May 20, 2005

Rally School Cache GBES ‘05 Rally: Man, are my nerves churning.

Night Starting Line GBES '05 Rally: That wind was pretty fierce!

Night Course Challenge 1 GBES '05 Rally: Our optimism was still riding high!

Night Route Cache 1 GBES '05 Rally: Okay, we're starting to figure this thing out!

Night Route Cache 2 GBES '05 Rally: It was dry on Friday night, but based on Saturday, something tells me that won't last for long.

Night Checkpoint Challenge 1 GBES '05 Rally: Like someone else said, 'Hey, we're not lost yet!'

Night Course Challenge 2 GBES '05 Rally: It's a lot tougher to tell which way to go without that arrow.

Night Route Cache 3 GBES '05 Rally: Just another brick by the road. Wasn't there a Pink Floyd song about that?

Night Route Cache 4 GBES '05 Rally: We really liked this part of the course: smooth with no vehicle poking rocks.

Night Route Cache 5 GBES '05 Rally: Did we really do 6 caches along this road? I lost track.

Night Route Cache 6 GBES '05 Rally: Hey! We went into another county? Where's the 'Y'all come back soon' sign?

Night Route Cache 7 GBES '05 Rally: At this point, my eyes were starting to get a little blurry.

Night Route Cache 8 GBES '05 Rally: Oh, sure, now you tell me that there's a tough place to navigate in the dark coming up.

Night Multi-Cache GBES '05 Rally: This was probably the best part of the night rally for us. The moon shining brightly on the lake bed gave a sort of a glowing light to the place that was magical. It's also one of the last places on the night course where we had a clear idea what we were supposed to be doing! Thanks for dragging us out here!

Night Checkpoint Challenge 2 GBES '05 Rally: I'm going to log this on the 20th, but frankly, it could have been past midnight. Madness! It's all madness.

Night Course Challenge 3 GBES '05 Rally: This is where things really started to get confusing. Are you sure the Navy wasn't jamming GPS signals tonight? Is that even possible?!?

Night Route Cache 9 GBES '05 Rally: I remember this one. We were so screwed up with the route that I just gave up and just followed the arrow to the nearest cache.

Night Route Cache 10 GBES '05 Rally: We were starting to think that things were back on track. WRONG. Well, we did find this cache.

Night Finish Line GBES '05 Rally: Everything between route cache 10 and the finish was a blur. I think we went down that steep section. At some point we came across some checkpoint or challenge volunteers. I couldn't tell you which one. In any case, we begged them to point us in the direction of a main road...to give us any help at all in fact. It was a husband / wife team. I think the wife was feeling sorry for us, but the husband was determined to follow contest rules: 'Sorry, no help', he said. And that was that. So, we waited. After a few minutes, another team came by, and we followed them...across that gosh darn levee. After bouncing around for what seemed like forever, it was over, and we limped to the finish.

May 20, 2005

Desert Skyscraper: On the way to the gbes rally, we saw this cache from quite a distance. Back home, there's a very similar type of tower. It was used to transmit TV signals a long time ago, but for some reason no one saw fit to tear it down. TFTC.

Ambrose: We found this cache on the way to the gbes rally. Cool little spot! Thanks for the warm-up.

May 18, 2005

Scrabble Cache: This was a fun puzzle to solve. I'm not much of a scrabble player (I did get a 7 letter word once), but we have a board at home to work with. The cache was nicely hidden too. Thanks.

Imperial History: A quick find on a misty day. It looks like someone (park / homeowner?) has sprayed vegetation killer to beat back the encroaching iceplant. This has adversely impacted the hiding spot. Sorry, I'm drawing a blank on my favorite royal figure. TNLNSL.

May 16, 2005

Going to the Dogs: A quick find since I knew exactly what the cache container was going to look like. Some of the contents looked familiar too. TFTC. again.

Take me out to the...: I had to wait for a golfer to finish practicing his chip shots, but made a quick find after that. The cache is hidden in a cool little hide-away! TFTC.

