Geocaching

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After running into Charley at Tilden Crossroads #2 he asked me if I would be interested in grabbing Tilden Crossroads. It was a puzzle cache but he was pretty sure that he had solved the puzzle.

The puzzle that is posted on Geocaching.com can be seen below. That is all the information you get. This is actually not too bad of a puzzle compared to some of the ones I have come across. Anyway, I didn’t have to solve it as Charley already had so I followed him down to the location.

We got to the right spot and we both started looking. As I was looking I was running my hand along a metal frame above my head and I felt my fingers brush against something and fall. I was really afraid that it was the cache I had just hit and as my luck would have it, it fell into an inaccessible area. We continued looking but it soon became apparent to us that what I had hit was indeed the cache.

That night Charley confirmed with the cache owner that it was indeed the cache that I ruined, ooops

Charley went back the next day and replaced it which I thought was very nice of him seeing how I was the one who ruined it.

Official Geocache Page

I was sitting at home working and I got the email notifying me that a new cache had popped up in the area. I wanted to go right then and there but I was in the middle of some work and wanted to get it done. A couple hours later, when I was done with my work, I decided to see if I could still get a first to find on it. I left with low hopes seeing how it had been posted for a few hours.

When I pulled up to the spot my GPS took me I noticed that there were already two other cachers there looking, one of them being Charley, my brothers father-in-law. The other cachers was a gentleman named Randy. I started to help them look and we just weren’t having any luck. It was then that I decided to do a bit of climbing, it was then that I found it! I tossed the cache out to the other guys and then heard the bad news, a different group of three cachers had beat us to the find.

The worst part about this geocache was that I tore my favorite pair of shorts getting to the cache.

Official Geocache Page

This was my last find on my little caching adventure. My brother, dad and Charley got this one after they dropped me off after our day of Geocaching so I figured I might as well get it as well. This one was a bit tricky, my GPS was bringing me to the right spot but I couldn’t for the life of me find it. I did eventually find it, in a pretty clever spot as well, I signed the log and went home to log my finds.

This is where things got funny.

When I went to log this one the cache page said that it was disabled because the owner had stopped by and found the cache missing. Apparently, someone who found it before me put it back in the wrong spot. So I was more than a bit surprised that I had found a missing cache. I contacted the owner and told him where I found it and I guess he went back and re-hid it in it’s original place.

Official Geocache Page

This was by far the easiest cache I found of the day. I was driving along, noticed that there was one coming up and by looking at the GPS it appeared that it was just off the side of the road. I pulled up to the spot, just parking off the road a bit as there was no traffic, and hopped out. My GPS led me to the spot and the second place I looked there was the cache. I of course had left my pen in the car so I made a quick run back to the car, signed the log, rehid the cache and was on my way.

Official Geocache Page

Well, since I was already out getting the first to find on Meadows Canyon I figured I might as well see what else is on the way home. As it turned out I had passed one on the way down to Meadow Canyon called Tilden’s Inspiration Point. If you have never been to Inspiration Point, you should really make the trip, it quite aptly named and very beautiful.

This cache gave me trouble. I was there smack dab in the middle of the day so there were muggles everywhere. For some reason my GPS was a little jumpy so I wasn’t exactly sure where to look. The GPS did finally settle down and I was pretty sure I was looking in the right place but with so many people around it was hard not being conspicuous about it. I finally got a break in foot traffic and found the cache though. I took the cache with me to a nearby bench to sign and then I had to wait even more time for a break in foot traffic so I could put the cache back.

Official Geocache Page

We were going to call it a day after Off The Grid but we noticed that there was another one pretty close by (this happens a lot when you go Geocaching) and we said “why the hell not” and headed over. This one is hidden in the very famous People’s Park in Berkeley. There were muggles everywhere but there are always a ton of people in this area so we decided to throw caution to the wind and look for it anyway.

This one gave us some trouble, with a basketball game being played about ten feet away from us and lots of people around it made searching a bit more difficult. Charley or my father finally made the find though. We all signed the log and then finally head on home. It was a great day of caching and it was nice to do it with my family.

