Geocaching

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.

Official Geocache Page

This was the first five star difficulty geocache that I ever attempted. The difficulty on this one isn’t really finding it (which proved to be a bit of a challenge), it’s figuring out where it is. I highly suggest you click the above link and read the puzzle. I know that it gave me a headache. I read the cache page over and over trying to figure it out. I followed all the links and downloaded the stuff I needed to solve the puzzle and I got down to work.

Man, this was hard, I really couldn’t figure out what I was doing. This kind of advanced math was always a bit beyond me. I decided to read the puzzle page one more time and then I got an idea. I decided to think outside of the box. Once I made that step things slowly started to fall into place and I finally came up with an answer that I believed to be correct.

It turned out that the final location wasn’t far from my house and even though it was getting a bit late (around 10PM) I knew the area wouldn’t be crowded and I figured I wouldn’t be bothered by anyone so I decided to give it a go. When I arrived at the area in question I knew I was on the right track. There were pictures posted on the cache page and I immediately recognized one of them. I looked around for a bit, not having any luck, but then I found the area that I knew the cache was located in. After searching for a bit I finally found the very cleverly hidden cache!

I about had a heart attack as I was putting the cache back in it’s hiding place. It was late and dark and I always feel a bit sketchy being around places like this, poking around in bushes and shining my flashlight on things. Even though I know I am not doing anything wrong and I am not a criminal I also realize that people seeing me won’t think that way. Anyway, as I was placing the cache back the sprinklers turned on. The sound of the water rushing into the pipes scared the crap out of me and I may have even screamed like a little girl a bit.

This was one of the most rewarding finds I have had, I really enjoyed it and felt quite proud of myself when I found it.

Official Geocache Page

This was one of those caches I just had a sixth sense about. As I was driving up to the Bart station, watching my GPS to get a general area of where it would be so I would where to park my car I said to myself “I bet the cache is hidden right there.” I parked my car and followed my GPS to cache. The GPS led me right to where I had thought it would and I reached my hand to where I was expecting to find the cache there it was! I love when that happens.

I signed the log and decided it was time to head home and call it a day.

Official Geocache Page

Ugh, this was one of the most frustrating caches I have had found. I had to run out to Sears to pick up a weight bench that I had ordered and I decided I would bring my GPS along with so I could do some caching on the way home. I noticed that there was this cache right in the parking lot of the mall so I drove on over and went to pick it up. At the time that I went looking for it, it was listed as a 2 star difficulty, it has since been upped to a 3 star which is a good thing because this definitely wasn’t a 2 star difficulty.

I looked and looked and just wasn’t having any luck. As the name would suggest you are looking around a staircase, so there are plenty of little nooks and crannies to look in. I scoured the area and then, as I was walking up the stairs I noticed something. Relieved that I had finally located it I take the cache and open it up… DAMMIT!! it’s a decoy cache, the first one of those I had ever found.

I had been looking for at least a half hour at this point and decided to call my brother, unfortunately he missed my call. I spent another ten minutes or so looking and then finally gave up and headed to Hey, there’s a park down here!.

When I got to Hey, there’s a park down here! I pulled out my Treo to read the details of the cache and noticed that I had my message from my brother. I called him back and he gave me another hint to find this one. I went and quickly grabbed “Hey, there’s a park down here!” and then turned around and headed back to “Up the Down Staircase”. Armed with my brothers hint I resumed my search. After about twenty minutes I was utterly frustrated. As a two star hide this shouldn’t have been so damn hard. I finally called my brother and asked him for a very blunt “hint” he pretty much told me where it was and I found the damn thing.

I was very happy to finally find it and just move on. This was frustrating.

Official Geocache Page

At the end of a very long day of caching my brother and I were headed back to my place and we decided to go for just one more. This cache is very close to my house and I had tried to get it a week or so earlier but there was a scary looking homeless guy in the area so I decided to come back another time.

The cache is located in a nice little park in Berkeley that I had seen before but never really explored. The actual area that the cache is in has a few picnic tables, is well shaded with lots of trees and is generally just a nice little area.

When we arrived at the cache site this time there was absolutely no one around so we were free to look around unhindered. We commenced the hunt and I was able to quickly make the grab. We both signed the log and then headed home, I was utterly wiped out and starving!

Official Geocache Page

We were headed over to a different cache and I noticed that we were practically driving right by this one so we decided to swing by real quick and get it. This wasn’t the most exciting cache of the day, it’s in a convenience store parking lot, but it was at least nice and easy. The muggle factor could be very high on this one though if you ever try and get it, we got luck in that there wasn’t really anyone around.

When I got home that night and I was logging my finds I noticed that this one had gone inactive. This was the second time this had happened to me, it happened to me back on Redwood Trailhead as well. Anyway, I contacted the owner and told him that his cache was actually still there and that we had found it. My brother was the one to make the actual find and he said that it was rather exposed so when he put it back he hid it a bit better.

We didn’t stop and have a snack but we did find a missing cache

Official Geocache Page

This wasn’t one that we were going to go after but we noticed that it was just down the street from the one that we were headed to and we couldn’t resist. Charley had already found this one so he stayed in the car and my brother and I headed out. As we followed our GPS it quickly became apparent to us approximately where it was going to be hidden and when we got to the final coords it didn’t take long for us to find it. Clever container, not one that I had seen used before.

My brother and I signed the log and then quickly headed back to the car for some more.

Official Geocache Page

This was yet another puzzle I hadn’t looked at before we got to the cache location. This time though no one had figured it out before we got there. The puzzle is a letter scramble where you have to unscramble the following letter “atiodruhezroesneplnyoln”, the letters spell more than one word. Neither my brother nor Charley had been able to crack it but the coordinates posted are the correct ones and the scramble just is more like a hint I guess.

