Alameda

On Saturday, my son and I drove from Santa Cruz up to Stockton to visit my daughter. We'd been touring UC Santa Cruz because it's where he has decided to attend college beginning in the fall of this year. The rest of that story will be completed later. As we drove, I had it in the back of my mind that we would be driving through Alameda County and that I might stop and get a cache or two along the way so I could mark off the county. This would put me one county closer to the 58 county challenge that I've been working on for several years.

The first cache we found in Alameda County was Curtner Coppice. It's (GCJGNG), which is located to the southeast of Fremont. For me at least, it was a little tricky, only because I wasn't able to see the hiding place right away and I was taking the clue for the cache a little bit too literally. Eventually, I was able to find it, obviously and add Alameda County to my list of counties in which I've found caches. I found two other caches in the county (just east of Livermore) just to be on the safe side. With the first cache, we'd just passed the county line marker sign and I wasn't sure how the county line ran, so I wanted to make sure by finding a couple of other caches later on. You can see by the map, that I was well within the county line for credit.

That brings me to 32 counties. I have but 26 more to go. As noted previously, it probably won't happen this year, but could happen in the fall of 2010. I'll need two trips north, one on the west side of the state and then a second trip on the east side of the state to get all of the counties in the northern part of the state.

College road trip

Tomorrow marks the first road trip of the season. My older son (the Runner) and I will be embarking on a road trip to visit UC Santa Cruz, where he will be matriculating for the next four years. It hardly seems possible that he's already a senior in high school, and yet, he is there.

Our trip begins as soon as I can get off from school on Thursday. Then it will be a rush to try and beat the traffic in the Los Angeles basin. If we're lucky, we should be in the central valley before 5 o'clock.

Our route will take us up Interstate 5. I don't have much caching planned for the first leg of our trip, mainly because the daylight hours will be spent getting out of the area. I figure we'll eat on the way at a burger place where I know there is a cache waiting to be found. That may be out only cache of the day.

Friday, we have a tour scheduled on campus which should last us a couple of hours. Looking at the map of the campus, it looks large and hilly. My son will get lots of exercise up there, but he's used to that. After the tour, we have much of the day left to enjoy the city of Santa Cruz. Part of our tour will include a walk on the Boardwalk.

Saturday morning, we'll head northeast to Stockton to visit with my daughter at the University of the Pacific. We plan to spend part of the morning driving and caching up there. If things go well, I'll be able to get Alameda County off of my "to do" lists in California, leaving me one county closer to the county challenge cache. The rest of the day will be spent visiting with her, enjoying her campus and going to Easter Vigil service that evening. On Easter Sunday, we drive and cache homeward, traveling down the much friendlier Hwy 99. All in all, it should be a very good trip.

Picture was taken at the University of the Pacific at the following geocache:
Smell the Roses - by PuzzlesRUs

This is Sparta!

Having not seen the movie 300, I can't comment and I'm not sure how my son knows about this since he's but thirteen and hasn't seen it, unless it was at a friend's house, but this past Saturday, the Tadpole passed a milestone in his caching, that of 300 finds. Technically, it wasn't his 300th because he's found many more than that, but he's a purist, so it is his 300th find. Confused? You really shouldn't be.

When I first started caching, I didn't think about the possibility of any of the kids developing a life long like to this silly hobby of mine, so I didn't think about getting any one of the kids their own account. Nor did I think about logging the logbook with their name. Whenever we went out as a family unit, I just signed Webfoot, and we moved on to the next cache. Many times, one of the boys found the cache, but neither one of them ever signed a log. Consequently, the Tadpole has found more caches than his official 302 finds that he's logged on line. Like I said above though, he's a purist. He refuses to count those in his find total because he hadn't logged them with his own signature.

I can't even begin to tell you how many he'd actually have if I'd taken the time to put his signature in along with mine, but I would be willing to bet it is close to a couple of hundred more caches. The cool thing about this is that's the way he wants to play the game. This is probably because he realizes it's just a game and that perhaps it's really not about the numbers, although he sure looks happy celebrating a particular number.

