybe I did underrate it. It's no harder than trying to log a cache on Sunday night though!

Former Fire Fighter

9:30 am - Saw this old truck on display at a vintage car festival. It's steam powered and defintely retired!

Travel Bugs Rock

9:05 am - This multi rocked! I had a nice morning walk around the trail and had no trouble with any of the steps, though I did count everything twice to make sure. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Menlo Park Rest Stop

8:43 am - I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get this one as a guy reading the newspaper had chosen a spot to rest very near the coordiantes. I tried another nearby spot and there it was. Thanks for the quickie.

Plan For a Miracle

8:29 am - This is a fairly straightforward find, but the wording made me overinterpret some stuff and look in all kinds of crazy places. Finally I tried things from a different angle and saw it right away.

Later on, I was riding on the train and saw who I think was markens searching for the cache. Hints are only $5 per. :-)

Big Game 2004

8:04 am - This is probably unnecessary for anyone but me, but note that this is difficulty 3.5, not terrain 3.5. Given that, I had some interesting experiences trying to find this cache. When I was finally dirty and tired I found it right away.

I didn't realize that chickening out on the prediction last year would subject me to public humiliation this year! With that in mind, I'll be an optimist and say Stanford 16, Cal zip.

The Cave Of The Cache

7:44 am - It's always the first cache of the day that gets me the dirtiest.

This one was tough. I found the 'cave' quickly, but couldn't see the cache. I tried some other local 'caves', but didn't find anything as promising as the first spot I tried. I did find a toy airplane and wrench though.

I went in and out of the cave, convinced myself to give up several times, but kept going back. Finally I spotted it in a well-hidden spot. Geez! TNLNSL. Thanks.

Doc's Cache IV

4:35 pm - This one should go into our geocaching "comedy of errors" hall of fame.

This looked like a fairly straightforward hike just off the coast. 1.5 terrain. Yeah, right.

We weren't sure where to park, so we went up to the resort. Then we weren't quite sure how to get over to the other side of the creek, so we followed some other hikers down the road. I don't know where they went, but soon we found ourselves back at Highway 1, missing the bridge we saw on the map at the resort.

We walked up the road from there and later found the trail and saw where people were crossing the bridge. A snake crossed Anne's path and that freaked her out for the rest of the hike.

A while later we came to a fork in the trail. It wasn't clear which way we had to go, so we took a right. Or should I say a 'wrong'. I think we followed that a half mile before it became clear that it wasn't leading us where we wanted to go. We made a u-ey and took the other fork.

Once we got 'close' to the cache it wasn't obvious where we had to go off the trail, so I did some bushwhacking only to find myself crossing 'another' trail. After (hopefully) dodging some poison oak, I found the cache and signed the log.

I moment of hilarity occured where Anne was calling my name into the bushes while I was standing 100 feet in front of her in clear view on the trail.

Anne managed to make it to the 'other' trail by staying on a trail, though I wasn't sure which one, so we continued dow n that trail to where I assumed it would meet up with the one we came up on. This was my plan, despite the fact that I didn't remember seeing another trail on the way up.

Not too much later, I realized we weren't getting close to the track of the other trail, so I suggested that we go off the trail down to the first one. This was the point at which my lovely wife clearly communicated to me for the second time that this was not a different trail, it was the same one we came up on. OK, then. We turned around and headed back down rather uneventfully, finding the bridge and eventually our car. We took a few minutes to check out the foofy camping area.

On the way home, I found some unwanted hitchikers of the tick variety. I don't think I got bit, but it's always freaky to find them later.

Thanks for the unintentional adventure!

Pigeon's Roost

3:15 pm - There was a wedding going here today and we were a bit worried we'd have to crash it to get to the cache. It turned out that the wedding was on one side of the fence and the lighthouse was on another so we were cool.

I found the cache without too much trouble and admired the weather station for a bit. I had to dig around for a bit, but finally found an 89 quarter to replace the 83 penny. Thanks.