Anyway, when we got up to the cache site my brother broke out his ninja caching skill and walked right up to and found it. It was a very clever cache, it’s effect was just somewhat dampened by the fact that we had seen one similar to it just a bit earlier.

Official Geocache Page

This was a nice little walk up cache that showed me my first benchmark. I had never seen one before and I still haven’t logged this one as I am not sure how to do it but it was neat to see one. This cache is very exposed, it’s right on a busy street and there are houses not far away so stealth was a bit required to make the find. We didn’t notice any of the people in the houses looking at us, so hopefully we were discreet.

My brother and I were looking at a large metal object at the final location (we hadn’t read the hint) and Charley was looking on the pole. Needless to say, Charley made the grab.

Official Geocache Page

This was yet another puzzle cache that I didn’t even look at before we headed out so I was mostly along for the ride. I did look at the puzzle when we got home though and was able to quickly figure it out. I don’t like taking credit for puzzle caches that I haven’t solved personally, it’s a little bit like cheating.

When we arrived at the location Charley was already waiting for us, he had already found it and signed the log. My brother and I started looking and it wasn’t long before I found it. We both signed the log and then headed back to the car.

Official Geocache Page

Out of all the caches we found today this one probably had the best coordinates posted. Following my GPSr literally brought me to within inches of the cache. Of course, my brother still managed to find this one before me.

This cache was located in a rather nice quite big park but it had one serious drawback, it smelled like rotten eggs. I don’t know if there was a sulfur pit nearby or what but man did it reek. Charley had found this one in the past so he had headed off to the next cache when we arrived at the park. After signing the log my brother and I headed over to meet him.

Official Geocache Page

This was probably my least favorite cache of the day. There was nothing really worth seeing in the area. Before we even stopped the car we figured where it would be hidden and we were right. The parking lot was full and I was driving so I didn’t even bother getting out of the car for this one.

I like when people show a bit more creativity with their caches than this one displayed. I have a feeling that the hider probably works in the strip mall or makes visits often so it’s easy for him to check in on it.

Official Geocache Page

As it turned out, spotting this object from Can I Have Your Autograph? was the key to solving this puzzle. As the all the cache page does is tell you approximately where to look and then to locate this object. So since we had spotted the object we had solved the puzzle.

We pulled up to the giant metal ball and started hunting. It didn’t take long before my brother came up with the cache.

Official Geocache Page

We had done quite a bit on the base and we were getting side tracked and decided that it was time to visit the final stage of In The Line of Duty so that we could figure out the puzzle. So we headed off to do that. Of course, as happens quite often when you are out Geocaching, we got distracted. We drove right past Cop Food and decided to pick it up while we were there.

This cache is well named as it is located right outside of a donut shop. We got lucky and the area was pretty much muggle free so we were able to look without any worry. I was the one who finally located the cache. We all signed the log and then decided that we needed a bit of cop food ourselves. Went inside and got a donut and a drink and then headed off to the next cache.

Official Geocache Page

This was probably the most evil cache of the day. We arrived at the location with no difficulty and confirmed with Charley (who had already found this one) that we were looking in the correct area but we had a hell of a time actually finding it. My brother and I were probably there for a good fifteen minutes and then Charley started coaching us a little bit. Telling us that we didn’t have to climb all the way in as the cache is not behind it and hints similar to that.

Finally, my brother and I just kind of sat back and were scratching our heads when Charley said to us “You have already touched it”. That was enough to get us looking again and that was when I tried something I hadn’t tried before and Voila! I found it.

If you are looking for this and not having any luck here is a little hint.

Spoiler/Hint ▼

Official Geocache Page

We continued our hunt around the military base and went for this one named “Under New Management”. After coming from See Planes in Alameda this one was a bit easy (they use the same style hide). Even though the two are similar they are still very clever hides and I am a bit more surprised that I haven’t seen more of them.

One really nice thing about this cache is that parking sure is easy! The cache is located in a good sized lot and there wasn’t another car even in sight while we were there.

Official Geocache Page

After Bunny Town and still following the trail for In The Line Of Duty we further explored the military base and ran across this cache. This ended up being one of my favorite caches of the day.

Charley had already found this one so it was up to my brother and I to find it. Neither my brother or I had read the cache description so we didn’t know what we were looking for. If we had, finding this one would have been a lot easier but not as much fun. We spent quite a bit of time looking for this one but then we finally located something that we thought may be correct. But, what’s this? It’s locked. Charley was just smiling at us so it was then that we decided to read the cache description. Very clever and my brother and I really enjoyed it.

We signed the log and moved on.

Official Geocache Page

We finally made it over to Alameda, surprisingly, I have spent little to no time in this part of the bay area. In Alameda is a large defunct military base and there are quite a few caches hidden on it. Our first stop was actually for the Geocache “In The Line of Duty” but it is a multistage cache and we didn’t get to the final stage till much later in the day.

We followed the GPS to the coords for bunny town and found that it is an aptly named place. While we only saw one bunny we saw evidence of many many more in the form of bunny poop. I was checking out the bunny when either my brother or Charley came up with the cache.

It was a neat little area and people with kids would love it because of all the bunnies.

Official Geocache Page

For this Geocache myself, my brother and Charley were all together. Charley has a GPS which can give street navigation so he was playing navigator. There were a few in Oakland that Charley wanted to pickup before we headed of to Alameda. This one was the first one we went for.

This was a pretty simple drive up and grab it cache. Finding the cache proved to be a bit difficult but then I read the hint “Take a seat and pretend you’re waiting for a friend to drop by.” Once I sat down and looked around a bit I spotted the cleverly hidden cache.

We all signed the log and then headed off to the next cache.