The cache before this find was his first find in San Diego County. He's starting to get interested in logging the 58 county challenge which I've written about on numerous occasions. He started to pester me Saturday afternoon about finding a cache down in Imperial County, which for those of you outside of California, is in the southeastern corner of the state. It's mostly desert area, but the Salton Sea is a pretty impressive site, so I can see the interest in heading out there again. I've already found several caches in Imperial County, but I'm more than willing to help him out. I told him that perhaps at Christmas time, when the weather is decent down there in the desert, we might make an overnight stay and find several caches out there. He's up for that idea.

So anyway, here's to you, Tadpole. You are a great caching partner.

Pictures were taken at the following geocache:
Cassattack - by momobomp

Truth in Advertising

The Tadpole and I went caching this weekend. We found this cache for our last cache of the day. We spent a great deal of time looking in the bushes near ground zero on this cache because the cache page said the cache wasn't in the sign. We were looking for a 3 quart Tupperware container, something that should have been quite obvious, even if slightly cammoed as the cache page indicates.

We found the small yellow tube (it's either small, or my GPSr is gigantic), in the sign. The hint even said it was in the sign. Now we were confused since we were getting contradictory information. The cache page said it wasn't in the sign, but the hint said it was. After looking through the logs of other cachers, it's now apparent that this is a replacement cache for the original. In my opinion, this is just lazy caching. The hint has been changed, yet the description hasn't. I believe it's up to the hider to take care of his or her hides, not rely on other people and then clean up the cache page after the fact.

This is one of the reasons I don't have a boatload of caches hidden. It takes time and effort to set up caches and then maintain those caches. This isn't maintaining. This is just lazy caching. And I know I'll probably hear from someone about life getting in the way of the hider fixing up their caches. If they had the time to change the hint, then they had the time to either post a note about it, fix the cache page or temporarily archive it for the time being. Then again, I've been known to overreact from time to time and this could be one of those occasions, but even the Tadpole noted, "How could that be a regular sized cache?" Out of the mouths of babes.

Best Cache Ever

It started out like any other day, but soon, it would be twisted beyond my imagination as I embarked on a journey to find a simple cache that had eluded me in the past. I wanted to make sure this cache didn't end up on the permanent DNF list. I have to admit, when I woke up that fateful morning, I wasn't sure whether I could handle the stress of another failure. Three migraines had been caused because I couldn't decode a simple cypher to unlock the mysteries for this particular cache.

That day, however, was different. I had had a good night's sleep and my mind went into zen mode as I whipped through the cypher, decoding it in record time. I'd finally gotten over the hump and saw where my mistake had been all this time. Once that was accomplished, all I had to do was pack my gear and get on the road. I had a long drive and hike ahead of me and I was already burning daylight.

The trip out was rather uneventful, especially if you ignore the train wreck that caused many lookie loos to stop at the side of the road. I was more focused than them and kept moving. It wasn't until hours later back at home that I found out the the train wreck had been caused by a meteor from outer space hitting the ground and undermining the tracks at that particular point. What's amazing was there wasn't any plume of smoke after the meteor hit. Very strange indeed.

Once I got to ground zero, my first clue that I had to find was a pony. Supposedly, this pony had some kind of clue literally hidden on it that would guide me to my next destination. I could not believe my luck when the pony ambled up to me without regard for it's own safety and immediately whispered the clue to me, giving me quite a sensation . Pony's noses are rather hairy and it tickled.

Off I went. The pony had directed me to Route 66. But of course. All great caches in the past that I had found were always found on or near Route 66, the Mother Road. The problem was Route 66 couldn't be found in many spots. I had to find a spot where several important ingredients fell together in one unlikely spot. The spot was a pet graveyard that only had one inhabitant. Apparently, after the first burial, zoning laws started to conflict with the locals and the locals just decided that it wasn't worth the effort or the money just to get Fido buried, so they built another pet cemetery down the road. Who knew that this one gravestone would possibly lead me to the next clue on my journey?

