Geocaching

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My brother and I had time for one last cache before we had to get back to our day so we decided to go for this one. This is one that I had driven under many times. There is a tunnel near my house and this cache is up on top of the tunnel area. We walked on over and found the pathway that the cache was hidden on. I got lucky and found the cache quite quickly. After that my brother and I decided to head over to Gordo’s and get a burrito.

Official Geocache Page

I had tried for this one on an earlier date but there were a ton of muggles around because there was a performance of some sort going on so I decided to come back at a later date. Well, that later date was today. Still hanging out with my brother we went out to find this multi-cache. As we were looking for the second stage of this cache we bumped into fellow cacher J5 Crew . It’s always fun running into other Geocachers when you are out on the hunt. The three of us decided to go and look for the final stage together and J5 Crew made the grab quickly.

This cache will give you a nice little work out, you have to go down the hill to get to the first stage, then back up the hill for the second and then back down for the final. We had also parked up at the top so we had to go back up one more time to get to the car.

Official Geocache Page

My brother had come out to Berkeley to help me get Cerritos Creek Cache but since we still had time we decided to go and grab a few more as well. This one was the next closest cache that I hadn’t found. This is pretty much a drive up cache. While I was looking in the area that cache name would make you think it is my brother was looking in the correct spot and quickly found the cache.

Official Geocache Page

I had scouted this one out a while back. The first time I got to the cache area I couldn’t find where you were supposed to enter the area, I saw a spot with a rather frightening drop off but I didn’t think that would be the spot. I decided to look on my Treo to see if the cache description would shed any light on it. Well, it turned out that this was a 4.5 star difficulty terrain and that the scary drop off was how you were supposed to go and get it. I decided then that I would come back with my brother to get this one as I didn’t want to fall and break my leg and be there by myself.

So I came back with my brother and we were actually able to find an easier way to start our decent down to the cache area without having to deal with the drop off. We had to cut through someones front yard a little bit but it was minor. Once we got past that area we started the journey down steep canyon to the cache. I don’t know if this cache is worthy of a 4.5 star difficulty, maybe when it is wet it would would be that hard. That being said, it isn’t an easy hike down, it is rather steep and slippery.

We finally made it down to ground zero and I was able to locate the cache fairly quickly. Getting back up to the car was probably a little bit harder than getting down. The hill is quite steep and slippery but it is very doable.

Official Geocache Page

To date this is the oldest cache that I have found. This cache was placed on 3/10/2001 so it is over six years old. The cache is labeled as Difficulty 1/Terrain 1 and the terrain rating is definitely way off. A one star terrain should mean that it is wheelchair accessible and there is no possible way that someone in a chair could get to this cache. That being said, it was still pretty easy to get to, just had to navigate around some bushes and branches and stuff. Once I made my way to the cache location the cache itself was easy to spot.

I have a feeling that this cache will last for a very very long time. There really isn’t any reason for anyone other than cachers to go up here. The area it is hidden in is not on any real paths and it is right next to quite a bit of private property. I was actually not completely sure whether or not I was trespassing or not.

Official Geocache Page

As I was driving along I saw this one coming up on my right. I pulled over to the side of the road and noticed that it wasn’t that far away and the terrain rating was only a 2.5. I didn’t bother reading the cache description (big mistake) and started making my over to the cache area. It ended up that there was a rather large ravine between myself and the cache. I decided to go for it, getting down the ravine wasn’t too bad, slid a large portion of the way. Getting back up was a different story. There were a few times where instead of going up I ended up going further down the slope. It was very steep and slippery. I finally did make it to the top though, my shoes were full of dirt and my socks were filthy, but I made it.

Once getting up the ravine I still had to find the cache. The cache is hidden in area that is a rather large Redwood Grove (gee what a surprise when you look at the cache name) and it’s quite pretty. While I was there the sun was at a good angle and you could see the sun beams shining through the trees into the meadow in the middle and it was quite the view.

The cache itself is very cleverly camouflaged. I actually picked it up once without even noticing that I was holding the cache. Thankfully when I came back to it a little later I noticed what I hadn’t on the first trip and I spotted it.