Night Vision Not Needed: 2TF by about 10 minutes @ 12:50p. I think I saw the others drive off (Rufus the Cat? and Blue ii's?). In any case, I followed their trail to the cache, overshot a bit, and then found it on the return. I definitely got a few looks from people passing by. I'll bet the view is great at night, but think seriously before trying to find it after dark, IMO.

May 14, 2005

An 11 cache outing in Los Altos with Maggie.

Square News: Suprisingly quiet on a Saturday morning given the nature of the nearby establishment. It's good to see a bit of healthy FTF competition: Congrats Rogue Ramblers! TFTC.

Mountain View's Smallest Park?: Yup, pretty small. My favorite micro park is Rosek Park (with micro cache: Rosek Triangle, GCJBCH) up in San Carlos. Amazingly, it's about 1/3 the size of this one! TFTC.

Cooper Duper: Maggie (8) and I found this cache on a warm Saturday afternoon. Very creative camoflauge! We traded and then moved over to the playground to play. Things were going fine until I decided it was time to move on to the next cache...funny how she's not as entertained by smilies as I am. Thanks.

Permanent Diversion: Maggie (8) was most excited about the fact that I decided to ignore the no parking signs. She said, "I get to tell Mommy we broke the law." Hmmm...TFTC.

Great Masters: This was a really interesting cache. Thanks for showing us these murals.

Convolute of the Square: Interesting sculpture. TFTC.

Park it in the Park: Tricky hide! We looked in a bunch of places until finally noticing that something looked a little out of place. TFTC.

Grant Park: A good one! There was a huge potato bug on the cache container. Cool. TFTC.

COMMANDO BIRD! Woodland Headquarters: We were poking around cluelessly when the cache owners showed up. (Nice to meet you!) We tagged along while they made the bug drop, and got to admire this finely crafted cache. I just realized that I dropped a bug that I hadn't logged into my possesion. Sorry. TFTC.

Burning Brightly: Saturday...hmmm...IMO, A brazen attitude works best in these situations. Seriously, though, nobody was watching for the 10 seconds it took to get in and out.

Cupertino Foothills Walkway: A quick find. TFTC.

May 13, 2005

Edgewood's Back Door: FTF!!! 7:45am. I knew the way since there used to be a cache nearby. After dodging joggers, I made the find. TFTC.

Crystal Springs Dam: A fun multi with a nice view. I'm proud of myself for resisting the temptation to root around in the PO for the container. After a few minutes of looking intently (not touching!) in all the wrong places, the hiding place came to me. TFTC.

May 12, 2005

Cache me if you can!!!: Quick find once I got to it: There's construction and one-way traffic control along the approach now. I was suprised to notice that there are still some branches with leaves. The old tree still has some life; from a distance you wouldn't think so. There's some nice goodies in the cache, but I TNLNSL. TFTC.

West Hillsdale Park: First visit on May 9. In the interest of cache preservation, I decided to suspend my search when the homeless guy on the bench accross the way actually sat up to get a better view of what I was doing. Second visit. The dinner hour proved to be fairly quiet. Only one family, and they weren't paying any attention to my sneaking around. That beer was an FTF prize right? TFTC.

May 9, 2005

Genen-cats: I came after work. There were lots of people leaving in their cars, and quite a few on the patio that looks out on the cache site. Don't they have some fermentors (or something) to check on? Despite all this activity, I was able to retreive and return the cache. It's amazing to me that there's no doggie daycare or kitty healthcare at Genentech. Isn't it a progressive and forward thinking company??? As I was leaving, I noticed an Abbott parking sticker on one of the cars, which caused a rush of memories to come flooding back, since I used to have one of those too. TFTC.