Official Geocache Page

It was starting to get a bit late and we had done quite a few that Charley had done in the past so we let Charley pick the next one. There was one that he had tried in the past and it had defeated him so we all packed into the car again and headed across Berkeley to this cache, Off The Grid. This is a multi-cache and Charley couldn’t find the first stage the time he had gone.

When we arrived at the location we all hopped out of the car and looked for the first stage. My brother showed Charley up and found the first cache location in a matter of seconds. With the first stage completed we headed over to the second stage and it too was quickly located. The second stage wasn’t hid to well so we re-hid it a bit better after signing the log.

The Geocache was in a part of Berkeley I had never visited before and it was quite nice. Some really great views and a beautiful neighborhood.

Official Geocache Page

After the disaster that was La Loma Quarry we all felt a bit defeated as we headed over to Old No. 7. We quickly found the area that we were supposed to be looking in and I had barely gotten out of the car before Charley had this one in hand.

So it was a nice to have a quick victory after the hard fought defeat. We signed the logbook and headed out for another.

Official Geocache Page

This Multi-Cache gave us a lot of trouble. It took us awhile to find the first stage. The posted coordinates were putting us about 30 feet and down a hill from the actual location of the first stage. We did eventually find the first stage though, the posted hint helped us there. From their we noticed that the second stage wasn’t too far away so instead of driving the car a quarter mile or so up the hill my brother and I decided to just walk up there. That may not have been the best idea… The hill is quite steep to the final cache location but whatever, we made it.

When we got to the final location we searched and searched and simply couldn’t find it. We probably looked for at least 20 minutes and just weren’t having any luck. We decided to go back to the car and get Charley and our dad to help in the hunt. Charley had found this cache before so we figured he would be able to point us in the right direction. Unfortunately, Charley couldn’t remember where it was either. All four of us spent at least half an hour looking for the damn thing and we still couldn’t find it. We finally decided to give up and move on.

After our day of caching was over and they had dropped me off at home this DNF was still bugging me. I decided to go to the cache page and see if I could get any more hints or clues from reading the logs. I did get a bit more information and I decided to head back and give it another go.

I found it!

It took me probably another 15 minutes or so to find it but I finally had the cache in hand. Man that felt good! I signed the log book and called it a day and went home.

Official Geocache Page

This one was tricky. Using Charley’s GPS with navigation we had no trouble getting to the right spot. Charley had already found this one so my brother and I went for it solo. We swore up and down that we were standing at ground zero and there was nothing there, so we looked and looked but still no luck.

It was then that I noticed the stairs…

This was one very clever hide, the first of it’s type that I have run across although I am sure there are more like this out there.

I finally did locate it and my brother and I signed the log and we were on our way.

Official Geocache Page

After a nice lunch at Jupiter we decided to head back and pick up the car and then travel up into the Berkeley hills for a few more. There are quite a few caches stashed around in the hills. The first one we went for was “The Austere Academy”, one that Charley (my brother’s father-in-law) had gone for at least once in the past and had never been able to find. Charley’s GPS has street navigation on it, so the GPS can tell you how to get places, where to make turns, etc. which made maneuvering up in the Berkeley hills considerably easier (and convinced me that it was worth it when I bought my GPS) so following his GPS we had no problem getting to the spot that the Cache was hidden. Finding the cache was a different story though.

We all spent a good amount of time looking all over the place for the cache but we just couldn’t find it. My brother broke down and read the hint which was just “Touche!” he mentioned this to Charley who informed him that touche is a fencing term. Well, there was a fence in the area so my brother concentrated on the fence and sure enough, there was the cache. Charley was happy to check this one off his list and we were all happy that we didn’t DNF (Did Not Find) on the cache.

Official Geocache Page

After a morning of fruitful caching we decided it was time for some lunch. We decided to head over to Jupiter Two things happened on our way over to Jupiter. First of all, we saw Yau-man who was one of the contestants on Survivor, he walked right past us, it was kinda neat. The second thing that happened was we noticed that there was a cache right across the street from Jupiter so we decided to get it first.

