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Next Monday I'm planning to go have fun with that outbreak of new Monte Bello caches. Will everyone else who's going to add caches to that area please get it out of their system by then?  Thanks! :o

 

:o

 

Just make sure YOU aren't bringing any with you! I'm going on Saturday.... :D

Moi? :o

 

I promise not to drop any new caches if you clear out all the rattlers for me when you're there. :P

 

Santa Teresa pretty much drained my new cache supply anyway... Except for one evil micro now that I think about it....

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Next Monday I'm planning to go have fun with that outbreak of new Monte Bello caches. Will everyone else who's going to add caches to that area please get it out of their system by then?  Thanks! :o

 

:o

 

Just make sure YOU aren't bringing any with you! I'm going on Saturday.... :o

Fisherwoman, 4wheeler and I are planning on Thursday this week is anyone is interested in joining us.

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I've noticed a "new" item in some cache stat pages called a "Mount10bike coin".  What's the story behind these and how are they different from normal Geocoins?  Are they really new or have I just not noticed them before?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

/Lefty

Moun10bike coins are Moun10bike's signature item, and are trackable like a travelbug. The have Moun10bike's design on them and are beautiful to see. I have one that travels to events that we attend.

 

--Marky

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I've noticed a "new" item in some cache stat pages called a "Mount10bike coin". What's the story behind these and how are they different from normal Geocoins? Are they really new or have I just not noticed them before?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

/Lefty

These were actually the first geocoins out there (asside from maybe the USA coins?).

 

Here's what they look like:

http://www.geocities.com/team_fisur/geocoi...ge1a/index.html

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Thanks for the link and explanation Marky and Kealia. Now that I've seen the design I remember running into several of the earlier wooden coins in Caches over the years. I haven't seen any of the cool metal ones though!

 

On another topic, Looks like the two of you have been particularly busy cache planters over the last two weeks! Well .... Kealia's placed one and Marky ....

 

/Lefty

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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Yeah, I think Marky and Joani drop about 10 for every 1 I plant but I got up at 6:30 this morning to hike over 2 miles each way for this spot that I've wanted to put a cache for over a year (that counts for something, right?). :smile:

 

Funny thing is that when I got home and submitted the cache, I went back in 5 minutes later to post a note and the darn thing was approved already - gotta love our approvers!

 

Back on topic: Marky has one of Moun10Bike's coins in his signature binder. If you ever run into him at an event you can see it.

 

Along those notes, we are having an event next Saturday (although poor timing because of the F.A.M.E. event the next night that was scheduled first I believe).

Search for "Scotts Valley Pizza Event" - I'd post the link but the site is giving me all kinds of trouble right now...

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Along those notes, we are having an event next Saturday (although poor timing because of the F.A.M.E. event the next night that was scheduled first I believe).

Search for "Scotts Valley Pizza Event" - I'd post the link but the site is giving me all kinds of trouble right now...

Actually, it's the B.A.D.G.E.S. Dinner #4 that is one day after yours.

 

--Marky

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Yesterday I did Inca Gold, on the slopes of Mission Peak. I highly recommend it, especially to you not-quite-local cachers who consider Fremont to be nothing but a cheap tart filled with easy micros. Because of the theme and execution I particularly recommend you bring along any teen / pre-teen with stamina that you know. Girls in particular will have fun decoding the clues left behind by the mysterious Isabelle de Corazon Tereso.

 

The series is a 2-3 hour loop from the Stanford Trailhead (Stanford Ave, 2 block N of the 1st I680 Mission exit when headed north.) Head for Necklace of Tears first. Bring paper to take good notes. Trust your notes. The coords are all good.

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... especially to you not-quite-local cachers who consider Fremont to be nothing but a cheap tart filled with easy micros.

:huh::huh::lol:

 

On an unrelated and less poetic note, if anyone wants to join me on my hike through The Great Monte Bello Geocache Infestation tomorrow from about noon to 5 or 6pm, shoot me an email.

