Geocaching

Red #2

1 pm - We took a walk down the beach to this one. I had read up on it beforehand, so I found it without the description or GPSr.

Red 2 of course is the call sign of Wedge Antilles's X-Wing Fighter in Star Wars. Did I get it right? ;-)

Moose in the City

I found this moose in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota Intl. Airport. It was outside (and inside) a gift shop there.

Toot Toot

6:34 pm - Last cache of the day and I left the engine running as I saw the cache when I pulled up. Thanks.

M&J Geobeads #5 - Travelbug Memorial

6:26 pm - Hey, shouldn't this be a "Cache with no name" memorial too? I'm sure there are many "fond" memories of that one. Thanks for the bead.

M&J Geobeads #4 - USPC Stamp

5:50 pm - Now that I was all the way over here it was a quick walk over. Then I just had to walk all the way around to my car. Took a bead. Thanks!

Typha Latifolia

5:42 pm - This one looked temptingly close to Geobeads 3, so I started walking... and walking... and walking. Where is that $%&*! bridge? Finally crossed it on a hot evening and made my way around towards the cache. I ran into another guy and asked him if there was a bridge closer and he said there was one closer north. I didn't think that the one close to Cambell Ave was closer, but I guess it is, but not by much.

Anyway, I had looked up the title ahead of time and knew what i was looking for, but still missed it on my first pass. Nice camo. Thanks.

M&J Geobeads #3 - Signal the Frog

5:18 pm - OK, I saw the black cat too. I was careful not to let the curse get to me. I had some trouble finding the cache though. Finally grabbed it and took a cute frog. Thanks.

Secret Trailhead #20 - Campbell

5:09 pm - As I was walking up to this one an all black squirrel crossed my path. Is that as bad or worse than a black cat? Well, I found this one quickly without injury, so it must be OK. Thanks.

Happy Birthday Joani!

4:53 pm - As we walked out of the event on Saturday night, I noticed a few cachers standing in an odd spot. I thought they were just chatting. I came back today and realized they were of course at the cache I got coordinates to at the event. We had parked less than 20ft away too. Despite all that I managed to park competely wrong vertically. Anyway, Happy Birthday. I asked Marky if we were going to sing Happy Birthday but he said you didn't want that and I tend to agree. Thanks for the cache, Matt! TPS looked kinda lonely without you at the event. ;-)

Where's the Slide?

4:49 pm - Quick find on the cache. It's a shame that someone has damaged the mat. Thanks.

Tough

4:42 pm - The toughest part of this one was getting it out of its hiding spot. Finally succeeded there and signed the log. Thanks.

Aix Sponsa

4:23 pm - I spotted the cache quickly, but couldn't reach it. I grabbed a stick to get it down but ended up flinging it. I spent the next few minutes combing the grass looking for it. I didn't really want to have to say that I lost it.

I always feel bad for these hobo ducks. You'd think someone would help them out, but I guess no one gives a duck.

Thanks.

Mental Workout

4:05 pm - I knew this one would be quick, so I parked a few feet away and left the car running. Thanks.

Circles & Squares,Light & Dark

4:00 pm - I always thought this was an interesting building. Perhaps I should eat here someday. Thanks.

TOTALLY TUBULAR TWO

2:59 pm - I was thinking this would be in another spot, but I decided to check something before I went too far and found the cache. Nice. Thanks!

The Other End - Wrights Station

2:23 pm - This was another cache to hit while trying to drive from Santa Cruz to San Jose over the mountains without driving on 17 - just for fun. We saw some cool places.

I found the cache quickly, but finding the tunnel was harder. Thanks!

Mr. Ranger's good view from Monterey to Santa Cruz

1:51 pm - For extra fun, we took Summit Rd to this one, which is dirt for a good bit of the way. It was really neat to see the mountains from this perspective. We watched carefully for snakes as we hiked up and found the cache. The view was great, but the flies and heat made it less pleasant.

The cache was full of water except for the logbook. I dried it out and put everything back in. TNLNSL. Thanks!

I. Can Cache

12:43 pm - We decided to see if we could get from Santa Cruz to San Jose without taking 17 today and this was on the way. It was pretty hot out, even way up here.