This cache is located right next to an attraction I had seen hundreds of times in Berkeley but never had any idea what it was. The object is a giant tuning fork which is tuned to the frequency of the earth. The difficulty rating on this one due to all the muggles around so you have to be sly when trying to get to the cache. My brother came up with a good plan and was able to grab the cache without drawing too much attention to himself. We all quickly signed the logbook and then went and got ourselves some lunch.

Official Geocache Page

After finding “I’m late I’m late .For a very important date” we took a slight detour off campus and headed to a geocache called Circle of Redwoods. The walk to it was a bit of a killer with some really steep hills and my dad was hurting. The older folk decided to hang back so my brother went off and did this one solo.

We found the circle of redwoods easy enough, finding the cache location was a different matter. We spent a good 10 minutes looking around, checking under rocks, under plants around the trees and we just couldn’t find it. Finally, we started working together and when my brother moved a bunch of stuff out of the way I was able to locate the micro sized cache.

We both signed the log and met up with our Dad and my brothers Father-in-law.

Official Geocache Page

After the cool view from the last cache site we headed up to this one. I had seen this object on campus before, it’s a clock on a hillside where the numbers and stuff are made from plants. I had never known there was a cache hidden around it though. I still didn’t have my own GPS yet so I was following my brother and as soon as we saw the clock we knew we were in the right place.

This one is ranked as on a one star difficulty. In my book it was a bit harder than that. It took us awhile to find it and then it took us awhile to wait for the muggles (non cachers) to go away so we’d have an opportunity to grab the cache and sign it. I did eventually locate the cache though and we all signed the log.

Official Geocache Page

This was our third find of the day and my very first Multi-Cache. This wasn’t a very good first multi-cache though because it wasn’t your typical multi. Anyway, the listed coordinates take you to the entrance of a building and then you are given directions on how to find where the actual cache is hidden. This cache is another good example of what is great about caching. At the final location there is quite a sight to be had and well worth the visit. The logbook was fairly easy to find, there were two possible place that it could have been for the most part, I started on one, my brother on the other. My brother chose the correct side and found the cache.

If you are ever on the UC Berkeley campus this one is definitely worth the trip to check it out.

Official Geocache Page

After picking up Blue Bottles we decided to head towards the UC Berkeley campus and pick up a few there. First on the list was Pomodoro. The cache is located right near a rather large sculpture on the UC Berkeley campus designed by the artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, hence the name.

The cache itself was tiny. Technically speaking it’s classified as a “micro” but people have started calling caches this small “nanos”. The cache itself was about a half inch circular and maybe a quarter inch tall, so as you can imagine it was a bit hard to find. My brother, with the help of the hint was able to locate it though. We all signed our name on the logbook and then headed off to the next cache site.

Official Geocache Page

This was the first find on a day that we found quite a few. My dad was still here and he was having a good time caching with us so we decided to make a day out of it. We invited my brothers father in-law (who is really into Geocaching) along with us as well and all met at my house in the morning.

Blue Bottles is only a few blocks away from my house so we headed over their first. Caches like this are one of the reasons I really like Geocaching, you get to see some really cool stuff that you didn’t even know was there. I have driven by this cache hundreds of times but never noticed anything special. This cache is located in front of blue house which has hundreds of blue bottles in the windows. According to the cache page her collection of bottles started modestly enough, but then people started buying them for her. Then strangers were leaving cobalt blue bottles for her on her door step.

The cache itself was fairly easy to find, my brother is the one who made the actual find. It was a nice start to the day.

Official Geocache Page

After picking up Kyle’s Cache we continued down the trail to this cache. The trail is nice, quite wide, paved, no cars to worry about so it makes for a pleasant walk. I had the GPS so I was leading the way. The GPS brought me right to the right spot and without reading any hints or anything I quickly had the film canister cache in hand. I signed the log and then we headed back to the house, done caching for the night… or so we thought