 

- Dave

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We did a few of the Monte Bello caches this past Thursday and didn't see any rattlers or any snakes at all. We did see deer and I'm pretty sure a bobcat running across Monte Bello Road into the bushes. And on the way back, I'm pretty sure I saw a coyote running but it was only a quick glance. But coyote was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw it. Have fun with all the caches! Some day I'll have to go back to finish the rest up. I might as well wait a while, in case any new caches pop up there.

Edited by Mauison
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Yesterday I did Inca Gold, on the slopes of Mission Peak.  I highly recommend it, especially to you not-quite-local cachers who consider Fremont to be nothing but a cheap tart filled with easy micros.  Because of the theme and execution I particularly recommend you bring along any teen / pre-teen with stamina that you know.  Girls in particular will have fun decoding the clues left behind by the mysterious Isabelle de Corazon Tereso.

 

The series is a 2-3 hour loop from the Stanford Trailhead (Stanford Ave, 2 block N of the 1st I680 Mission exit  when headed north.)  Head for Necklace of Tears first.  Bring paper to take good notes.  Trust your notes.  The coords are all good.

My ten year-old daughter did the loop with me today. The series really challenged her physically, but she enjoyed it alot, and promptly fell asleep in the car on the way home. Matt

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My ten year-old daughter did the loop with me today

 

fwiw, you found the jawbone at Atahualpa - I took a picture of it there. One other thing to notice is the stone ankh someone made next to the trail as you hike up and away from the stairway to the sky.

 

To really challange her, go all the way to the top. There is a sighting post up there with tubes that point to different bay area landmarks - you can see the Altmont pass, for example. It is one of the highest spots in the east bay hills.

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From a Hemlock admin note on a nearby cache:

All National Parks are managed by the National Park Service and are thus off-limits.

 

National Recreation Areas may be managed by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, or even the Corps of Engineers. Only those managed by the NPS are off-limits for geocaching.

 

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is managed by the NPS.

Thanks for the clarification, Marky. The Presidio itself is part of the GGNRA, operated by the NPS, e.g. http://www.nps.gov/prsf/. So, nothing new and non-virtual is allowed, I'm concluding...

Not that long ago I was asked to remove somebody else's GGNRA Presidio placement that wasn't approved (by Hemlock) who stated that GGNRA caches aren't allowed. I also found somebody else's cache in the GGNRA on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge that was never approved because of the same GGNRA rule. However, caches in other GGNRA areas have been approved since then (like Pacifica), though they were in different GGNRA areas. Does this mean that some GGNRA land is OK, and some is not? I think we need a centralized place for these kinds of local land rules and regulations and such to be collected to make getting this kind of information easier. Have you heard anything from Hemlock yet?

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OK, it's been 5 days since my newest cache was placed and approved and it hasn't been found yet. I was sure that some of the local cachers around me would be on top if this last weekend, but I was wrong.

 

Thought I'd post it here for those of you who may be interested in claiming FTF but wouldn't see this on your nearest cache page since it may be a little farther away from you than your normal search.

 

Enjoy the hike if you go!

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OK, it's been 5 days since my newest cache was placed and approved and it hasn't been found yet. I was sure that some of the local cachers around me would be on top if this last weekend, but I was wrong.

I would go for it, but that would end my nice streak of 7 days without finding a cache. I'm going to see how long I can go...

 

--Marky

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I would go for it, but that would end my nice streak of 7 days without finding a cache.  I'm going to see how long I can go...

You picked a good week to test yourself, as there have been very few new caches nearby in the last week. It's a lot tougher to resist new caches that appear close to home! ;)

 

Hmmm.... I don't think you've done two of my caches yet, and they're arguably my trickiest ones.... Not that that's saying much mind you, but they're all I have to tempt you with. ;)

Edited by Team Nazgul
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I'm one of those local cachers.... unfortunately I was gone last weekend and I the hike is long enough that by the time I get home from work It would be dark before I could get to the cache, find it, and get back to the car. I'm trying to talk my brother, FFFF, to go after this one with me this weekend. It's on my watchlist....

