13 Aug
Official Geocache Page
I was sitting at home working, I had just finished something that I had been working on for awhile when I got an email from Geocaching.com telling me that a new cache had been placed in Alameda. I was ready for a break and wanted to get out of the house for awhile and I am always up for trying to get a first to find so I packed up my stuff and headed out.
When I arrived at the posted parking spot for the cache I saw a pickup truck that had a geocaching sticker on it so I figured I was out of luck as far as getting a first to find. I hopped out of the car and headed to the cache area.
This was a nine stage multi-cache. Thankfully, it sounds much worse than it really is. All of the stages are very close together. This is actually a pretty clever cache, the location is an old campground, each of the different stages brings you to a zone of the campground and these zones are numbered. So you go to each stage of and get the number and then at the end you figure out a pretty basic puzzle using these numbers and get the final stage location.
When I first arrived on the scene I saw a man with a young boy wondering around and I made the assumption that they were fellow cachers and I figured they were the owners of the truck with the Geocaching sticker on it. I called out to them and said “What stage are you guys on?” the man looked at me like I was off my rocker and I quickly just tried to move on and forget that I made an ass out of myself.
I went to all of the different stages collecting the information that I needed and then sat down to figure out the puzzle. I ran into a bit of a problem at this point. Either GSAK or Cachemate screwed up when it exported the cache info to my Treo. The puzzle page has this line on it: Cache is located at AEIBFIC CDGHBA for whatever reason my Treo just said: Cache is located at AEIBFIC. I was pretty sure I was doing the puzzle correctly as with the fragment that I did have I was able to get the North/South coordinate but I couldn’t figure out the East/West coordinate. I tried just walking along the north/south line but that didn’t work (It would have if I had looked harder though). I ended up sitting down and puzzling over it, I didn’t know at the time that I was missing part of the puzzle, yes I had my suspicions, but I didn’t know for sure.
As I was sitting the man with the young boy approached me, I got ready to explain the whole Geocaching thing as you find yourself doing that a lot in this sport but then he surprised me. It turned out that it was the owner of the cache. When it went live he and his son came down to see if they could witness the first to find. We talked about the puzzle and I showed him what was going on and he confirmed my suspicions that I was missing some of the information. He really helped me out here, he called his house and had his daughter go online and check the cache page and then she gave me the rest of the puzzle. With the rest in hand I was able to quickly figure out the east/west coords and shortly after that I found the cache and best of all I was the first person to find it. There is nothing quite like finding a virgin logbook.
After signing the log book I spent a while talking with gcherry talking about geocaching and some of the cool stuff we had found. It was actually kind of funny, we had found a quite a few of his caches on 8/5/2007 on our marathon caching day. In fact I had actually emailed him regarding one of his caches. We ended up talking for probably 20 minutes and had a good time doing so.
I considered going for a couple more caches but I decided to just call it a day and headed home.
Posted in Difficulty 2, First To Find, Multi-cache, Small, Terrain 2 by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
By the time I was done finding The Proposal the sun was starting to go down and from what I have read about the Albany Bulb is that it can get a bit sketchy at night. I had done all the caches out on the bulb so my timing was perfect. I did notice that I had missed one on my way in though so I figured I’d have time for one more.
This one quite close to the parking area, so a nice easy walk, and it’s not far from the main trail. I was pretty beat by this time, I had been out exploring the bulb for a few hours by now so I was happy to find that this one close to the trail and there was a nice “chair” right near the cache. I found the cache quite easily and I was then able to sit down and watch the sun set. It was a very nice ending to a great day of caching.
There is still one cache out on the bulb that I haven’t found yet so I will be going back. I hope to bring my camera the next time and get some pictures of the area, it’s really a neat place.
Posted in Difficulty 2, Regular, Terrain 2.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
There is a very nice story behind this cache. I won’t repeat the whole thing, if you want to read about it just click the official cache link above. To sum it up though a geocacher proposed to his wife at the spot that the cache is hid at. This guy is a very active cacher and is famous for getting first to finds. So he hid this cache, with the ring inside and then dragged his then girlfriend along with her. They find the cache, she sees the ring, he proposes and a happy ending for all.