Nice camo - it totally fooled me! TNLNSL. Thanks!

Soquel Sepulturas

12:24 pm - I checked one side and realized it was all wrong. Went over to the other curious object and there it was. Thanks.

Blue Ball Park

12:17 pm - This place totally reminded me of the battle in Star Wars Episdode I where the Gungans fight the droids by throwing these blue balls of goo at them.

On the lawn was a group apparently having a hula hoop class.

The cache didn't take long to find. Thanks!

Pokemon Kabu

11:51 am - As we approached, we saw the owner of the house nearby so I was careful. Anne hung out while I checked a few places and ended up tromping through some PO. I guess that's what tecnu is for, right? After exhausting what I thought were all the possibilities I went over to where Anne was standing and there was a the cache a few feet away. So there's no need to go through the poison oak.

As I put the cache back I noticed there was also a snake in there. Not a big one, but i put it back carefully. TNLNSL. Thanks.

wbp

11:39 am - We had a nice short walk to the cache. Anne sat down and read the paper while I avoided the PO and hunted. It didn't take long. Nice hide. Thanks!

back door

11:28 am - First to DNF! Actually we just never found a way in. We tried 3 different approaches and couldn't find a trail from any of them.

Seahawk Vista

11:05 am - Whoah, there was a lot of PO here. We parked tempoarily up the hill and I jumped out quickly to find it. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Creek-Trestle-Bridge-Playground

10:48 am - First we parked in the wrong place. Then we drove down to the park and searched around for a a bit. I got stung by stinging nettles a few times and then I realized I didn't have the description with me. Anne went back to the car to get it and then I found the cache.

I tried several things I had on me to open the cache, but ended up just opening it with my fingers. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Eye Spy Another Eye in the Sky! (Webcam Cache)

8:20 am - I just love taking self-portraits with my Treo! I just loaded up the page and there I was. It was just in time too as the Wharf to Wharf race was just about to zoom by. Thanks!

Santa Cruz Natural History Museum

8:13 am - I did a little caching while waiting for the Wharf to Wharf race to start. Some neighbors were ready across the street with their lawn chairs.

I had to do a bit of iteration to find this one. Nicely done. Thanks.

Mimi De Marta

8:04 am - I thought this one would be up the trail, but when I started walking up that way my distance started going up. I turned around and found the cache about 5 feet from my car. Thanks.

Summer Beach Stamp

7:47 am - At first I started looking with just the coordinates and thought this was a bad place for a cache. Once I read the description it made a lot more sense. Cool area. TNLNSL. Thanks.

"To Honor Surfers"

7:36 am - Well, I was wrong. Last time I was here I was stymied by a guy who was on the bench. It turns out that I didn't need to bother him at all. Nice camo. Thanks!

Cheap (First Cache)

6:39 pm - Lots of options here, but finally struck gold. Thanks.

Revenge of the Line

6:26 pm - We were heading the event or at least debating if we were heading to the event, so we thought we would pick up a cache or two now that it wasn't quite so blazingly hot out. Needed the hint, but found it along with some trash. Thanks.

Columbian Mammoths of the Guadalupe River Basin

That's really cool. I wondered where this was. More info: (visit link)

Slow Down!

Ahh, there's a special pleasure I get when GeoBrowns DNFs one my caches since they've stumped me on several of theirs. Let me know if you need a hint.

South McLaren Overlook

3:20 pm - We were close by to this one, so we decided to go for one more cache before I had to get home and catch a flight to LA.

We made a quick climb up the hill and made it to the cache site as some firefighters were running some kind of drill below.

When I found the cache, it was uncovered with the top open. I pulled it out and found not much left in it. The pen was there and few trinkets, but no log book. It looks like it's been plundered. I wish I had brought a replacement log with me. Then again, now that it's been discovered, it might be better to move it. Thanks anyway. TNLNSL.

Crocker Puppy Park

3:10 pm - Hooray, a find! We were starting to think we'd lost all our caching mojo. Nicely hidden. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Monkeying around McLaren

3:05 pm - We're hitting a dry streak here. I thought I knew where this one was and we got exhausted searching for it. We then tried a few other spots, but couldn't find it.

This was a weird road. I wonder what it used to be for. Another day, perhaps.