Marsh Maracas

2:44 pm - After an unpleasant experience at Pescy Marsh, this was a welcome change. Anne found the cache away from where I was looking. The log was a bit moldy and full, but otherwise the cache was in good shape. Thanks for the tour of this nice area!

Who guards the lure?

1:56 pm - Uh, yeah. That's exactly what I was expecting to find here. Really. Thanks for showing us some neat 'art.'

'B' Is For Beachhead

1:26 pm - Wow, this was a great beach. We tired to take the high road first, but quickly found that wasn't going to get us there, so we went down and walked along the beach.

The day started out cloudy, but cleared up and it was great to have a nice stroll. We found the cache easily and TNLNSL.

On the way back we saw some people stading on the beach looking at what appeared to be a seal in the water, then appeared to be a dead seal, but turned out to be a dead dog. He had apparently been washing up in the surf for a while. Strange.

Thanks for the cache.

500 Server Too Busy

Some people have said that it appears that my new tool is having some trouble. It seems to be working for me though, so keep trying. Thanks.

Pescy Marsh

I really hope this is missing. Otherwise, it requires more than the painful half hour of walking through prickly berry bushes and poison oak than we endured. While the the cache is supposed to be right on the trail, the coordinates indicate otherwise, which is why things are trampled. Surely there is more pleasant place for cache in this lovely marsh?

Can You Do the Cam Can?

12:39 pm - Well, this was an accidental FTF for us. We were heading down the coast for some other caches, then noticed this cache on the way that I didn't remember the last time we were in the area.

Neat place. I had to wait for a family to slowly get out of their car to grab the cache. It's good to know that the owners are in on it. We didn't have time for a drink, so we left the FTF prize and TLNLSL.

Thanks!

Queche Sera Serra - Northbound

12:08 pm - We were on our way to the coast and I remembered this cache was right off 280. We made a quick pit stop, but strugged for a while to find the cache.

While we were searching, Workerofwood called and we chatted for a bit. Just as I hung up, I noticed that he was the last person to find this cache. I called him back and before he could answer I saw it.

Thanks for the drive-by!

Grin and bear it!

(Tap), (Tap), (Tap)... Anybody home? It's your mother.

Oakland Tree

4:44 pm - Ah, I get it. I was tired and dumb, so Nostrada found this one. Thanks for the cache.

MISSION: Eastside Cache Dispersal

3:52 pm - Took a canister. Ended up using the log for a cache I placed yesterday. It's not in east san jose, but it is east of my house. :-) Thanks.

Baloney Mahoney Dr. (disabled-vandalized)

3:35 pm - I thought the camo on this was genious! What was that stuff, anyway?

Uhh, oops, that wasn't camo. That was real. Nasty! I'm glad I didn't actually touch it. Hopefully he had baloney for lunch. Thanks.

Landings and Lights

2:57 pm - We thought we'd have to give up on this one because of the truck parked right next to the cache, but it turns out the driver was sleeping. We quietly walked around, extracted the cache right next to the truck, signed it and put it back without him awaking. How sneaky! Thanks for the view of the planes.

Discovery kids cache

2:46 pm - This was a cute mini-multi. One, two, three and we're done. TNLNSL. Thanks.

San José Public Library - Evergreen Branch

2:35 pm - Hooray, my last library cache! And this one was easy. Who knew there were so many libraries in San Jose? Thanks.

Does it take all night?

2:18 pm - Nah, took about a half hour. We had the most trouble with the last stage. Those dcon containers are nearly invisible. I went in where I didn't need to and risked some poison oak, but I think I came out OK.

I took nothing and left twice as much as I took. :-) Thanks.

Cottle Ranch

1:49 pm - We would have stopped, but we were on the other side of the road and there was lots of traffic. Those big letters did make it pretty easy!

Jake's Play Lot

1:15 pm - I went by here last weekend but the play lot looked very busy so I didn't try. Today I returned with Nostrada and he led me right to it, away from a all the muggles.