This was a nice little hike from my last find and again I was walking over lots of rocks and stuff which was fun. I passed right by the “Castle” that is out on the Albany bulb and I of course had to check it out. I tried taking some pictures but the crappy camera on my Treo took pictures that aren’t even worth posting. The castle is quite neat though and I suggest you take a peek at it while you are out there.
After checking out the Castle I headed over to find the cache. I got lucky with this one, my GPS was spot on and took me within feet of the cache and then the cache was exactly where I thought it was going to be. I was hoping to find another diamond ring inside but I had no such luck 
I did sign the log though and enjoyed the view of the San Francisco bay.
Posted in Difficulty 1.5, Regular, Terrain 2, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
This was a fun little multi cache out on the bulb. The first stage was pretty close to Stay on Target and walking from it to this one you get to see a really cool art piece which I have posted on the left. Unfortunately, all I had was the crappy camera on my Treo to take pictures with but it’s better than nothing.
The first stage of the cache is to find a rock that has the old Geocaching.com logo painted on it. This rock also has some digits painted on it and with the information on the cache page you can figure out where the second and final stage of the cache is. This area is really neat, there are lots paintings and stuff and it has a very carnival like feel to it. One of my favorites was the Wheel of Life which I took a picture of.
The coordinates bring you over to the other side of the bulb. I don’t know if it was just the route that I took or if you any route you take is going to be like this but I had to work my way over some pretty rough terrain, making my way across very large rocks and stuff, it was actually quite fun but this may not be a cache for little ones. The final stage is also near a prominent landmark on the Albany bulb, the Castle!
I found my way over to the final coords and was a little stumped at first trying to find the cache but then I remembered the hint and spotted it. I signed the log, sat down for a bit and enjoyed the view and then headed on over to find The Proposal
Posted in Difficulty 3, Multi-cache, Regular, Terrain 2.5 by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
While I had been walking around the bulb I had noticed a bit of industrial junk and large chunks of concrete and little hints of artsy things here and there but nothing prepared me for what I found at this cache. Apparently, the Albany bulb used to be a dump and then sometime during the 80’s or 90’s artists started going out there and turning this junk into art. There are parts of the bulb that are just covered in public art and it’s really cool. This cache is located in what is known as the “The Amphitheater” which you just have to see for yourself, my crappy cell phone pictures really don’t do it justice.
I really enjoyed this cache, it was probably my favorite of the day. I had no idea that this place existed and I was really happy that I had discovered it via Geocaching. I took a few crappy pictures of the area with my cell phone (I really need to remember to bring my camera more often), take a look.
Posted in Difficulty 1.5, Regular, Terrain 2, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
After my second DNF over at Purple Vs. Turtles I decided I was going to do a bit more caching and get a few finds under my belt. I was looking at my GPS and I noticed a nice cluster of caches on this little peninsula area. I later found out that this peninsula is called the Albany bulb. I headed on over to the area and found some parking. Most of these caches will require a decent amount of hiking. This is a great place to bring your dog if you happen to have one though, you can let them run off leash.
I had never been out on the bulb before and it was a very cool place to go find. This cache isn’t very far out, but there are actually two that are closer to the parking. I followed my GPS to the spot and I found some large rocks that were covered in graffiti and some large industrial sized junk. I figured I was in the right spot and started looking. This one was tough for me, of course once I actually found it I slapped myself in the head but I spent a good 10-15 minutes looking for this one. Reading the hint really helps on this one.
Posted in Difficulty 2, Small, Terrain 3, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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12 Aug
Official Geocache Page
After my first failed attempt at this cache I contacted the owner. I told him that I had found the red hand, read the hint and followed it’s instructions and had zero luck finding the cache. In the general vicinity of the cache there is a rock with a red hand painted on it so I asked the owner if he could give me a radius from the hand to check within. The owner responded and told me that I should find the cache within a 10 foot radius of the cache. Armed with this information I called up a couple friends and we made our way back to the cache site and tried again.