Believe it or not, with the other information that I'd already gathered, the date on Brownie's tombstone fit perfectly. Now, all I had to do was find a field of poppies and ask the tin man a questions. I'd heard that he'd started crying out in a field of poppies and had been abandoned by his friends because they'd had enough of his whining. Apparently, he'd cried one too many tears and the rest of his caching group left him to rust away into nothing. Now, I wasn't the one that was going to help this guy out. I didn't know him from Adam, and I'd heard he could wield a mean axe, so I just quickly stepped in, got the information that someone had graffitied on the back of his torso and got out of there as fast as I could. The poppies were making me sleepy and I really didn't want the same fate to befall me as that poor dog lying near the tin man. Or should I say, what had befallen of that poor dog skeleton. Yuck.

The instant I'd found the clue on the tin man, I knew I was in trouble. Apes?? I had to find an actual ape? What was I to do? I'm not the strongest or bravest man in the world and the thought of walking somewhere, where there might be a wild gorilla out and about was almost more than I could handle. However, I'd already failed at this challenge twice and I was further along than I'd ever been before, so I was not giving up this easily.

The big question I had to solve was where to find an ape along Route 66 in the first place. I had all the clues, or at least I thought I did, so maybe I had to look at all of the clues again, just to get a different perspective on the situation at hand. I laid everything out on the ground and realized that I no long was supposed to follow Route 66, but now had a different route. I looked around and realized that I was long yards away from the next clue and lo and behold, there stood the ape, waiting to give me the next clue. I was absolutely amazed that my luck had held on this vicious cache.

After getting the needed information from the ape, I knew I was now going for the final of this excellent multi-cache. It looked like it was just going to be a short half mile hike along this well shaded trail to final cache hidden inside something dead. Great. All I had to do was control my gag reflexes, reach inside a dead body to find the cache. Simple. Knowing that the hider liked to have finders wade across the Amazon, or hike up a snow covered peak, just to find his caches, I knew that I would have to be prepared for just about anything, but a dead body???? Well, I'd come this far for this cache, I figured I might as well continue.

Eureka!! I found the dead body and was able to extract the cache from its hiding spot. I have to tell you, I wasn't the first to find on this one, but it felt like it. I could not believe the amazing things that were in this cache. It was hard to decide what swag I would take from this cache, but I eventually decided that the certificate for a day as Secretary of the Treasury was well worth the price I'd paid to find this most excellent cache. Now, I had a major decision to make. How could I possible trade at least even? Hmmm. I decided that two field tested bazooka launchers and a signed picture of Elvis and Richard Nixon was well worth even money for what I'd taken. I hope the next finder would enjoy any one of these items.

Now, it was just a hike back to my car and the long drive home. All the while I kept thinking to myself, "self, that was a most excellent cache. You'd better come up with a decent log for this one." Yeah. The log better be decent. It's probably my only two word log that I've ever written for any cache this good. It simply stated, Loof Lirpa.

Pictures were taken at or near the following caches:
Sum of All Fears - by Mr. and Mrs. Rhino
Route 66 - The California Route 66 Museum - by Parsa
Buchy Boy's Final Resting Place - by FullOn
The Mystery of Crowder Canyon - by Tevis Clan
Double Barrel Super-Soaker - by ohgr

Desert Color

I think most people think the desert is pretty barren. I've always found it anything but and during certain times of the year, it can be pretty spectacular. Sometimes, the color in the desert is natural and sometimes it's manufactured. And sometimes, it's a combination of both.

When I was out in Shoshone this past week, I found several caches that fit the bill for different types of color. One cache was hidden outside a broken down laundry facility near a campground. The campground was situated on top of a dry lake bed, which, for the most part makes it pretty barren. The laundry facility was built up on top of concrete blocks. It was a permanent building, so during times of rain in the desert, it would stay high and dry above the lake that would form after a good rainstorm.

The facility is in disrepair now, but there was an interesting old truck outside of the place. It had the neatest color composition, sort of a combination, primer, rust, old paint all blended together for some kind of surreal pop art type of vehicle. Looking at the tires, they were low, but it looked like the truck hadn't been parked there very long and could conceivably still be driven. I think it would definitely turn some heads if it had been taken for a spin. Out in the desert, it looked right at home.