Alert! The log is completely full! Thanks.

A Googie View

Found this Googie at the Alma Bowl in San Jose, CA. The bowling alley is closed now, apparently set for a development, so this sign may not be there much longer.

Octagon Buildings

I spied this octagnal photo developing place a few weeks ago and finally found myself there again to take the picture. Actually Nostrada took the picture. I wonder if photos come out better if they're processed in an octagnal building?

How Vane is It

Spotted this interesting little weathervane with a stag on top while driving around San Jose, California.

Getting Hitched

Found this hitching post at the historic Roberto Adobe in San Jose, CA. Interstate 280 runs right by here and they actually shifted the highway to preseve the adobe. There's a cache near here that explains more of the history.

Rocky

12:48 pm - This was probably our most strenous hike of the day, which isn't saying much. It took a couple of attempts to find the rigth access point.

It was short, but steep and pretty hot. Thank god for the cool breeze. The only noises were from lawnmowers below and an occasional squirrel scurrying through the grass. The top revealed a nice view of Quicksilver and he valley.

We found the cache easily and TNLNSL. Thanks!

Duck Blind

12:28 pm - Huh, I was just on this trail last weekend. If I had realized this one was just a little further down I would have kept going. Oh well, this was a nice place to take a walk and and easy find. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Hamburger Hill

11:55 am - The triathlon was finishing up and we tried to get some free food out of the deal, but the food was only for athletes. What, do they deserve it or something? Geocaching is hard work too! We did get to use the porta-potties though. :-)

Made the quick trek up the hill and I found the nicely camoed cahce quickly. Thanks for another!

Triangle Bridge

11:36 am - Neat new bridge. Nostrada made the grab on this one while I checked out the view and watched out for triathletes. Thanks.

Kyle and Ryan's Kid Craft Cache

11:33 am - Had fun with Nostrada and Junior cacher, just had to be careful around all the triathletes. Luckily only the occasional laggard was going by at this point. TNLNSL. Thanks.

William's Cache

11:13 am - A couple of weeks ago Nostrada and I were driving by this park as they were putting the finishing touches on it and commenting that there would probably be a cache there soon. Sure enough, there is.

After questioning my choice of parking because he didn't want to walk .15 miles (oh sorry, .24 kilometers), Nostrada and I made our way to the cache, had a seat and found the cache with muggles abound. Neat 'container'. TNLNSL (Obviously!)

Little San Francisco

10:48 am - I've been here before, but only for salt. Apparently this is low-income housing? This was obvious from the new Mercedes parked on the street. :-) Nostrada found the cache while I was doddling again. Thanks.

Pequeno

10:40 am - Spotted this one right away. At least I learned a new word! Thanks.

Tammie is back

10:30 am - Back indeed. Thanks for the quick one.

Tank-view Park

9:56 am - Yup, I've been here before. It's surprising that you can park that close when there isn't an event going on. That reminds me, I haven't been to a Sharks game in a while.

Nostrada got the right perspective and directed me to nab the cache. Thanks!

Roberto Adobe

9:45 am - More hidden history. The final location showed up as next to railroad tracks on our GPSr's, so we were a bit intimidated. When we got there it was a bit of a joke. 10 feet of track, big gap, 10 feet of track, big gap. I don't think many trains go by here. Nostrada found the cache and I TNLNSL. Thanks.

Farm Equipment??

9:26 am - It took us a while to find the right way to drive to this one and maybe even longer to find the cache. I hate these structures. Luckily the hid wasn't too evil and we found it with the hint. Phew. Thanks.

Soup Troll

8:45 pm - I had tried this one yesterday, but after a thorough search could not find the cache. Just when I was ready to search some more, a car pulled up. "Did those guys leave?" "Uhh, yeah, they've been closed for a while." This guy looked like he wanted some soup, but then he pulled out some keys and went inside. Apparently the soup troll is Indian and he drives a Lexus. After he went inside to collect the day's soup profits I decided to give up for today.