When you get to the cache site a ten foot radius from the red hand really doesn’t leave a whole lot of places to hide something as big as this cache is (an ammo box). The two most likely suspects are two bushes. We scoured those two areas and didn’t find a damn thing. Between the three of us we must have covered every square inch within twenty feet of the red hand. We finally gave up, convinced that the cache is no longer there.
I contacted the cache owner when I got home later that night and the cache has now been disabled. I really hope that it’s gone and we weren’t blind. I’d hate to send the owner of the cache over there and have him find it.
Posted in Did Not Find (DNF), Difficulty 2, Regular, Terrain 2.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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11 Aug
Official Geocache Page
I had gone out with my brother and grabbed a few caches earlier in the day. That night he sent me an email telling me to check this cache out. This cache is like no other that I have seen. The “hider” gives you coordinates and then you just have to tell him, via email, what man made item is placed at this location.
The item in question looks really cool. Hell, I’ll show you what it is, it’s not like it’s a hard puzzle to figure out. At the location is Eartha, The World’s Largest Revolving and Rotating Globe. Check it out
Taken from the link above here is what this Eartha is
Eartha is a 3-dimensional scale model of our earth with mountains and landforms in full 3D, that rotates and revolves, simulating the earth’s real movements. Eartha was given the title of “World’s Largest Revolving/Rotating Globe” by the editors of the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999, and still holds that record today. It measures 41.5 ft in diameter. Unveiled July 23, 1998 Eartha took two years to build and represents earth as it is seen from space. It rotates and revolves on a specially designed and built mechanized, cantilever arm.
I’d love the chance to check it out in person some day, it sounds really cool.
Posted in Difficulty 1, Terrain 1, Virtual, Virtual Cache by: Moe
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11 Aug
Official Geocache Page
By the time we were done looking for A Quiet Corner it was pretty much time for me to get headed home. My brother told me about this one and told me that it was really easy and we would be driving right past it.
He was right, he pulled up to the spot and I had the cache in my hand in under 30 seconds. I quickly signed the log and we were headed off. This was a pretty boring cache, the area that the cache is hidden is definitely nothing to write home about but sometimes it’s nice to get a nice easy find.
Posted in Difficulty 1, Micro, Terrain 1, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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11 Aug
Official Geocache Page
My brother and I headed into Moraga to pickup a couple of more. I was expecting company at my house and had to be home before too long. We headed off to find this one, which is another of Charley’s. It’s located in a nice quiet little park in Moraga. When we got there they were setting up for a wedding but it was still early in the setup so we weren’t going to disturb anyone. We followed our GPS’s to the location and found what appeared to be a very likely spot for it to be hidden in. We searched the area thoroughly and we kept coming up empty handed. We checked the hint on the cache and decided that we were definitely in the right spot and double checked all the nooks and crannies.
In the end we decided that the cache must be gone. My brother talked to Charley later that evening and he confirmed that we were definitely in the right spot. Looks like another cache is no longer where it’s supposed to be. That was the second one of the day.
Posted in Did Not Find (DNF), Difficulty 1, Micro, Terrain 1, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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11 Aug
Official Geocache Page
I had solved this puzzle cache which was created by my brothers father in law, Charley, after a lot of hard work. After I had done it I talked to my brother and told him about it and encouraged him to give it a try. I also contacted Charley and he asked me to let him know when I was going to get it because he wanted to be there. My brother cracked the puzzle as well and then we tried to work out a time that we could go and get it together. Unfortunately, Charley couldn’t be there so it was just myself, my brother and his two kids.
My brother and I headed up towards where the cache was hidden. Kyle and Amanda, my nephew & niece, wanted to help of course so we all went hunting. We found the right area and we were poking around and then I spotted the cache. Being the awesome uncle that I am I held back the stuff hiding the cache and then let Kyle “find” the cache.
This puzzle isn’t as hard as it first appears to be. I know that when I first read it my head was spinning and I thought there was no way I’d be able to figure it out. Then one day I was hanging out with my friend and we took a look at the puzzle and decided to see if we could crack it. We didn’t crack it together but right before I left his house we figured out the key on how these things work.