NORTH MCLAREN

2:34 pm - Hmm, we read the very descriptive hints on this one, but still didn't find it. What I think were the pinecones were around, but not together. Hopefully it's still in there somewhere.

Northeast McLaren Overlook

2:18 pm - My autorouter tried to send me through the projects to this park. Anne freaked out and we went in a different way.

While the spot had some nice views, it was kinda scary, even in the daylight. I found the cache above some trash including a condom wrapper. Definitely TN, Left nothing and SL. Thanks.

Moo!

2:00 pm - I was a little confused at the first waypoint until I read the description again and realized there were no coordinates on the sticker. Actually I'm not sure why there needs to be a sticker at all; can't you just project the waypoint from the posted coords?

Anyway, we hopped back in the car and drove down the street to the projected waypoint. It looked like a good spot for a cache and we looked around and around but came up empty, even with the hint. There is some construction going on here, perhaps it's gone astray.

Insert Witty Name Here

1:30 pm - We enjoyed the short walk up to here. No problem finding the cache either. TNLNSL. Thanks!

No Entrance Fee Required

1:04 pm - We already paid the fee to grab the other caches on the mountain, so this was just a quick one for us. Waited for some muggles to pass and made the grab. This cache sure doesn't get a lot of traffic for being in the city. Thanks.

Bay Area Multiple Hills - 5

Logging in the Mark The Cat TB.

Be a Big Sport

12:44 pm - Finally got one of these! I don't know how many times I've taken the requisite pictures but found that the spot had already been taken. This one's only been here since September, so I guess I got lucky.

This huge baseball marks Bobby Bonds Memorial Field at JFK Elementary School in Daly City, CA. Check out the plaque for more info.

San Bruno Mountain

11:32 am - This was our first time up the mountain. There was lots of PO along the trail here and many spots where the plants were overhanging the trail. It was pretty cool to see the fog from up here. It looked just like a low cloud was engulfing the city. Woof did a pretty good job cleaning this one up; it was clean inside, just a little moist. TNLNSL.

Afterwards we decided to complete the loop. We probably should have read the map more carefully though as it didn't look like 3.5 miles. It was fun anyway. We had a good a hike. Thanks.

Bay Area Multiple Hills - 5

11:13 am - Hmm, I guess this one was converted to a traditional so I don't need those hints I've collected from the others in this series anymore.

We thought we were on the wrong trail, but we went right to it.

Easy find. I rescued the Mark The Cat TB because it seems to be going nowhere fast on its race. Thanks!

Brisbane Mobile PC cache

10:44 am - We were heading up to San Brune when I saw this one close by, so we made a uturn and parked quickly. I wasn't sure what this one was all about until I read the description. Cool, thanks for placing it. TNLNSL.

LAH Pathways: Find the Trailhead

8:04 pm - Hmm, how to tackle this one? I grabbed a map and plotted a bunch of points that could be possibles. We circumnavigated the park and almost did the full loop before we found the trailhead. Thanks for the nice tour of the neighborhood.

LAH Pathways: Foothill College Bridge

7:39 pm - We thought we might be driving down someone's driveway, but we pressed on and found the trailhead. There was a nice big house for sale nearby. Found the cache easily, TNLNSL. Didn't notice the yummy blackberries until we were driving out. Thanks!

Jumping Poles

7:20 pm - OK, what it is that you have against short people?

This was was way too close to someone's yard. Today there was a family back in there so I grabbed it quickly and moved it a few feet away, but in the same style of hide. Thanks.

Look Out Below

7:07 pm - Good one! We took turns boosting each other up. Finally I got an idea and we checked another place to find it. This could have been a lot more evil. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Wholesale Cache

10:15 am - Ah, another visit to the inconvenience store. I needed some gas anyway, so I stopped while I was here. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Counterfeit

9:38 am - We made the walk out to this one last week and then wandered around to find the second waypoint, but decided not to go back for the cache.

This morning I decided to go out and grab the cache before it got too hot.

Nearly killed myself on that slope, but found the cache easily. Nice job one this one. Who knew that a rat could have such good-looking kids!

Fibonacci

5:00 pm - I had some trouble with the first spot; my coordinates were pointing me elswhere. Of course the hint was of no use.

