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SF Bay Area geocachers

Team Dralasites

By Team Dralasites
in West and Southwest

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Kealia

+Kealia

Posted
Posted

Ah, the cache karma kicked in. Got 2 fTF's this morning.

 

I post this to let others know that there are 2 new caches in the Fall Creek annex of Henry Cowell State Park. It's located in Felton - you head straight through the light instead of turning left to go to Henry Cowell proper.

 

There are now 7 caches in this beautifu land historic location.

Here's a link to one of mine and you can find the rest from there.

 

The area is wonderful and deserves some more attention.

I also dropped one of my new sig shotglasses there - go get it!

 

738e37e1-68b3-432d-a894-ee0ef61a766b.jpg

 

c542ed41-9714-4221-bfa7-765391e2989c.jpg

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Nazgul

+Nazgul

Posted
Posted

Bwaaaahahaha! I love the level markings on the glass! :huh::blink::blink:

 

I need to find one of those. And my wife would like to spend some time looking at some of the little mountain towns on Sunday, maybe I could make a detour...

 

On a related note, if anyone has a recommendation for towns up in the Santa Cruz mountains that have a quaint downtown area with some small shops for my wife and maybe some interesting historical spots, I'd welcome recommendations. I've been through Felton, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, Scott's Valley and I think Redwood Estates, but only once or twice each and I haven't spent much time in any of them.

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SuzyQhoo

+SuzyQhoo

Posted
Posted

Hi SF Bay Cachers!

 

A coworker and I will be visiting in early October from Alabama! We are traveling to Reno for the National Recreation and Parks Association's annual congress and thought we would take a few days vacation to visit San Francisco!

 

We are going to cache from Reno to San Francisco, but probably will cache mostly in the SF area.

 

My question is: what kind of swag is common there? We really don't trade much anymore, but if ya'll have cool stuff, we certainly don't want to arrive empty handed!

 

If we could put food in the caches, I'd bring ya'll some grits! Haa haa! :huh:

 

Thanks for any pointers!

 

Suzy

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Kealia

+Kealia

Posted
Posted
On a related note, if anyone has a recommendation for towns up in the Santa Cruz mountains that have a quaint downtown area with some small shops for my wife and maybe some interesting historical spots, I'd welcome recommendations. I've been through Felton, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, Scott's Valley and I think Redwood Estates, but only once or twice each and I haven't spent much time in any of them.

I'd say to come in from Saratoga on Hwy 9 - that'll lead you into Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek and Felton. All have nice litte downtown areas and some historic value.

 

And possible a few caches along the way.... :huh:

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KennyHannahJacobKatie

+KennyHannahJacobKatie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi SuzyQ ...

 

The Caches out here aren't much different from the others I've tried in the US. The high traffic caches get picked over and have the usual assortment of McDonald's toys, balls, Hot Wheels, etc. If you get off the beaten track, say in the Santa Cruz mountains, you're more likely to see the unusual or interesting. The usual rules of cache ettiquette apply, trade evenly or up and hope others do the same.

 

Lot's of local cachers have "sig" items they drop in each cache - examples include special Geocoins, handmade "fish", or even a signed spoon.

 

Be sure to try some of the "Puzzle" caches if you are in the Santa Clara area. This area has a much higher percentage of puzzle caches and most are quite good. There are the usual assortment of Travel bug hotels if you are looking for a couple of bugs to take back with you to Birmingham.

 

Everyone has their favorite local caches but you'll have to give us a better idea of where you'll be visiting before we can help out there - SF, Marin, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, East Bay !?!

 

/Lefty

 

P.S. Any chance you can put in a good word for Geocaching at your congress? We've seen some of the National Lands get closed for Geocaching, a trend we would like to see reversed!

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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Nazgul

+Nazgul

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the tip Kealia, I think that sounds pretty good. I may take the scenic route through 236 again, I did that once and as I recall it was a great drive.

 

GeoWomyn, have you tried contacting edhall@brillig.com? That's about as much help as I can offer, unfortunately.

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KennyHannahJacobKatie

+KennyHannahJacobKatie

Posted
Posted

I've been browsing the "newest caches" section lately in a vain attempt to get a FTF in Santa Clara and noticed some of the Geocaching "tutorial" events in other areas - just this month Davis has "Back to School with RCGDS" and LA has "Computer Caching 101".

 

I know all of us Silicon Valley types disdain to read the manual and would need a nifty disguise to attend such a thing but can anyone 'fess up to attending this type of event? If so was it well attended and informative?

 

Just wondering! /Lefty

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Woof!

+Woof!

Posted
Posted

You:

 

You drive a bright blue Honda CRV with a Magellan GPS mount on the dash and a white/clear Geocaching.com decal on the drivers side window. You were parked on Cardenas Ave. in Park Merced near SFSU Tuesday around 1pm.

 

Me:

 

I was walking from home to class and saw your vehicle. I would have left a note for you if I weren't running late.

 

Is there another geocacher on campus? Or better yet, are we neighbors?