 

On the other hand, with the limited time available, I have two caches ready to hide, spots picked out and the cache pages ready to go... so do I seek or do I find?

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I would go for it, but that would end my nice streak of 7 days without finding a cache. I'm going to see how long I can go...

 

Marky, do we want to be around when you start having withdrawls and twitching?!? ;)

 

Aah, the good Sarge. Thought everybody has gone AWOL for a while! Hope to see you Friday night, sir.

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I received my update newsletter from Tom Lantos yesterday. In it he talks about legislation he is supporting to make Rancho Corral de Tierra part of GGNRA. Adjacent to McNee Ranch and San Pedro Valley parks, this link describes the property. I wholeheartedly support the desire to protect this area from development. There are several geocaches.

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I wholeheartedly support the desire to protect this area from development.

 

Particularly since the examiner (which has local editions down the penninsula) ran an article recently about the fellow who developed Foster City. His solution to the affordable housing crunch? Develop the whole San Mateo Coast. Best quote: "Birds don't vote".

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I received my update newsletter from Tom Lantos yesterday. In it he talks about legislation he is supporting to make Rancho Corral de Tierra part of GGNRA. Adjacent to McNee Ranch and San Pedro Valley parks, this link describes the property. I wholeheartedly support the desire to protect this area from development. There are several geocaches.

The article seems to be saying that POST is acquiring the land, not GGNRA. Am I wrong? Even so, we haven't gotten any clarification from Hemlock yet on the rules for GGNRA. The other GGNRA land in Pacifica has still had caches approved somewhat recently. :mad:

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The article seems to be saying that POST is acquiring the land, not GGNRA. Am I wrong? Even so, we haven't gotten any clarification from Hemlock yet on the rules for GGNRA. The other GGNRA land in Pacifica has still had caches approved somewhat recently.  :mad:

Yeah, I think the link I gave hasn't been updated recently. The mailing I got from Congressman Lantos was very specific about his support of legislation to include the land in the GGNRA. ("At the the very top of my legislative agenda.") I suppose POST is buying or has bought it, but their ultimate objective is to turn it over to a governmental agency to be used as a park.

 

I agree this is a grey area in GC rules. Hopefully caches can continue to be placed in the GGNRA.

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Holy cow! I was looking at potential areas to cache this weekend and re-checked the Lexington area. I haven't been up there since last year when I did Ry's Lexie and Under the Highwire but I see there are many more caches now :P .

 

Thanks to Marky, Nurse Dave and whoever else has recently added caches to the area. time to load up the Camelbak and get hiking.

 

If you hear the sound of somebody crying like a little girl with a skinned knee that's me because I ran into either:

A) The snake(s) that Nazgul saw, or

:mad: The spider that Nurse Dave saw

 

(shudder)

 

I'm hoping to hit at least some of these this weekend; although I may wait until my new sig items are in before doing these - a bit undecided but anxious to get up there.

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Holy cow! I was looking at potential areas to cache this weekend and re-If you hear the sound of somebody crying like a little girl with a skinned knee that's me because I ran into either:

A) The snake(s) that Nazgul saw, or

:mad: The spider that Nurse Dave saw

 

(shudder)

The first year I joined my search and rescue team, we had a weekend drill up on St. Joe's Hill and camped out overnight. During the day, we had various scenarios and hiked all around. We saw tarantulas crossing some trails. Then at one small pond up there, there were several tiny yellow snakes in the water, and when I got close to the short they actually started heading *towards* me! I have no idea what they were but they really gave me the willies.

 

Eventually it was time to hit the sack. I had a sleeping bag but no tent. I had ridden my motorcycle so I didn't have a car or anything to sleep in. So all night long, laying on the ground, I kept thinking of the snakes and tarantulas, and opening one eye to look around... That was one of the worst nights of sleep I've ever had! :P

 

I bought a tent right after that, and it worked great aside from the time I froze my rear off on Mt. Umunhum on an October overnighter several years later.