The puzzle was easy and I had a quick walk over. Avoiding the plentiful PO, I found the cache and opened the lock. There were all kinds of weird bugs inside, so I signed the log quickly and put it back. Neat telescope here. Thanks.

The House of Modern World

4:37 pm - As we came up to this one, a heavy fog rolled in, obscuring most of the view. People were looking anyway. The cache was easily found and moved along. Thanks.

Leviathan of Science

4:31 pm - Wow, some cool stuff here. There was a wedding going on so we didn't try to go in. Thanks!

Lifes Science

3:51 pm - Cool place. We did the counting and looked at the exhibits. One of them was all about moss. Finding a bathroom was an added bonus.

We went out to find the cache but were stymied by some croquet players. We resolved to come back later.

A couple hours and a few caches later we walked back and there was no one around. We made it a quick find and TNLNSL. Thanks!

Now here's a strange coincidence - as I'm writing this log we're watching MythBusters and they're trying to bust the myth about a rolling stone gathering no moss. As part of the research, they interview Dr. Brent Mishler, "the Moss Guy" from Berkeley whose office is of course in the Life Sciences building. Cool!

Architectura 2: Bear With Me

3:36 pm - We certainly wouldn't have guessed that this place was here. The house next door isn't bad either. Coords were good; I simply turned around and found it after uncovering it a bit. TNLNSL. Thanks.

June's Cache

3:21 pm - Apparently we took the hard way to this one. We walked up the road, and then up a small trail, pretty much straight up. The homeless emcampments were a bit scary, but there was no one home. Lots of PO on the way up with stickers and burrs to boot.

The hint was helpful since the coordinates were all over the place and it wasn't a place that was easily navigated. I avoided the PO and found the cache. TNLNSL.

We were happy to find the dirt road not far away and we took it down. The great views were accompanied by the Widespread Panic concert coming from the Greek Theater below. Thanks!

Da Bears

2:48 pm - Well, I've got all kinds of stories for this one.

Since I figured we'd do the tour of the campus finding all the bears, we headed to the posted coordinates on this one first. We carefully chose a parking spot that was reserved for service vehicles, but only M-F 9-5.

We found the first spot easily enough and did the calculations for the second. On the way to the second we saw another bear and thought we may have miscalculated. The correct bear was there though.

We had lots of problems with the calculations for the 3rd bear though. Our initial coordinates put us off campus. Then we sat down to try to come up with better onces. On the latitude, I failed my order of operations test and multiplied before I divided. Some parentheses would help here. On the longitude, we were confused by the lack of multiplication operators. I thought it meant just stick a 7 and 10 to the front of the numbers, but those don't come out right. They should be written as N37.52.(2*A+(7/3)*D) W122.15.(7*B+10*D).

We finally figured out the intended coordinates and found the bear and then the next one without incident (at least on this particular cache).

Our car was parked near here, so we went back to it only to find a Berkeley Parking Officer ticketing our car. What the? The sign says reserved M-F 9-5 only? The guy says there are are OTHER signs when you come in that say you need a permit to park anywhere. OK, whatever. Anybody have any success appealing these things?

We got the hell off campus and found a place to park to look up the final info. (In retrospect, it probably made sense to just leave the car there since we already had a ticket.) I did some research beforehand and I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to go. I looked up the websites on my phone and did the calculations, double-checking my math.

We weren't far away from my calculated coordinates, so we decided to hoof it a few blocks. We ended up in the dumpiest part of frat row, clearly the wrong place for a cache. Out of ideas for solving the cache, we decided to head back on to campus for some other caches and on the way by a spot I had seen last week when driving through here that could be the right spot for the cache.

As we walked we noticed a lot of people marching in the same general direction, many of them very hippie-looking. Then we saw signs for event parking and asked someone what was going on. Widespread Panic concert. That explains the hippies.

Anyway, on way in we went by the spot I remembered. I decided to give it a check; what the heck. I kicked around a bit and suddenly a cache popped out! I wasn't quite sure if it was the right cache, but later confirmed that through the logs. Amazing. So what did I find all those bears for?

The quote of the day was "For being incompetent, we're pretty good!"