Hidden Coast: FTF!!! 1:45p. The best yet! This is my 4th GoToStJoseph hiking cache, and the most spectacular. What a great hike and an incredidble view at the finish. Today was perfect since the storm had cleared out the haze. I met up with a self appointed park ranger, who greeted me with, "Do I know you?", and seemed genuinely disappointed that I had ruined the solitude of his hike. Actually, I was suprised to see him there since my car was the only one at the trailhead. I suppose the mystery of alternative enterances will have to continue for now. Notes to future seekers: (1) The trail on the south ridge eventually takes you to the cache, just bide your time. (2) There are little sprigs of PO all around the cache. The next finder would be doing everyone a service by bringing clippers to cut it back. This cache was a fantastic experience. Thanks.

May 8, 2005

Under the Bridge: I decided to come back this evening after pondering the area and realizing that I'd jumped to a couple of conclusions. A more thorough search revealed the cache pretty quickly. It's a nice decoy set-up. Upon returning to log my find, I noticed that the name of the cache and the clue have changed, and that the hide has possibly moved (???...or is going to move???) so now I'm not sure it was in the same place as this morning. As I was signing the log, I heard the VDBs approach. I quickly rehid the cache and we talked for a few minutes, then they made the find. Nice to meet other cachers. Thanks.

Marina View: 10:30a Only minutes ahead of Rogue Ramblers (nice to meet you!), we started searching in earnest together. As luck would have it, I laid my hands on it first after a short search. Thanks for showing us a new stretch of the marina. The kids traded, and we took the geocoin. I left my sig item. Thanks!

May 7, 2005

BADGES Picnic #2: Good weather, great food, fantastic company, and fun games. Three raffle tickets and three prizes: the drawing must have been rigged. That's just too much good fortune for one day. Thanks for putting together a great event.

BADGES Picnic #2: This park rules!: Another group grab. Once again, others did all of the heavy lifting to figure out the final location. I love group caching.

BADGES Picnic #2: Above Par!: That guy who was actually playing frisbee golf probably wondered what our group was doing. I'll bet we looked (and sounded) pretty strange. All those oooohhhs and aaahhhhs when the cache was finally found probably carried quite a bit. TFTC.

BADGES Picnic #2: BADGE over troubled water: I think I spotted this cache for our group. Marky put his waterproof boots to good work and retrieved it. I think this is where I picked up a CA 2004 geocoin. Claire and Maggie had fun running along the creek banks with the other kids. Thanks!

Cache to Eagle #4: Part of a big group after the BADGES picnic. Lots of socializing, prizes, and fun! Thanks for making this such a great park!

dump run: Others did most of the dirty work, but I was close by when they re-emerged on the road triumphant. Despite all of the complaining, I knew that a group with close to 10,000 finds between them wasn't going to just walk away from this one.

May 4, 2005

No Undertakers or Blacksmiths: First visit. Easy, huh? Lotsa stares from drivers passing by. I'm not sure when would be a good time to avoid those, but in retrospect, 7:45 on a weekday morning was not a good choice. There's always next time. Second visit. Well, duh. I found it tonight in the dark without a flashlight. I suppose the sense of feel can be better than sight. Amazing I overlooked the spot the first time. One question: why is there a sign on the rock gateway that says, "SOLD OUT" ??? TFTC.

May 3, 2005

Grace's 9th Birthday: As I got out of my car at the trailhead, the GPSr indicated I was about a quarter mile from the cache. Given anotherone's log that he walked 1.6 miles, I was understandably confused. So, up the trail I go. Shortly, there's a choice. Hmmmm....I pick the one that seems most direct. Nearer, nearer, farther, farther, nearer, nearer, farther, farther, nearer, nearer, got it! Now I consider my position. Hey, there's my car way down at the bottom. Retracing my steps seems a bit boring, so I set out in the other direction. Lots of winding around, and plenty of interesting things to see. Pretty much the same distance back. All in all, anotherone was right. Thanks for the adventure. Oh, a very nicely stocked cache, but I TNLNSL.

April 30, 2005

View From the Office: It's been a while since I've been caching with kids, and this one was a perfect fit. I was in this area a while back, but for some reason I didn't include multicaches in the PQ. Quite fortunate. Everybody traded, and then we explored the creek bank. TFTC.

