pointsaljim

The Poison Oak Cacher's " FUN IN THE SUN" picnic was both today, with the added bonus of being able to cool off in the creek or have Digger blast you with his soaker Thanks OREO PONY for organizing this event Thanks Geocats for the cool Poison Oak Cacher Buttons! Look forward to the next event....I'll try to organize one this fall down this way....maybe in Nipomo at one of Naturesprite's sanctuaries. Also, if anyone wants to try and do a campout at San Simeon, post away!! Maybe after Labor Day!!

I vote for the 22nd also 'cause I want to do the Renaissance Fair at El Chorro on the 15th and I'll finally move Glyfie's Delight to a more delighful location, (too many complaints about poison oak!) PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP OUT And, what about the OLLI cache? I keep lookin' for it to be posted.... On another note, Suebee, Riley, and I planted a new cache yesterday, way, way up Huasna Rd in the vicinity of Stony Creek campground: Pine Ridge View cache. Some really, really cool rock formations shaped like animals...reminiscent of C'ISHUMU'.

Just wanted to announce that one of our own, BooBooBee, has published a great new book titled, "Best Family Adventures: San Luis Obispo County" which is filled with all kinds of FUN family activities for young and old ranging from great hikes to museums, a turtle rescue farm, art galleries, craft places, water activities, etc. I've got my copy and already I've discovered all kinds of COOL new places to hide caches!!! It is currently available at The Novel Experience and Mountain Air Sports in downtown SLO or you can get it at www.bestfamilyadventures.com.

Just wanted to say that yesterday's geocaching learning event taught to students of the OLLI extension program of Cal Poly was nicely done by Geo_cats and Oreo Pony! I think several of the students have already registered on geocaching.com. The event was in Irish Hills and the weather was very cooperative: sunny, but not hot or windy. I unfortunately do not remember all of your names, but welcome Ohsoslo and mother oak One thing we learned, is that most of us are all Garmin users, we couldn't figure out how to get Ohsoslo's Magellan to operate P.S. We also placed a new cache in the Irish Hills, "Olli, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into". Look for it to be posted soon!!!

Either date works for me!

Thanks Geo_cats for turning me onto Gollum's Grotto!! Everyone who hasn't done this one should definetely do it, even if you're afraid to go in...at least take a look.... of course if you go in, you'll be amazed at how the area gets larger and larger and you can stand up and there's a curving passage way off of a chamber, and, and, and.....!!!!

I definitely gotta get my geocache fix at least once a week, even at the expense of my health AND SNOWSKIING IN UTAH! Felt myself gettin' sick on March 25, and was resting, but got stir crazy in the afternoon and went and did an exhausting climb/pounding downhill to SLO Highest in the afternoon. The next day, my wife's boss wanted to go to Pt. Sal, and learn the game, sooo we all went out there and I let them find my new cache, "Karaline's 1st Point Sal Cache" and Panorama. Way sick the next 3 days, missed work one of them, then went and did Irish Hills with my daughter on March 30 'cause I felt a little bit better. Flew to Utah the next day to go skiing with my other daughter one day and to ski with my Son-in-Law on the other day. Raging fever on Friday night, too sick to ski on Saturday Didn't feel much better on Sunday, (also did not ski), but in the late afternoon, I rounded up the kids and Suebee and we went and did some easy caches as far as walking was concerned, (2.5 miles roundtrip, flat), but tricky camo jobs:) Too sick on Monday to ski, flew back late Monday night felt terrible till 2:15 a.m. Tuesday and here I am on Tuesday night, Dave Hufde of KSBY reported that Thursday will be a dry day, and I'm already debating of whether to go 'cachin!!

Last fall, I went on a day long hike to the saddle of Mt. Timpanogos which towers above Utah Valley that has city after city of patriotic Americans. I decided on the spot to make an impromptu cache out of a powerade bottle and wrapped black electrical tape completely around it and stuck it sideways in a small bush and propped a few rocks around it to keep it from blowing away. Put some good stuff in it too, including a $10 bill. When I posted it to Geocaching I promptly was informed that it couldn't be listed 'cause it was in a National Wilderness Area and it was against the law to leave man made objects in these areas. As I was pondering over whether to get it or leave it, I asked my son-in-law who had accompanied me on the hike and watched me make the cache what he thought. He said, "Well, I suppose I should have said something at the time, but it sort of looked like it could be a BOMB when you were done wrapping it and the way you placed it and if it was a BOMB, a whole lot of people down in Utah Valley would hear it and definitely see it go off at such a prominent landmark." Well that got me to thinking that I definitely better figure out a way to retrieve it, even though I was leaving for my home in California the next day and a major snow storm was coming. So I put out an e-mail to the Utah Geocachers Association and offered a $50 reward. The next day, a local hiked up in the snow storm to the saddle which is at 11,000 ft., took pictures for proof and retrieved it!!!! I sent him his reward and resolved to be more careful not only in where I place my caches, but WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE!