Grin N Bear

1:35 pm - I thought I figured out what was going on here and found a good spot for the cache, so I concentrated my search there. After a lot of searching, I came up the cache. But wait - the logs end in December 04 and a bunch of people have found it since then. The log wasn't labeled, so I wasn't sure if I had found an old archived cache. Comparing the logs, it appears that I found the original cache.

There was something like jelly bean in the cache that had melted and was all over the place. I wiped out the log and removed a bunch of the rusty items inside.

I have no idea where the new container is, but I put this one back in a spot which will be slightly easier to grab. Thanks.

I'm late I'm late .For a very important date

1:13 pm - We did some careful searching here and I finally found it lying in the bushes. It appeared to have fallen off. I replaced it where I thought it should go. Thanks!

Pinewood Post

10:08 am - Nice hide here. I found it with a blind grab that I didn't think would pay off. I took a Giants smashed penny since it was really crowding the log in there. Thanks.

Frito-Lay Passageway

9:55 am - I touched one thing and then the second thing was the cache. Nicely done. It seems to be coming unglued inside, but it still seems functional. Thanks!

Brooktree

9:48 am - I got lucky on this one and found it in just about the first place I looked. It doesn't get much faster than this! Thanks.

Holly's Cache

9:41 am - Yikes, getting to this one was one prickly task. Found it OK and TNLNSL. Thanks.

Sierraville-Tulare

9:34 am - I made a bee line to where I thought the cache should be even though my coordinates were pointing me back a bit. After searching for a bit, I decided to trust my coords, found something else that matched the hint and then the cache. Nice one. Thanks.

Eggs To Go

9:26 am - I parked and pretty much threw away the GPSr. I just walked to where I thought it would be and found it right away. Thanks for another quickie.

Creekside Meadow Cache

9:17 am - Thankfully the stream was easy to cross today. The first thing I found was an unexploded paintball. Moving on, I checked a bunch of other spots, but found no cache. Meanwhile lots of people went by walking their dogs. Then I remembered that the cache icon was for a micro, not a regular and repeated my search. Bingo. Thanks!

Full of It

9:01 am - Not sure why, but the area was very smelly today. I found the cache quickly and headed on. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Some caches I have seen

8:42 am - Geez, has everyone forgotten about this one?

I looked at it when it came out and had the right idea, but my execution was sloppy. I confirmed my technique with kablooey, made another pass a few months later, and still came up with no good coordinates. Good thing kablooey is generous with hints as his checking helped me figure out where I'd gone wrong.

It's an odd place for a cache, but hey, it works. Thanks!

Yum

7:49 pm - I was heading down to pick up a pizza and decided to grab this one on the way. I poked myself on a vine, then saw the nicely-made cache. Thanks!

$100,000 Reward

5:23 pm - Well, I was trying to search on the wrong side last time, but my "friends" were too close anyway, so I wouldn't have gotten it. This time Rob made the find in the container I expected. Appropriate. Thanks!

Dwayne

4:56 pm - Crap! First we took all the wrong streets to this one, driving all around.

On the third try we found the right one and zeroed out near the cache to find... crap! All over the place and finally right near the cache. Apparently the dogs can't discern the camo either. Wasn't too hard to find though. We had a bit of free word association on the way back to the car and suddenly the title made sense. I probably never would have thought of that. Thanks.

The Wooden Cache

4:29 pm - Good job Connor, this was our hardest cache of the day. I just didn't suspect it there until we made one last pass. Thanks!

12 Months of Caches

4:13 pm - Six months later.. You're welcome! Thanks for joining us.

Valley Oak

4:04 pm - This was a nice pick me up cache before our walk up the hill. Missed it on the first pass, then saw it camo'd nicely. TNLNSL. Thanks.

"An Irate Vet"

3:51 pm - As we walked into the lot we saw some expended fireworks lying there, directly under the power lines. Smart.

The cache was a quick find. I've never had the need to come here - yet! TNLNSL. Thanks.

lost in the woods

3:43 pm - I was mystified as to how I missed this cache at the last event until I read the description. Fun-E! I bet that sign also helps to keep late-night cachers from freaking out your family. There were all kinds of nasty critters crawling on the cache which just added to the camo. TNLNSL. Thanks!