Hetch Hetchy Trail - Hippity Hoppity: A little cache outing with the kids today; they really enjoyed this find, and had quite a suprise when they pulled it out of the hiding place. Oh, BTW, we found 4 red dots. TFTC.

Hetch Hetchy Trail - Purple Wisteria: A quick find and sign since people were coming down the trail. Thanks.

MiddleField Madness: We enjoyed finding this cache since there were all sorts of trails nearby through the bushes. I was a little worried what we might stumble upon, but the kids enthusiasm for exploration won the day. Thanks for bringing us out to the Stevens Creek trail today.

GeoBeads #2 – Creekside Park: Thanks for the cache here at a playground. The kids went off to play, leaving me to find it. By their glances, I think a couple of parents were wondering what the heck I was doing that could possibly be more interesting than watching my children. Fortunately, it was a quick find, and then I returned to parent mode (before rushing everybody off the the next cache!)

GeoBeads #5 – Teal Tressel: Nicely hidden. We continued on to the top of the bridge hoping to see a train pass underneath, but it wasn't to be. Not too many trains on Saturday. TFTC.

April 29, 2005

Olympic Wannabes: Nice. Thanks for bringing me to this park.

Along the De Anza Trail 8 - Los Altos: I struggled a bit for parking on this one, but having overcome that obstacle, enjoyed a pleasant walk and a quick find. Left a TB. TFTC.

Along the De Anza Trail 9 - Los Altos: TFTC.

Margarita Trail: I nabbed this one between cyclists and dog walkers this morning. Interesting reflective sculpture nearby. TFTC.

Crossings Circle: Given the traffic in this location, I'm amazed this large cache has survived. Good job everybody!

Parking Citation: There were two snails on the cover of the container, and, looking quite comfortable, I let them be. Too bad the camera was at home. TFTC.

Bridges of San-star Counties: Thanks for a fun, interesting, and informative cache. I was a bit concerned when approaching the final since there was a city truck parked on the path. Fortunately the worker was underground in a maintainance tunnel, and didn't disturb my search. TNLNSL.

April 27, 2005

Shields Orizaba Rocky Outcrop: Pretty tough to find, and in full view of the neighbor's windows. There were a couple of cars out front, so I hope nobody was watching me. The cache was hidden lid side down, which means that the cache contents were basically sitting in a dish. All of the water that seeped in had been adsorbed by the log book. It should be fine once things dry out, and so I left it out of the baggie to help that happen. Great view. Thanks for bringing me up here.

Brooks Park: Nice park and nice hide, but I felt a little guilty tromping through someone's efforts to establish a garden adjacent to the cache. There are lots of new plants and evidence that weeds have been pulled up. Future finders should take care. TFTC.

Car Be Chiffon: I waved to the windows, but couldn't see anyone waving back. Nice hide. With hint #2, I learned a new vocabulary word, but was still puzzling over the significance of hint #1 as I drove away. I'm pretty slow on the uptake, but now I get it.

April 26, 2005

Bay Area Multiple Hills - 5: I was hoping against hope that this really was a new cache, and not the unveiling of the bonus cache in the previous series. Alas, it was not to be. Congratulations to all of you who earned this find the way mhop intended. I had plenty of chances myself, but never seemed to get to the one down past San Jose.
In any case, thanks for a fantastic series. San Bruno mountain is an amazing place. I stopped counting different types of blooming wild flowers at about 20, and it goes without saying that the views are incredible. I sat for about 20 minutes after finding the cache just surveying the horizon.
TNSL; Left my sig item.

April 25, 2005

Greenhorn: This was a quick lunch-time find, and a cache that I could walk to from work. I could hear lots of coming and going close by, but enjoyed my own little hideaway during the search. Eventually I found the well concealed container, and then stuggled to open it since I didn't realize the purpose it served in a previous life. (Those scratch marks are my fingernails.) Eventually I got it right. Thanks for placing a cache on the peninsula, and welcome to geocaching.