We were picking up some food at Once an Orchard and I decided to swing by this one on the way. There were still two guys in there are they looked at me funny, but conveniently there was a newspaper right where I wanted to look. I sat down, pretended to read and when the guys inside decided I was harmless, poked around and found the cache. Job done, I replaced the cache, grabbed the newspaper and took off.

I appreciate the recommendation for a good soup place close to home, so I'll try to come back soon when it's open!

Alum Rock Overlook

5:59 pm - "Just 5 or 6 switchbacks" workerofwood says to us after caching all day. Sure, we're up here anyway and it says only 500 feet away on my GPSr. 10 SWITCHBACKS LATER (AHEM), we reached the top.

Around the 8th or 9th, we started plotting workerofwood's demise. Cutting off just his thumbs would made it impossible for him to open ammo boxes, right?

The view was nice though and we rested on the convienent bench. MotorBug didn't have the cache description for some reason, so I was able to beam it to him from CacheMate. Cool! That was the first time I've done that.

The way down seemed longer for some reason, but it was a good end to a long day of caching. Thanks.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

5:31 pm - The GPSr reception was pretty bad here. Workerofwood has already found this one, but he still patiently waited while the rest of us looked in all the wrong places.

Finally I used the hint just as MotorBug found it. I guess this was the second time I found this one since I found the Kid-Friendly cache. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Spring Time

5:19 pm - We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get this one because there were two people sitting RIGHT THERE. MotorBug said a few words to them as we passed and went down the cliff. Unforunately WeBeDnD used some poison oak to belay down the cliff. I tossed him my technu (don't leave home with out it), which I casually snagged the cache.

We signed, cleaned up, and then had to tackle the problem of how to put it back with the people just feet away. I carefully "caught my balance" while shoving the cache back in place. Pretty smooth, I thought. Thanks for the cache.

Once a bridge

4:49 pm - Workerofwood led us up to this one and I'll have to admit that I was feeling a bit light-headed when we got there. WeBeDnD snagged the cache and maybe even signed it for me. Thanks!

F.A.M.E. #1

4:36 pm - My GPSr's batteries were dying, so I had it off. I shouldn't have done that as workerofwood who was 'leading' us, took us right past it. Good thing WeBeDnD was on the ball.

Speaking of balls I took that chinese ball thing and left a buddy Jesus. Thanks for the cache!

Perc you up

4:14 pm - While waiting for the others to arrive on our trip up to Alum Rock, workerofwood let me on a tour to this one. It was very nice until the end when he got distracted and put me past the cache. :-) Found it easily and TNLNSL.

The next day I returned the favor to Nostrada and took him here. See how that works?

Newarks of the World

2:59 pm - We hoofed it over to this one from Quack Quack Honk. Gee, these things are starting to look familiar. The topic of travel bugs came up and I remembered I had one to pass along. So I tried to throw the WASTB bug in, but MotorBug snatched it. Thanks for the fascinating tour of Newark! :-)

Quack Quack Honk!

2:39 pm - After Ardenwood, we decided to come here for a picnic lunch to recharge. We had fewer companions than we expected, but that just meant more food for us. I waved the forbidden fruit of E.L. Fudge cookies in front of everyone and they all committed the sin. Shame!

We found each stage pretty easily. It's always satisfying to have good help and MotorBug, WeBeDnD, and workerofwood certainly fit the bill. They sussed out the camo at each stage, and even freaked out a fisherman at the last one to get it. Took a CITO container and pressed on. Thanks!

Ardenwood Scrabble

12:29 pm - Woo hoo, #1000! I'd like to thank the academy, my agent, my family...

I was saving my 1000 for something special. Geowomyn's caches are always great fun, so I thought this would be a good way to celebrate. We had a fun time wandering through Ardenwood with the celtic festival going on as well.

The cache was an easy find and TNLNSL.