As you read the cache page and the pages it links to you will learn everything you need to, the key here is that every word can be written in three different ways in morse code. I will provide you with an example of what I am talking about. I will be using the word moesrealm in my example.
This is how you write Moesrealm in morse code, the X’s are between the letters:
- - X - - - X . X … X .-. X . X .- X .-.. X - -
Here are the three ways that Moesrealm can be spelled in morse code using trigraphs.
That should be enough to get you going if you read the puzzle page thoroughly. I don’t want to give you too much info. If you do need help solving the puzzle feel free to let me know and I’ll try and give you a hand.
Posted in Difficulty 4, Regular, Terrain 2, Unknown/Mystery Cache by: Moe
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11 Aug
Official Geocache Page
The goal of the day was to go pick up Fractionated Morse but my brother and I needed a place to meet so we decided to do it right near this cache. My brother had already found this one but since we were so close I wanted to grab it.
Unfortunately, the cache was no longer there. Going there with someone who had already found it and not being able to find it pretty much confirmed to me that the cache is missing. Oh well, when I got home later that evening I contacted the cache owner and told them that the cache appears to be gone. They have yet to update the cache page so who knows what the status of the cache is now.
Posted in Did Not Find (DNF), Difficulty 1.5, Regular, Terrain 1.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
Trifecta Vista was the third and final cache in this general area that was all walkable from my parking place. I walked down the trail from Swing With A View following my GPS to the area. When I arrived at the area I spied a spot that I was pretty sure was going to contain the cache. I was wrong this time. I looked all around but my GPS was jumping all over the place so I was having a hard time pinpointing where to look.
I decided to walk away from the area and find a spot where my GPS had a nice clear view of the sky. Once my GPS seemed happy again I slowly started following it and this time my GPS was bringing me to a spot that I hadn’t really explored. Once I got to ground zero I quickly spotted the cache! I signed the log and then headed back to my car. I guess two out of three for the area isn’t too bad.
I had had enough caching for the day so I decided to go home and take a nice hot shower. It was a good day though, I found 8 in total.
Posted in Difficulty 2, Other, Terrain 3, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
After the ordeal I went through trying to find Purple Vs. Turtles I was really hoping I’d have better luck at this one. I made the nice short hike up to the posted coords, trying to remember to look up from my GPS and enjoy the view. I followed my GPS to a nice area right near a little bench and saw what I thought would be a great hiding place for a cache. I was right, the cache was right where I expected it to be. I retrieved the cache and walked back over to the little bench that is nearby and signed the log and took a minute to just relax and enjoy the area.
It sure was nice to get a win after the crushing defeat from the cache before.
Posted in Difficulty 1.5, Small, Terrain 2, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
This cache makes me very happy that I am not allergic to poison oak. This cache is hidden in a park in El Cerrito that seems to be crawling with poison oak. I found nice easy parking for this cache and noticed that there were three caches all within easy walking distance from the parking. This cache happened to be the closest so I went for it first. I followed trails most of the way but decided it would be quicker to do a bit of bushwhacking to get to the cache area.
I made my way to the cache area and in the hints they make mention of a red hand (It’s painted on a rock) so I knew I was definitely in the right area. This cache is a regular sized cache, in fact it’s an ammo box, so it’s fairly good sized and shouldn’t be too hard to miss. I spent a good 45 minutes scouring the area. I looked all around ground zero, extending my search 50 feet out in all directions from where it should have been. I tramped through tons of poison oak, fell on my ass a couple times and generally just got very frustrated. I finally gave up, I was pretty sure the cache was missing but you never can be sure. I will be back though! This cache will not defeat me!
Posted in Did Not Find (DNF), Difficulty 2, Regular, Terrain 2.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
This cache is hidden on a very steep hill in El Cerrito, I wish I had brought my camera as the hill is quite impressive. The posted coordinates to this cache were pretty lousy, they were pointing me towards the center divider between the two row of traffic on the street. I spent a good ten minutes looking out there and I wasn’t finding it so I decided to read the hint. The hint showed me that I was definitely in the wrong area so I headed over to the area that the hint described. Without having any real coordinates to work with and the hint area being pretty large I resumed my hunt. I spent a good twenty minutes looking and was just not having any luck. I decided it was time to breakout the Treo and read some logs in Cachemate.