Spoiler/Hint ▼

Official Geocache Page

I grabbed this one as I was making my way around some local caches. This is a nice easy drive up cache that brings you to a trail that I am going to have to check out at some point. When I found the cache and went to sign the log I was quite surprised to find that I was the first person to sign it. Turns out that the cache had gone missing and I was just the first person to find it since it had been replaced.

Official Geocache Page

This cache has a very funny description. The hider talks about a hamster with laser beam eyes that he has left guarding the cache and that you should never wear polka dots while hunting for this geocache. The hide itself was a pretty easy one to find. There was a lot of poison oak in the area but that doesn’t bother me as I am not allergic. When I found this cache, which was a large Tupperware container, the lid was off and the insides were exposed to the elements. Thankfully everything was still in good shape and after I signed the log I put everything back together as good as I could.

Official Geocache Page

It was getting a bit late and I knew it would be getting dark before long but I figured I could squeeze this one in real quick before I headed home. This is a multi stage cache. I found the first stage of the cache super quickly, it was in one of the very first places that I looked. I got the coordinates to the second stage from the first and then headed on over. The batteries in my GPS were just about dead and with all the tree cover I was having a hell of time getting a good lock on ground zero. No matter what I did my GPSr kept on wanting to point me into the poison oak. Although the cache description said that no bushwhacking was required to find the cache my GPS kept telling me that I was going to have to. This cache made me extremely happy that I am not affected by poison oak because I am sure I walked through tons of it.

After looking for about 20 minutes and not having any luck I decided to just start looking all over the area since my GPSr didn’t seem to be helping much. By now it was starting to get dark, I had a few muggles pass by me and they seemed a bit suspicious of me as I looked around.

To make a long story short, my GPSr finally gave me a decent bearing and then I found the cache. It was dark out by the time I was signing the log and of course a muggle came by with his dogs just as I cracked open the ammo box. So I am sitting there with my flashlight, signing the log, ammo box sitting next to me when this muggle comes by with his two dogs. The dogs are barking at me like crazy and their owner is looking at me funny. I tried to be as friendly as I could but boy did I feel exposed.

Official Geocache Page

This cache was hidden in a rather unspectacular area. It was near some really nice areas but the area of the cache itself is like a storage area for the parks and rec guys. Oh well. When I arrived at the cache spot I actually found the cache very quickly. The camo that was used to hide the cache had fallen away so the cache itself was totally exposed. The exposure seemed to have had a negative effect on the cache as well, the cache container was melted and had a huge dent in the side of it. The top no longer fit on well and it was just generally speaking in bad shape. After I signed the log I tried to hide it a bit better than I found it since it was totally exposed.

Official Geocache Page

After DNFing on the last two caches I was really hoping that this one was going to be a success and thankfully, it was. Actually, this one was pretty easy. I found the cache in the first place that I looked. It was a nice little spot that I had never seen before and the reason for the cache was to show you the new firehouse that has been built across the street. I took a picture of the fountain that is right near the cache as well as the firehouse.

Official Geocache Page

I love these rock parks that are scattered throughout Berkeley. I love climbing up and around on the rocks, it makes me feel like a kid again. I got lucky with this cache. My sixth sense kicked into over gear and I walked right up to this one. I really enjoyed this park and it was nice to relax up on the rock and take in the amazing view.

Official Geocache Page

After struggling to find Grotto Rock Park it was nice to have this easy one to follow up with. Between the good given coords and the name of the cache this one was easy to find. I love that there are all these little trails scattered throughout Berkeley that I am sure many people don’t even have any idea exist.

Official Geocache Page

Caching has brought me to a few of these rock parks and I really like them. It’s fun climbing all over them and exploring. This one had a particularly nice view of the San Francisco bay as well. There was one thing I really didn’t like about this cache though. The area that the actual cache was hidden in was covered in thorny blackberry vines. I was just wearing shorts and a T-shirt but I decided to brave it and dive into the thick of it. My GPSr was having a hard time in the area so it was jumping around quite a bit which wasn’t making me very happy. I ended up trying to navigate my way through the blackberry vines for a good 15-20 minutes. Thankfully, I was able to do it all without drawing any blood. My GPSr started pointing me to a place I hadn’t explored very thoroughly so I went and investigated. It was then that I noticed a likely hiding and spot and as luck would have it there it was.