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SuzyQhoo

+SuzyQhoo

Posted
Posted

Hi Lefty!

 

Thanks for the info! That gives us a pretty good idea about what to bring. One of our Alacacher's signature item is a keychain pooping pig. You squeeze it and...well, you get the idea...perhaps it's an Alabama thing. I have one on my computer at work. I might just bring it to ya'll!

 

I will be more than happy to talk up Geocaching to anyone who will listen to me at our conference! As a matter of fact, we are having a session on it. Sheri Endsley, CPRP of Fort Worth Texas Parks and Community Services is presenting. I am also presenting on Geocaching in January of 2005 at the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association's state conference.

 

I had heard about Geocaching a long time ago and in late March of this year, my coworker and I attended the southeastern regional NRPA conference and attended a geocaching session. That was on a Thursday. I bought my GPSr two days later, we hit the ground running and haven't let up yet! I haven't even been kayaking the entire summer.

 

Thanks again for the info and we are eagerly counting the days until we get to San Francisco! We are looking forward to the Alacatraz cache! Touristy, I know, but it sounds fun and something we can do on our own at our own pace!

 

Suzy

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Team Perks

+Team Perks

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys,

 

As some of you may have seen, we spent Labor Day weekend on a little caching spree in San Jose, Palo Alto, and points between. We bagged 128 caches in a little over 2 days...certainly not record-breaking, but a good pace for us.

 

I just wanted to say a big "thank you" to everyone whose caches we found (and didn't find). We saw some of the most cleverly disguised caches up there, and lots of neat parks and other areas of town we'd otherwise have never had the chance to explore. Discovering new and unusual places is what makes caching worthwhile to us, so thanks to everyone for making this weekend a blast!

 

:rolleyes:

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Marky

+Marky

Posted
Posted

Glad you guys had a fun time up here. As soon as it cools down some, maybe we will get a group of us to come down and experience some of the caches in your area. There are some neat "caching trails" down there that look inviting.

 

I'll have to hit you up for lodging suggestions when it comes time for planning the trip.

 

--Marky

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Team Perks

+Team Perks

Posted
Posted
Glad you guys had a fun time up here. As soon as it cools down some, maybe we will get a group of us to come down and experience some of the caches in your area. There are some neat "caching trails" down there that look inviting.

 

I'll have to hit you up for lodging suggestions when it comes time for planning the trip.

 

--Marky

Marky, you are of course always welcome out in the Antelope Valley. No big time caching trails, but you can easily get 100+ caches in a weekend if you move quickly.

 

I'd love to get out and do some of the caching trails in La Quinta again (they're great hikes!) so definitely drop me a line if you plan on hitting that area too.

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Marky

+Marky

Posted
Posted
Glad you guys had a fun time up here.  As soon as it cools down some, maybe we will get a group of us to come down and experience some of the caches in your area.  There are some neat "caching trails" down there that look inviting.

 

I'll have to hit you up for lodging suggestions when it comes time for planning the trip.

 

--Marky

Marky, you are of course always welcome out in the Antelope Valley. No big time caching trails, but you can easily get 100+ caches in a weekend if you move quickly.

 

I'd love to get out and do some of the caching trails in La Quinta again (they're great hikes!) so definitely drop me a line if you plan on hitting that area too.

I must have been thinking of the La Quinta area, thinking that was close to where you lived. It's all south of here, right? :lol:

 

--Marky

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Team Perks

+Team Perks

Posted
Posted
I must have been thinking of the La Quinta area, thinking that was close to where you lived.  It's all south of here, right?  :lol:

It's all flat, dry, and devoid of vegetation. Works for me.

 

La Quinta is a little over 2 hours from my house in Lancaster. That's not too far...It occasionally takes me that long to get to work. :)

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Kealia

+Kealia

Posted
Posted

Forgot to ask a bunch of you yesterday at the Event/Wedding:

 

I'm heading to Bass Lake on Wed for 5 days; any caches that are must-do's?

 

I'm generating the PQ today but thought I'd get some input from others as well.

The CENTER OF CALIFORNIA cache is a MUST and I'll be dropping off a coin there.

 

FogHeads: If I have a waterproof container here at home, I'll gladly replace the one that's currently there.

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KennyHannahJacobKatie

+KennyHannahJacobKatie

Posted
Posted (edited)

RE: Bass Lake

 

We enjoyed "Beyond Angel Falls" when we were there last year and suspect you would too if you are in the mood for a medium length hike. Take some time during the first part to scramble along the river rather than the trail. The trailhead is just off the road on the North side of Bass lake and less than a mile from where the river drops into the lake. It flows over some great rock formations and also forms pools and small falls near the road that you can enjoy even if you're not in the mood for a longer hike to get the cache. We went back to the pool area this year for a picnic with our younger kids as this area is now on our list of Bass Lake "musts". It's one of those places you're not likely to find without Geocaching.

 

/Lefty

 

P.S. The "real" trail starts across the creek from the parking area. It took us awhile to find it on our first visit. Also, as in most Sierra hikes take bug spray!