Went on a hike today in San Ysidro Canyon to the falls. I can't believe that no one has placed a cache in this lush, beautiful canyon. I hope to be the 1st. The closet cache is up another trail that is about 4/10 mile away from the trail head. It's called "Why, Man? By the time we got back it was dark and I chickened out looking for the other cache after hiking a short distance up the seldom used trail where "Why, Man? is located. I was suddenly afraid of mountain lions!! Anyways, I recommend a cache being placed in Upper San Ysidro Canyon. I posted pics to "Why, Man? Not sure if I will be able to make the Meet-n-Greet in Atascadero on the 26th.

I have an extra GPS'r. I bought it specifically for this type of reason: So that I could have an extra one for friends and people who want to learn about geocaching without having to purchase a GPS right off the bat. etc. Irish Hills sounds great! ( I haven't been there yet, and I'm usually sort of good at finding caches, so maybe I could be the guinea pig demonstrator!)

Count me in for the geocaching seminar!

I think that I can actually make it for at least one of the nights!! I've done both West and East Pinnacles twice before I was a cacher and it is way cool!! The East side offers a great loop hike that takes you through a vast array of terrain and views. It's a semi-strenous hike that takes a while, (I think it's almost 6 miles), but well worth the effort Look forward to gleaning knowledge of the fauna and plant life!

CONGRATS TO GEOCATS!!! Wish I coulda been there with you. Please let me know next time!

Hey POCer's, You've got to check out BooBooBee's Rock-n-Roll cache. Heli2reg landed a small helicopter at the end of the Garcia Ridge Jeep Road !!!(he posted a pic to prove it). This is an extreme cache to say the least. Naturesprite rode his bike all the way from Pozo, most people use jeeps, I almost succombed to heat exhaustion hiking it, hm... I wonder how many other ways 'cachers can access this cache!!!!

Geocats: Congrats on your 60th! I wish I could make that walk with you this Saturday, unfortunately my wife is very sick, and my knee is still sore from a mountain bike crash last week for a ten mile hike. You have a GREAT DAY! Pointsaljim

Thanks Oreo Pony for sharing some good info! Sounds like I'll be spending some time up north doing some 'cachin, especially in the Big Sur area !

This month's Orcutt Pioneer has an article about geocaching and mentions AvePaloma and the work that she is doing with her "Bunch of Third Graders" The link is http://www.orcuttpioneer.com/page101.html Geocats: Nice history write up on the Dinosaur Cave's cache. I'll have to stop and check it out!

ATTN EVERYONE: OREO PONY'S SPOONER RANCH CACHE IS THE BEST CACHE I HAVE DONE, BAR NONE! And here's why: The cache hiding spot is way cute with the perfect clue, the drive to and from the trailhead is way cool and curvy with some great ocean views including huge waves, and there are a multitude of ways to get to this cache depending on whether you want an easy bike ride, long but moderate trail bike ride before it, super hard yet total RUSH bike ride after, some long hikes with killer views, walk it, EVEN possible to wheelchair it if you can get a friend to push you up a few short areas on the way to the cache. There is also some cool history to boot! I chose to do the easy bike to it and then the super hard/TOTAL RUSH bike ride after(8 miles total - reference Bike Ride #3 in "Mountain Biking Southern California by Mark A. Ross and Brad Fine). After going to the cache on Islay Creek Trail, I went UP the East Boundary Trail to the Ridge Trail which was a gnarly workout with killer views and then the middle part of the ride offered pretty fast downhills with occasional mini-JUMPS and short uphills, and then the final almost 2 miles were a total rush downhill with nice banked turns and short rocky technical sections --WOO HOO!!! The ranger told me the easier way is to pedal up Pecho Road to Hazard Canyon Rd east and then take the Manzanita trail to a short section on the ridge road and then go DOWN the East Boundary Trail and then Islay Creek Trail West to the cache. I recommend long pants if you do the trail ride that I did 'cause there is some POISON OAK that will for surely get you if you eat it at the wrong spot and a few areas where it nips at your ankles. If hiking you can do in shorts. I also took all kinds of cool pics that I haven't posted yet. At one point I could see Morro Rock, Cerro Negro,(Black Hill), Cerro Cabrillo, and Hollister Peak all at the same time. Just before I started the total downhill RUSH, the rising full moon was at one end of the trail and the setting sun was at the other end.(I will post pictures soon). WOW!! What a Friday the 13th! THANK YOU OREO PONY for picking the PERFECT location!