Catamaran: Thanks for bringing me to this very pleasant park! The setting sun sparkled on the lagoon. After enjoying the water, I watched a very competitive soccer game with quite a few spectators. TFTC.

April 23, 2005

Flash of Inspiration: This one was a quick find on the way to the trail days event...after the casino bus cleared out. Frankly, I prefer my way of spending free time, don't you?

Alien Mother Ship: Lots of dogs and little league on a Saturday morning. A bit of stealth was required. A cone of invisibility would have come in handy, since it's tough to linger in this area without a dog. TFTC.

12 Months of Caches: I found this cache on the way to the trail building event nearby. An intersting place with friendly folks. I spent about 15 minutes talking to some future geocachers. (I hope!) TFTC.

Trail Days: Almaden Quicksilver: There were two logs;
one for the event: Thanks for organizing a fun event; What a pretty trail in a very pleasant canyon! I can tell my muscles will be sore tomorrow morning, but the sense of accomplishment is well worth it. Plus, I'm sure the goodwill extended by a great group of geocachers will have long-lasting impact. WoW pointed out several cacheless stretches of trail...I may have to poach a little, if someone else doesn't beat me to it. Thanks for a new icon on the stats page.
And one for the cache: I found it with WoW and Motorbug. Took the CKayaks coin, and left my sig item in return. Thanks!

Cone of Serenity: I found this cache with a group of diehards after the trail building event. Thanks everyone!

WOW! Look What I Found: What a blast! Especially after we found the right access point. The wrong one brought us to within about 150', but there was no way any of our group was going to bushwack the last stretch...too much PO! There was lots of trading going on, but interestingly enough for us, all of that could have been done down in the parking lot. Kinda makes you wonder why we hiked up here. TFTC.

April 22, 2005

The Professor's Cache: Like the previous finder, I had the place to myself this afternoon. The flowers were in still in bloom, and the cache was surrounded by a swath of little purple and white ones that I didn't recognize. Perhaps the Professor can enlighten me? Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to show you a picture. In any case, thanks for bringing me out to this side of the bay for the first time. I would have lingered longer, but the skies were threatening rain. TFTC.

Forbidden Bridge: It just goes to show you what lengths a developer will go to put in a few houses here in California. "Look!" they say, "there's this funny little tract of land between the tracks and the canal that nobody wants. Let's 'create' a community." Amazing. I'll bet anybody $20 bucks that they were able to sell those houses for at least $100k more by building that overpass. Now everyone who lives out there doesn't feel like they live on the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Worth every penny, IMHO.

Union City Underground: "Tag Alley": Well, I didn't know I was going to feel like a 'tagger' while trying to find this cache. It was a bit uncomfortable, so I gave it one pass and then left. Everything cleanly painted within a couple hundred feet of the coordinates.

Ethel the Earwig: Scios was looking the other way for the 3 minutes this one took. I would have walked from the others, but rain was threatening. TFTC.

Whimsical Wonders: Nice. I was sorry the kids weren't with me on this one. After drawing an 'Eli-dile'...wait, no, it was a 'Crock-o-phant', I scrounged a tiny blanston12 signature button from the depths of the box. Cool. Thanks for the interesting cache activity.

Buelah the Butterfly: I couldn't search at first since there was a guy waiting for the bus. After returning from WW, I wandered around for a few minutes before the right angle gave me a glimpse. Somebody's feeding ferral cats just a few feet away.

Benny the Bedbug: Benny suggested I take one of those cool trading card sig items. I swear that thing's got more information on it than a baseball card. Maybe next time you could make one with a holographic image on it? Nothing seems too artistically challenging for you. Wow! Thanks.

April 19, 2005

Bay Tree Park: FTF!!! 7:15am. Thanks for the moment of quiet reflection. The sunlight streaming through the branches of the tree made wonderful patterns. Along the way, I met a couple of dogs, and watched a jogger stop and do a handstand against the trunk of the tree.