At another spot I found a cache near an old cemetery that appeared to be still active. I've always been one to look at old cemeteries when I happen to stumble across them. Some of them are quite haunting. Usually, you can get a glimpse of the history of the region by looking at the tombstones and the dates on the headstones. Entire families die because of some kind of disease or disaster. Looking through older cemeteries, you can see the epidemics and swept the world at different times show up on a smaller scale. The 1918 flu epidemic at the end of World War I shows up quite dramatically in older cemeteries .

Many cemeteries in the desert tend to be located in very peaceful spots, usually with good views and this one was no exception. I remarked in my log that this particular spot would be a bad spot to spend eternity, since it had a view that was absolutely gorgeous. Although, I also noted that it wouldn't hurt me a bit if I had to wait another 40 years before I decided to take up residence in the place.

Then on Sunday, the Tadpole and I went caching in the high desert just west of Victorville. We were also looking for a virtual flag up here and after parking close to where it was, we made a quarter mile hike to snag the flag. As we walked through the desert at this particular point, it was like walking on a yellow carpet. Tiny little sunflowers, no bigger than a quarter inch across were in bloom as far as the eye could see.

My picture doesn't do it justice, but I loved the way the ground was covered in yellow, while I could still see snow on the mountains that separated the high desert from the Los Angeles basin. In a few short weeks, this natural carpet will be gone, withered away as the temperatures start to climb to three digits. But all the seeds these flowers produce will support another natural carpet next year after the rainy season has concluded. We just got lucky this year that we happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Pictures were taken at or near the following geocaches:
Tecopa Wash-Up - by Mr. and Mrs. Rhino
Cemetery Cache - by 3blackcats
4474 - by Mr. & Mrs. Wisearse

Adding more dots

I've always been interested in maps from a very early age. I can remember being asked by my 5th grade teacher to place all the states on a map of the United States and was able to do so correctly at the age of 11. Whenever we traveled by car, I ended up being the navigator for my dad on camping trips. I loved to watch the miles fly by on the map we'd use as we traveled. In college, as a freshman at Santa Ana Community College, I took a Physical Geography class and I was hooked. Originally, I'd planned on majoring in Political Science, but once I started taking the geography classes in college, that was what I planned for my major. I transferred to Humboldt State University, located in Arcata, CA and received a degree in Geography in June 1981.

I'm not using my degree specifically, but I do use the information I learned as part of my daily curriculum that I pass on to my students in their history classes I teach. So in a way, I'm using my degree as part of my career. I'd say I probably use my degree, or interest in geography in my hobbies more so than in my career. I discovered Where's George?, the money tracking website back in its early stages in January 2000. The concept that you could track your money after you spent it and see where it went was intriguing. I've seen the money I've spent travel to every state in the United States and several foreign countries.

I can't imagine people not being interested in geography if they're at all attracted to geocaching. The entire purpose of the game is to work with latitude and longitude to get to a certain location on the globe. It's all about geography. I know of at least one person who geocaches without using a GPS unit, instead preferring to find caches by using Google Maps and topo maps and orienteering. Finding a cache in a parking lot sans a GPSr is one thing, but finding a cache in the wilderness alongside a trail without one, in my opinion, is impressive.

The geographic map I have in my head of certain area every now and then needs to get tweaked a little bit. I would be willing to bet that most people, if they think at all of regions of California, probably break the state up into two main regions, north and south. Earlier this week, I was caching in eastern California. Sometimes, I find it difficult to wrap my mind around that one. The state if long and lean, so I don't really think about it as being east and west, yet there I was, in what can really only be considered eastern California.

Inyo County is located on the eastern edge of the state, bordering Nevada. I knew I was east, yet when I added my cache finds to my caching map, I was surprised to see where the dots ended up on the map. I shouldn't have been, since I knew I was only 27 road miles from Pahrump, NV, yet I just thought those dots would show up farther to the west. That's one of the reasons I keep that map updated. It keeps those misperceptions I have about the geography of an area in check.