Thanks for the input NS. Since I posted the question, BooBooBee told me that the views are awesome. Therefore, I will hike it on a non-windy day and maybe look for some fossils. I've been told that somewhere in the vicinity of Hurricane Deck that there are pretty cool Indian paintings. Was going to overnight backpack it with a friend on New Year's weekend, but we backed out when it looked like the rain was going to be major, which it was.

For a cool themed cache up a nice canyon, try BooBooBee's "C"olson's Kitchen Sink. It's got everything there to make a killer meal!! I could barely fit the TOASTER that was in the cache, (that's right, a countertop electrical toaster!!), in my backpack 'cause I biked it today. I found out something pretty cool about Google Earth before I went to the above mentioned cache. As I moved the cursor along the path of the road, it constantly showed the elevation changes, so I could get the feel for how even the gradient was going to be and know where the steeper parts of the bike ride would be.

Hey Oreo and the rest of the POCer's: When I read about NS and BooBooBee's mountain biking adventure to Caliente I was like WOW that's Hard Core! I also decided that the exposure to the elements and views probably don't equal the effort involved. The question is, would you do it again NS and BooBooBee? The reason I ask is because when I find a cache that I like I often go back to experience it again, such as the cache at Pt. Sal and I know that one of these days I will go back to C'ISHUMU. Someone named Rubacava finally went to "O"n top of the world and had the same great feelings that I had about it. WOO HOO!! Spent the holidays in Utah visiting my daughter and granddaughter. Checked up on a cache that we planted there and it's gone:( Didn't do any other caching 'cause the ski slopes were exerting a greater pull on me! I did try mountain biking in the snow and found it to be quite difficult. On the way home I kept myself amused by entering long/lats for faraway places like the Phillipines where our son is at and discovered that he is 7,000 miles away and that the North Pole is only 3,700 miles away!!! I read Bill Bryson's book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and really liked most of it! I read the chapter on Einstein at midnight and started having an "out of body" experience because it was sooo mind bending. Anyways, I look forward to caching in the New Year and wish you all a Happy and Poison Oak Free New Year!!

OP,I would drive the pick-up. I will definitely DOO "Doggy Doo Park" One of the tricks I've learned is to NOT do too many miles in the seat. I stand and pedal as often as I can, even put it in 5-6 gears harder when climbing a hill standing and then only shift to an easy one and sit down when I need a rest. I will have to check out Geocachic Dome. It sounds cool. I always thought it would be cool to build a geo - what's it called?- dome. Actually, the only thing that has taken my mind off the itching is when I'm out caching or biking. Started getting better yesterday.

BooBooBee's "U"p the Jordan has got it all. A nice drive to get close, then some deceiving road choices to make/maps to study, nice 2/3 mile tree shaded walk to the cache, Nice Cache Swag, and then a nice 1.6 mile hike through an oak forest to a FANTASTIC 360 degree panoramic view! You can see the ocean, Port San Luis, Pt. Sal, the whole Santa Maria valley and Nipomo Mesa, SL4 and Tranquillion Peak on VAFB, ridges and ridges of mountains to the east. AND, Poison Oak is minimal and low to the ground. Round trip from car to cache, hike beyond to panoramic view and back to car is 4.3 miles; total elevation gain 500 ft. Thanks, BooBooBee, for placing this cache.

Well now I'm REALLY an official POC'er. Those superficial scratches I got at Cerro Alto Vista have turned into a GNARLY case of poison oak! I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get a cortisone shot 'cause I'm slapping myself silly trying to avoid itching and scratching. I won't let it stop me from caching over the Thanksgiving weekend though.

Dr. Boggis, If you are into a steep hike with a fantastic view, I'd suggest SLO Highest. And be sure to go to the sitting area that is called out with the last set of coordinates. Anything in the Big Sur area such as Naturesprite's cache is also going to be inspiring. For tricky cache containers, Oreo Pony is the master.