What? No Cache!

3:33 pm - What a 'Houge' park! No muggles in the immediate vicinity and I found it quickly. Thanks.

One Year

3:14 pm - First, we parked wrong for this one and had a longer than necessary hike on a hot day. Once we made it to the coordinates, I ended up getting really dirty before finding it. I'm glad I had some wipes back in the car. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Assume Nothing #8

2:55 pm - We looked in all the obvious spots first and I pulled on this black pot thing, but that seemed legit.

Then I spotted something that couldn't possibly be a cache, so I suspected it immediately. I asked Rob to grab it for me and he started to refuse saying there's no way that could be it. He grabbed it and it was obvious that this was another other WoW's tricks. Amazing job on this.

I still don't get the hint, but I think I can live with it. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Bait (Hidden Walkways II)

2:43 pm - We weren't sure where to look, so I was reading the description and just as I read the container type I saw it. Thanks for the teaser.

Debbie and Kevin's Cache

2:34 pm - Once we arrived I was releived to read the log and see this was the owner's property. It took us way longer than it should of to find this one; we just kept missing it. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Assume Nothing #9- Ivy Hide

2:23 pm - This can't be too evil - only one DNF! I walked right up to an obvious spot and found it straight away. I put it back so Rob could find it too. Nice job as always.

Bizarre, vous avez dit bizarre?

2:12 pm - 2nd in a row where we looked in the right spot, didn't see the cache, then came back to it to find it. Nicely done. Thanks.

You are sick - REALLY sick!

1:57 pm - We looked right away in the right spot, but not from the right angle, so we checked a bunch of other spots before we came back to it. I had Rob grab it. We didn't have time for a swim anyway. Thanks!

Seek the Light

3:09 pm - These kinds of hides are not usually my favorite, but the hint was mericuful and we found it in moments. TNLNSL. Thanks!

Bird's Eye View

3:00 pm - We decided to have some lunch at Aldo's and while we waited for our order I went over to grab the cache, just 200 feet away. I was stimied by a woman reading a book right near it.

I had a good fish sandwich and took off again for the cache again later since I could see from our table that she had left. Quick find, TNLNSL. Thanks, nice spot!

"To Honor Surfers"

1:21 pm - When I arrived there were two guys there - one talking on a cell phone, the other napping. The guy on the phone was away from the cache was a bit away, but the napping guy was right next to it. I walked around a few times and woke him up, but he was sleepy and laid down again. I ran out of time and had to go. Some other time I guess.

Smash a Penny

I found a bunch of Penny Smashers on the Santa Cruz pier. One of these was not the one that Yar?Yar! logged. I think this is the right one.

Locomotion

12:24 pm - I stole a moment after a walk down the pier to find this cache. I wandered a bit before I read the hint and found the cache. I was surprised to see my buddy MotorBug was just here a half-hour ago! Small world. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Play Circle

2:34 pm - Micro in the middle of a busy play area. Why?

Whole Lot of Shakin'

2:27 pm - Neat sculpture. I think I got some others interested in it too as I did my counting. Thanks, never been to this park before.

Union Square

1:04 pm - While the girls were in the Needlepoint store, Rob and I decided to hit this cache. I soon realized that I forgot my Treo in the car, so I was sans description. We looked for a bit and then I decided to go back for it. It sure helps!

We quickly headed to the right area and searched for a while before Rob found the right spot and called to tell me, about 50 feet away. Nice hide. TFTC.

A BEACON IN THE NIGHT

This is the East Brother Lighthouse in Richmond, CA, just north of the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge.

The light was built in 1874. There's a lot of history behind the lighthouse, so much there's a whole book about it: (visit link)

The lighthouse is currently also a bed and breakfast in a pretty cool spot.

Prove It! Are you afraid of the dark?

10:09 pm - This was a fun time with a fun bunch of folks. I came prepared with one of the right tools, but never did get the batteries in there and working. Good thing others came better prepared.

We found all of the stages without much difficulty in a caravan of 3 cars. The Rat was especially good at finding the stages, unhindered by a GPSr. I was worried about getting electrocuted at the last stage, so I let Nazgul handle that. TNLNSL. Thanks!