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I received my update newsletter from Tom Lantos yesterday.  In it he talks about legislation he is supporting to make Rancho Corral de Tierra part of GGNRA.  Adjacent to McNee Ranch and San Pedro Valley parks, this link describes the property.  I wholeheartedly support the desire to protect this area from development.  There are several geocaches.

The article seems to be saying that POST is acquiring the land, not GGNRA. Am I wrong? Even so, we haven't gotten any clarification from Hemlock yet on the rules for GGNRA. The other GGNRA land in Pacifica has still had caches approved somewhat recently. :mad:

It depends on which agency operates the National Recreation Area lands. In the case of the Presidio and the entire GGNRA (the one I've researched recently), it happens to be the National Park Service, so no caches are allowed. I'm not sure about the older caches that still remain there, perhaps grandfathered. Other NRA lands may be different.

 

Edit: To confuse things more, I'm uploading a graphic of the GGNRA that I've found on the NPS website. The dark green areas are NPS managed lands. Notice the "Post to Park" designation that is not under this category though???

 

GGNRA.jpg

Edited by BuckyDef
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The first year I joined my search and rescue team, we had a weekend drill up on St. Joe's Hill and camped out overnight. During the day, we had various scenarios and hiked all around. We saw tarantulas crossing some trails. Then at one small pond up there, there were several tiny yellow snakes in the water, and when I got close to the short they actually started heading *towards* me! I have no idea what they were but they really gave me the willies.

I should report you for this post.

 

It's going to keep me up tonight. :mad:

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LOL! Well, at this time of year that pond has long since dried up, and I haven't seen any tarantulas up there for ages, so you're back to just keeping an eye out for rattlers and the scary Nurse Dave spider. That's not counting the Volkswagen-sized black widow spider over near the Holy Moly cache on the other side of the hills of course.

 

But hey, if I can survive these encounters, anyone can. :mad:

 

I still wonder what the heck those little snakes were. That was like twelve years ago and I've never seen any like them since then. Which isn't a complaint, mind you.

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LOL! Well, at this time of year that pond has long since dried up, and I haven't seen any tarantulas up there for ages, so you're back to just keeping an eye out for rattlers and the scary Nurse Dave spider. That's not counting the Volkswagen-sized black widow spider over near the Holy Moly cache on the other side of the hills of course.

 

But hey, if I can survive these encounters, anyone can.  :mad:

 

I still wonder what the heck those little snakes were. That was like twelve years ago and I've never seen any like them since then. Which isn't a complaint, mind you.

Garter snakes are found swimming sometimes. They are perfectly harmless and make decent pets. King snakes make awesome pets. Golfer snakes make poor pets because they tend to be ornery. Golfer snakes are kind of scary to catch, since they somewhat resemble rattlesnakes. I've been bitting by pet golfer snakes more than any other snake. Never been bitten by a king snake.

 

I've seen tarantulas recently (within the year) in almaden quicksilver and in guadalupe oak grove park (hey, that's close to home!). They are cool, but I'm still scared to pick them up (and if you're scared, it's best not to pick them up because they can apparently sense that and will be more likely to bite). California Tarantula's bite is no more serious than a bee sting, or so I'm told (which, I guess could be serious if you are allergic).

 

--Marky

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It depends on which agency operates the National Recreation Area lands. In the case of the Presidio and the entire GGNRA (the one I've researched recently), it happens to be the National Park Service, so no caches are allowed. I'm not sure about the older caches that still remain there, perhaps grandfathered. Other NRA lands may be different.

 

Edit: To confuse things more, I'm uploading a graphic of the GGNRA that I've found on the NPS website. The dark green areas are NPS managed lands. Notice the "Post to Park" designation that is not under this category though???

OK, I'm confused. So can we put caches in Post to Park areas? I ask because the Marin Headlands are in one of those areas and I was clearly told by several approvers that I could not put a cache there. In fact there are only virts there at this time, at least last time I checked.

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Let me add a big warm thanks for all the talks about spiders, tarantulas, rattlers and the like.