My original goal was to reach 1000 by the end of this year. I guess I underestimated myself. So far I've done more caches this year than I did in all of last year though. Next is getting my overall average to 2 per day.

Thanks all the quality caches, Geowomyn!

Ardenwood: Spirits of the Forest

12:16 pm - Workerofwood was tending to his family and we attempted to forage on until his return. It turns out that we were completely inept at finding this cache and it wasn't until he came back and showed us how it's done that the cache was produced.

OK, we've got all the letters now. Well, that's a strange word, but let's see if those are the coordinates...

Ardenwood: Baba Yaga is Waiting for You

12:05 pm - We were franticly looking for this one, hoping to get out of there before Baba Yaga came for us. Luckily Anne spotted the cache.

We managed to get out of there before Baba appeared, but he did seem to put some sort of hex on Motorbug and WeBeDnD's GPSr's as they were mysteriously missing some waypoints. Hmmm.

Ardenwood: Rows of Nuts

11:54 am - This was a quick one on our quest to get all the letters. Still no clue what the word would be at this point. Thanks.

Ardenwood: MoooSic

11:44 am - There were all kinds of strange animals in this spot. Some baby goats were hanging out with their mom. The bunnies were in their cages. A cow was grazing nearby. An invisible peacock high in the tree occasionally let out a crazy cry. And then there was this "MotorBug" creature who was off searching an area about 100 feet off from the coordinates.

We enlisted Anne to get the log sheet out of the container and we headed off for more fun in Ardenwood. Thanks.

Ardenwood: Lost in Time

11:35 am - The celtic festival was in full swing and I was busy watching the jousting. Jousting? Is this really a celtic festival or a renaissance fair?

The rest of the boys found the cache while I was distracted and we moved on too MoooSic. Thanks!

Ardenwood: On the Move

10:57 am - With the complete team of Workerofwood, MotorBug and half of WeBeDnD, we took a nice stroll over to the cache site. Motorbug stole all the kids' fun by finding the cache first. :-) Thanks for the start of a fun series!

Save the Film Canisters!!!

9:25 pm - This was the last of my evening cache run. It was completely dark and I got lucky when I found the cache without seeing it. I got out of there quickly as my dinner from Wendy's was getting cold! Thanks.

Once an Orchard

8:55 pm - I managed to find a parking spot and then went about looking for the cache in completely the wrong place. I even faked a conversation on my cell phone to search a spot very close to a couple waiting to get a seat for dinner.

I gave up, assuming that it was just too busy and went over to Soup Troll to fail there too.

I came back, paid attention to my GPSr and then found it easily in a place with no people. Duh. Thanks for the education.

POP #4

8:14 pm - This was a frustrating puzzle for me. I saw some patterns right away, but couldn't figure out how to make sense of them. Finally another cacher gave me a very subtle hint and I got it instantly. I was close before. Oh well.

The hardest part of the finding the cache was getting around the nasty accident at the major intersection close by. One car was wrapped around a pole and the firemen were trying to get another woman out of her car smashed up in the middle of the intersection. Ouch. I hope everyone was OK.

Thanks for the puzzle.

Sound Bites

8:02 pm - I really enjoyed this puzzle. Some of the answers I knew right off. Others I consulted my personal music collection, and the rest were easy with a lyrics search.

I went way too low when searching for the cache, then I found it in the first place I looked. I tried to sign the logs a few times, but none of the pens in the cache work. What kinds of cruel joke is that? There were alot of WeBeDnD's bad pends in A LOT too!

I should have brought some of the useless old cell phones I have lying around. Thanks for the interesting cache!

A gathering of hands

7:47 pm - I had some initial ideas about what the answers would be. They turned out to be completely wrong.

I decided to do what I do well to crack this guy which is write some code. A few iterations, I had my answer, which I confirmed with another cache.

I also decoded the hint, but it turned out that it was pretty unncessary to find the cool cache container. Thanks for the interesting puzzle.