Thankfully, someone in the logs posted a better set of coordinates (N 37° 55.147 W 122° 17.333). Once I entered the new coordinates in my GPS brought me right to the cache. The cache was well hidden but I was able to finally make the grab.
The view from this Geocache is quite impressive and it fun reading the book in the cache which discusses the history of the motorcycle races in the area. After four easy finds this one really put me to the test!
Posted in Difficulty 2.5, Regular, Terrain 2.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
I thought I felt uncomfortable when I went looking for ELECTRIFYING but it didn’t compare to this one. This cache is hidden practically in someones front yard. I don’t know for sure but I think (hope) that the owner of the cache lives in the house. I got lucky in that there wasn’t really anyone out and about on the street while I was there. Another good thing is that when you are retrieving the cache you are pretty well shielded by bushes. I was very happy that I found this cache quickly as I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time poking around in someones front yard.
The cache is hidden in a clever spot and is well hidden. I was happy to just sign the log and be on my way without drawing a whole bunch of attention to myself.
Posted in Difficulty 1.5, Regular, Terrain 1, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
This cache is hidden near an old park that was built in the 1930’s. I really enjoyed the park, it is way different from parks being built today. It features a long slide that is made out of concrete (I am not sure how that works, sounds painful), the rock also has lots of rock walls and is just generally very rocky. In today’s lawyer happy society a park like this couldn’t be made. I am actually kind of surprised that this one is still open, you’d think if a kid fell and scraped his knee some greedy parent would want millions of dollars.
Anyway, to get this to cache I took a nice little stroll through the park and then up a pretty damn steep paved hill up to the hiding place. When I arrived at the final location where my GPS was telling me the cache was hidden I had a pretty damn good idea where it was and I was right. Three for three today with the cache being in the first place that I thought it would be.
I signed the log and walked back down the hill through El Cerrito’s Huber Park and headed off to the next find.
Posted in Difficulty 2, Small, Terrain 1.5, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
This is a very bold urban hide. When I pulled up to the general area I quickly located where I figured the cache was hidden. There was a problem though, the cache was hidden in someones front yard and the owners of the house happened to be in their front yard. I decided to wait it out because it appeared as if they were going to be leaving. I pulled out my Treo and started reading cache descriptions for caches I knew I would be visiting shortly, I pretended to make a few text messages after that yet the man who lived in the house was still there.
It was actually kind of funny, he had to move cars to get the car he wanted to drive out of the way or something like that. He kept on swearing to himself, he would close the door to the car and I’d hear him mumble shit under his breath and then go back into the car to get whatever it was that he needed. This went on for awhile, I must have waited in my car for a good 10 minutes before the coast was finally clear.
Once they had left I walked up to where I figured the cache was hidden and I was right. I quickly extracted the cache and signed the log book. I felt very exposed getting this cache as it’s right in the middle of a urban neighborhood. I did get the log signed and the cache securely hidden again without anyone noticing though (at least I think I did).
Posted in Difficulty 1, Regular, Terrain 1, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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10 Aug
Official Geocache Page
I was sitting at home working and I just wasn’t at all inspired. I just knew I wasn’t going to be very productive so I decided if I wasn’t going to get any work done I wasn’t going to sit on my butt all day in front of the computer, I was going to go out and do some caching and get myself some exercise.
I was also craving Taco Bell so that determined my initial direction
After getting myself some yummy taco bell (two soft tacos and a chicken quesadilla if you want to know) I headed off to the next closest cache which was on of the Bart ones. Someone has gone out and in to honor the Bart system hidden a cache near all of the stations. I am not sure how this one is near a station, granted I didn’t look that hard but I sure didn’t see it and the cache is in the middle of a strip mall parking lot.
Anyway, I got lucky and I was able to park right next to the cache. There was a security guard strolling around so I had to play it a bit stealthy but once his back was to me I made a quick grab. The day was off to a good start, always nice to find the first one.
Posted in Difficulty 1, Other, Terrain 1, Traditional Cache by: Moe
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