I'll continue to add more dots to this map as I continue to geocache. Expect to see more dots show up on the western side of the state. My older son has been accepted at University of Santa Cruz. Besides the regular trips I take to visit my daughter in Stockton, I'll now be adding trips to Santa Cruz as well. Santa Cruz is located near the ocean, south of San Francisco along the northern edge of Monterey Bay. You can see two cache finds on the map, one of which was a webcam cache that we found in the city limits of Santa Cruz. Our first scheduled trip up there will be next month during his spring break.

I've enjoyed the past two years watching my daughter spread her wings in college and the next few years I hope will be just as enjoyable as my son does the same. I will miss him much like I miss my daughter, but at the same time I understand that he needs to be out on his own now. He has changed so much since his geocaching days. His time with us full time is growing short. I guess I'll just have to travel more often and visit him where ever he is.

Picture was taken at THE LOST AMADEUS - by LIZARD

The art of logging

After 3blackcats and I came back from our desert run this week, I settled down to write my logs for the caches. With 24 caches, I had a lot of logging to do. I always take my PDA along with me to take notes for each cache. I usually don't write a whole lot in the PDA, just enough that will spark my memory of what happened. Little notes like, "Date Shake. Mmmmmmm." will be enough to remind me that at that particular cache we stopped for a date shake and that the hummingbirds were dive bombing us at our picnic table. It was a very cool experience and one that I shared in my log.

The reason I do this, is I feel it's part of the entire geocaching experience. When the hobby first started, the caches were all fairly large. Large caches meant large logbooks and so people wrote of their experience in there and on-line. I can remember one cache I found with friends up on a ridge overlooking Los Angeles. The area was large enough for a helicopter to settle down on, which is exactly what happened. Not while we were there, but sometime earlier, because two FBI agents had flown up there in there, inadvertently found the cache and logged their experience in the log book. It was really fun reading that account.

With the proliferation of micro caches and the tiny logbooks, or pieces of paper in some cases, there's hardly any room to place much more than you're name anymore so logging in the logbook seems to have gone by the wayside. I am fully guilty of not writing much in the logbook on most caches I find as well. I try to make up for it by writing something about the experience on the on-line cache page. I figure I can give any cache, even a lamppost skirt hide at least 50 words. I try to give 100 words per cache log. I'm not always successful, but I try. In reality, 50 words is easy.

And, I don't cut and paste. Each log is unique, so it takes me awhile to log all of my caches after a big day. I was logging Tuesday's run from Tuesday evening until Wednesday morning around noon. It helps that I'm on vacation, but when I'm not that means it probably gets spread out even more. I feel I owe it to the hiders to give them what I experienced while out looking for their cache.

Wednesday afternoon, I received a nice email from turtle lady.

"I am the owner of Heartbreak Hotel cache in Shoshone California and I just read your log. I want to say THANK YOU for that long, well written log! What fun reading that!

I get so many emails from people logging my many caches and so many of them just say "TFTC" or "Got it" and I am disappointed! ...... When I get a log like yours, it makes me want to place more caches! Not many places like Heartbreak Hotel left to share with people but I will keep looking!"

This email makes my logging all worthwhile to me. It just confirms that I'm doing the right thing when I take the time to log each cache individually with separate and unique comments for each log.

I've met people on the trail that have made comments to the effect that I write "wordy" logs. I feel that's a compliment. I want people to know my experience. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've read logs that have helped me find caches that I never would have found otherwise. And it's not necessarily that the previous finder posted a "It's right under the log" type of post. Many times finders write in such a way that a simple comment will turn a light bulb on in my head that will lead me to the cache.

One thing that I always post at the end of each log is a thank you for placing the cache out there. If the hider went to the trouble to hide a cache, I figure I should thank them for their effort. It's simple courtesy, something that we in general can always use more of in our world.

Pictures were taken at or near the following geocaches:
Heartbreak Hotel - by Turtle Lady and Cause I Can
Dublins Tin Can Alley - by mtngirls