5050

7:30 pm - Another fun WeBeDnD cache where the only way to solve it is to bang your head until some numbers pop out.

The description had some unintended 'hints' which led to me to try some unfruitful methods.

On a trip to the east coast, I showed it to patuxentgang and we started hammering on it. We saw some patterns and after I tried one more thing the numbers appeared. Cool.

Finding the cache was a whole different effort. I looked in the right place first, but didn't see it, so I checked a few other spots where a cache could definitely be. Just as I was getting frustrated I saw it. This camo just gets more and more convincing. TNLNSL.

Thanks, WeBeDnD!

A Fair Cache

7:07 pm - This took me a while to find because I was looking for something much harder. So this is a WeBeDnD cache with no puzzle, no camo and no hidden twist? No fair!

Miriam and Christopher Moss

WeBeDnD was so anxious to find the cache, that he replaced it for me while I tried to find a film canister supplier. Thanks, WeBeDnD!

Guadalupe Trail Cache

5:08 pm - We came down the trail from the Quicksilver Overlook and stopped at this peaceful area. I found the cache pretty quickly and then we had a decision to make. Go back the way we came, or take the long loop back. Of course we decided to take the long way, but it was a nice hike. We even ended up running the last .75 miles! Thanks for the cache.

Above the dump and pond II

4:39 pm - We started looking for this cache, then decided that it might be a good idea to look at the description. Then I realized I forgot my Treo in the car. Oops. It turned out we didn't need it though once I looked it in the right place.

Took a golf ball and left a smiley guy bookmark. Thanks!

Quicksilver Overlook

4:24 pm - We enjoyed the hike up here, even if it took me three tries to find the right road to get to the entrance of this park. I can't wait for my 60cs to arrive!

I looked all around for the cache, then Anne just pointed at a very obvious spot. Duh. Took the WASTB TB as there were a bunch of them in the cache.

I tried to hide the cache as well as I could, but I couldn't seem to get it quite like it was hidden before. Thanks for the cache!

Pfeiffer Stone House

3:06 pm - We walked down from the creek trail and checked out the house. It was a bit smaller than I expected. :-)

We were trying to decide where to search when I happened to see something that looked a bit off. There it was. I got really lucky. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Creekside Trunk Cache

2:57 pm - My, that's one big cache! We had a nice walk down the creek. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Treasure Chest

2:46 pm - We were bummed that we forgot our rollerblades again when we got to this trail. The cache was a easy find with a cute container. Unfortunately the plastic baggie was ripped all the way across. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Trails' End

No go on this one. We searched and searched using the hint, but found nothing.

A LOT

12:31 pm - Quick cache. I'm going to cite not just one log, but about 268 of them, all of which have should apparently have a a capital 'L'.
(visit link)

Miriam and Christopher Moss

Yup, the cache is indeed missing. And me, I'm fresh out of film canisters. I'll see what I can do about that.

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

The tree that obscured the cache has strangely disappeared. It looked pretty healthy to me! The cache is now fully visible. It'll be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Encinal Park

Doh, another one apparently missing. It definitely wasn't in the right spot, but I'll return in the daylight to see if it's around somewhere.

Learning Tree Cache

3:26 pm - We were on the way back from picking up patuxentgang's brother from school when I noticed we were going right by a cache. We took a quick right and parked.

The cicadas were defeaning as we reached the forest. We ventured in only a little when we realized this wasn't the right trail.

We walked around the forest until we came upon the other gravel lot and this time with a barn next door!

We wandered through the forest for a while and did an unnecessary creek crossing before we found the cache.

Jonathan stepped in some mud and when he stepped out of it, his shoe was still in the mud!

It's not a true geocaching experience until something like that happens anyway.
The cache was in good shape. We TNLNSL and tried to avoid the poison ivy on the way out but I doubted we were able to avoid it all, so we stopped by the drugstore for some technu on the way home. They were sold out. :-) I settled on a thorough washing of my legs instead. I hope it worked!
Thanks for the cache.