I carefully made my way out of the blackberry jungle and was happy to be back up on top of the rock.

Official Geocache Page

When I arrived at this little park in the Berkeley hills that I didn’t even know existed there really wasn’t any parking. There was some parking on the street but the curb was red. Looking around though I noticed that there were at least a half dozen cars parked in the red. I figured I wouldn’t be there for very long and if everyone else is parking in the red I might as well as well. I made my way over to the cache site, there were some young muggles hanging out nearby which at first I thought was going to make my search difficult but as it turned out I was hidden from view down a hill.

This was a tough hide. I was sticking my hands in all sorts of places that I wouldn’t have stuck my hand in prior to starting caching, I had my trusty flashlight looking in all the nooks and crannies. In fact, I was so caught up in looking that I didn’t even notice the family of muggles who had snuck up on me. Here I was sticking my head in between rocks, shining my flashlight around, I figured I must have looked a bit funny so I took the time to explain to them what I was doing. They ended up being a very nice couple who had just moved to the area and we chatted for a bit.

They left and I resumed my hunt. I finally spotted it shortly after they left, this was a tough one. As I was leaving the park I saw the couple so I called out and told them I found it and the man gave me a thumbs up. I was a little surprised when I got back out of the park and I could see my car. Every other car that had been parked illegally was now gone so there was my car, parked right in the middle of a red zone. I felt kind of bad but I wasn’t there for very long and I got away without getting a ticket.

Official Geocache Page

I was sitting at home today and feeling the need to get out so I decided I was going to tackle some of the caches that were in my neighborhood. I had walked up the stairs that this cache his hidden near several times in the past, in fact I have walked past the actual hiding spot many times.

I had something kinda funny happen while I was on my way to the cache site. I wasn’t able to find parking real close so I had parked down the street a bit and as I was walking up to final coords I heard a female voice say “excuse me”. I turned around and there was a very cute young woman in her car. She asked me if I knew how to get to such and such address. I told her I didn’t but that I could find out! I entered where she needed to go into my GPSr and then let the GPSr show her, turn by turn, how to get to her destination. She sure stopped and asked the right person for directions.

After doing my good deed for the day I headed up to the cache site. I was looking all around ground zero and I couldn’t find a damn thing. There didn’t even seem to be any likely places for it to be hiding. I finally decided to break out the Treo and see what was going on, it quickly became apparent. Although this cache is labeled as a “Traditional Cache” it is more like a “Multi-Cache”. The given coordinates bring you to the base of the stairs and then in the cache description you are given instructions on how to actually get to the cache itself.

I walked up the stairs, which are quite nice looking, up to the final cache location. I had to wait out a family of muggles at the final location but they didn’t linger. The cache is hidden in some bushes and some gardening had recently been done to the bush and the cache was clearly visible. I grabbed it, checked out what was inside, signed the log and then put it back, trying to hide it a bit better since the bush had received a hell of a haircut.

Official Geocache Page

This was a really fun “armchair cache”. The idea was simple, go to this site which has a bunch of webcams in the Dresden area. Watch these webcams and when you “Trabi” (a Trabant actually), which is a type of car, take a screen shot of it and post it on the cache page.

As silly as it may sound, I really enjoyed hunting around looking for my Trabi. When I first tried the sun was going down in Dresden and it was quickly too dark for me to continue the hunt. I tried again about 12 hours later when the sun was back out. There were several times where I thought I have may have caught a Trabi but I wasn’t positive and I really wanted to catch a nice clear shot. There are many pictures listed on the cache page where there is no obvious Trabi and to me, they are cheating.

I spent about a couple hours looking while I was doing other stuff on my computer (the webcams only update every 30 seconds or so) and then I finally spotted one. You can see my Trabi below! Very cool idea for a cache!