 

Now everytime I feel an itch or feel something on my arm/leg it's sending chills up my spine :lol: .

 

I'm going to look for a friendlier topic for a while. :o

 

(On a serious note, I do appreciate the heads up about the 'wildlife' in that area. Won't stop me from screaming, but at least I know what to look for!)

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Let me add a big warm thanks for all the talks about spiders, tarantulas, rattlers and the like.

 

Now everytime I feel an itch or feel something on my arm/leg it's sending chills up my spine :lol: .

 

I'm going to look for a friendlier topic for a while. :lol:

 

(On a serious note, I do appreciate the heads up about the 'wildlife' in that area. Won't stop me from screaming, but at least I know what to look for!)

And now you know it's not poisonous! :o

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Let me add a big warm thanks for all the talks about spiders, tarantulas, rattlers and the like.

 

Now everytime I feel an itch or feel something on my arm/leg it's sending chills up my spine  :lol: .

 

I'm going to look for a friendlier topic for a while.  :lol:

 

(On a serious note, I do appreciate the heads up about the 'wildlife' in that area. Won't stop me from screaming, but at least I know what to look for!)

And now you know it's not poisonous! :o

Doesn't really need to be poisonous... I'd have a heart attack if it ever climbed on to me!

 

I went after a cache in Redding a week or two ago that was by the river in a blackberry thicket. Searched for 20 minutes before looking up and seeing more than a dozen spiders of that type just about at head level... gave me the heebie-jeebies for the rest of the day!

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OK, couldn't resist telling my own story. Poking around looking for georgeandmary's, Casa da Cache (submicro), I nearly put my hand on a blackwidow. Needless to say, END OF SEARCH! I'm pretty sure where it is now (having given the clue some thought), and the spider wasn't very close to where I think it is.

 

Saw a rattlesnake on Hidden Picnic Spot in Toro Park (Salinas area). That was more cool than scary. It was off to the side, and napping. Gave me a couple of threatening rattles then crawled away into some PO.

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I was searching for a cache in Sacramento once, and while changing search locations, noticed a big fat black widow on the back of my hand. We ended up not DNFing it, but that's because Joani found it. :lol: That was about as freaked out as I have gotten. Usually, I can deal with snakes and spiders but to notice a deadly one on your person is scary.

 

--Marky

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Scariest bug I found was in my apartment. I'm from the east coast. A few weeks ago, I see something on the rug near my desk. I look over and it is a two-inch Jerusalem cricket!

We never had anything like that in NY state! I start yelling and try to smash it with a 3 ring binder. It was still alive andI managed to get it and flush it.

 

Scared the hell out of me!

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I grew up in the rural Sierra Foothills so creepy crawlers of various sorts were an ever present reality. It was standard practice when working near woodpiles to wear gloves and turn over logs before picking them up. Dead wood seemed to collect the nastier types.

 

On the other hand folks weren't too scared of these things but just took standard precautions. Killing rattlesnakes found near your house (usually with a garden hoe) was pretty common particularly for folks with small children.

 

Sometimes I wonder if the poisonous nature of such things is over done. I saw my cocker spaniel get bitten by a rattler and although the dog got VERY sick it recovered after about 2 weeks and lived for another 10 years.

 

/Lefty

 

P.S. We used to catch black tarantulas as kids and bring them home for our science teacher dad. I somehow doubt my city born kids would EVER do the same!

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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To confuse things more, I'm uploading a graphic of the GGNRA that I've found on the NPS website.  The dark green areas are NPS managed lands.  Notice the "Post to Park" designation that is not under this category though???

OK, I'm confused. So can we put caches in Post to Park areas? I ask because the Marin Headlands are in one of those areas and I was clearly told by several approvers that I could not put a cache there. In fact there are only virts there at this time, at least last time I checked.

This page expands "post to park" to "military post to national park," a somewhat dated term, since that conversion is more or less complete. I interpret that to mean that all that area, including the Marin Headlands and the Presidio, is now under NPS control.

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