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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cyan_blue

+cyan_blue

Posted
Posted

Anyone going 'caching in the Santa Cruz mountains in the next few days?

 

My little Tovah the Triceratops TB is nestled in the lovely Got Trout? cache, and while that would certainly be a *pretty* place to spend the next 6 months, it would be even more awesome if she could hitch a ride out of the cache before the park closes for the season after September 15th. So if anyone feels like making a trip out to get her before then, t'would be awesome. (Don't let the terrain level scare you - it's currently fairly easy to reach by either foot or rented boat - and it's a *lovely* place to rent a boat.)

 

Tovah's at http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...da-16e0133bd64b

 

Got Trout? is at http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...82-4848e11604df

 

Thanks very muchly!

Cyan_Blue

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forman

+forman

Posted
Posted
Anyone going 'caching in the Santa Cruz mountains in the next few days?

 

My little Tovah the Triceratops TB is nestled in the lovely Got Trout? cache, and while that would certainly be a *pretty* place to spend the next 6 months, it would be even more awesome if she could hitch a ride out of the cache before the park closes for the season after September 15th. So if anyone feels like making a trip out to get her before then, t'would be awesome. (Don't let the terrain level scare you - it's currently fairly easy to reach by either foot or rented boat - and it's a *lovely* place to rent a boat.)

 

Tovah's at http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...da-16e0133bd64b

 

Got Trout? is at http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...82-4848e11604df

 

Thanks very muchly!

Cyan_Blue

Why don't you contact some of the people who have found the cache or the owner to see if someone could get it for you.

 

Or, call in sick to work and do some caching.

 

Don

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bthomas

+bthomas

Posted
Posted
Geocaching "tutorial" events in other areas - just this month Davis has "Back to School with RCGDS" and LA has "Computer Caching 101".

I know all of us Silicon Valley types disdain to read the manual and would need a nifty disguise to attend such a thing but can anyone 'fess up to attending this type of event? If so was it well attended and informative?

 

Hynr did the Davis tutorial before the RCGDS potluck. He is an academic department chair, and he knows his way around a podium and Powerpoint presentation. The content covered pocket queries, GSAK, and downloading to Delorme or Microsoft maps. Bueno!

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KennyHannahJacobKatie

+KennyHannahJacobKatie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks BThomas --

 

Not being a total tech geek myself this sounds like a tutorial I should have attended! Pocket Queries and SGAK are particularly interesting as I'm strictly a manual entry person right now. No one would recognize me behind my Groucho Marx glasses anyway.

 

Do you know if the powerpoint presentation available is anywhere on line?

 

Thanks again. /Lefty

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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Sgt Stitches

+Sgt Stitches

Posted
Posted
Anyone going 'caching in the Santa Cruz mountains in the next few days?

 

My little Tovah the Triceratops TB is nestled in the lovely Got Trout? cache, and while that would certainly be a *pretty* place to spend the next 6 months, it would be even more awesome if she could hitch a ride out of the cache before the park closes for the season after September 15th. So if anyone feels like making a trip out to get her before then, t'would be awesome. (Don't let the terrain level scare you - it's currently fairly easy to reach by either foot or rented boat - and it's a *lovely* place to rent a boat.)

 

Tovah's at http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...da-16e0133bd64b

 

Got Trout? is at http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...82-4848e11604df

 

Thanks very muchly!

Cyan_Blue

 

Why don't you contact some of the people who have found the cache or the owner to see if someone could get it for you.

 

Or, call in sick to work and do some caching.

 

Don

 

Wish I had read this just a little bit earlier... my brother was heading out to Loch Lomond today and could have picked it up .... Oh well.

 

Also, I have removed the "Member's Only" restriction on "Got Trout?". I sometimes make MO caches so I can see who has been looking at the cache for the first few weeks ... and MO is th only way to see who's checking it out... Sorry you missed that one Kablooey, you can always go for it next year.

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zenone

+zenone

Posted
Posted (edited)

If anyone is looking for some caches in the Santa Cruz area with out of the ordinary storylines, you might be interested in the following (my wife and I recently hid the following):

 

- Houdini's Hideaway Magic Exchange (GCKE7Y)

- Bigfoot Sighting (GCKHZX)

- Blair Witch'ing (GCKJBE) - just approved

 

Since we seem to be coming up with some unusual-cache-storylines we figured that we might as well start a small series of caches called "Tour de Unexplained" :laughing: At this time I think we'll be adding 2-3 more caches to this series over the next month or so.

 

Plus, while you're in the area, there are plenty of other great caches ito find!

 

Regards,

Steve

Edited by zenone
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kablooey

kablooey

Posted
Posted
Also, I have removed the "Member's Only" restriction on "Got Trout?". I sometimes make MO caches so I can see who has been looking at the cache for the first few weeks ... and MO is th only way to see who's checking it out... Sorry you missed that one Kablooey, you can always go for it next year.

Oh well, I hope Tovah has a pleasant winter. We'll try to set up a rescue mission in the spring. I've been looking for an excuse to rent a canoe.

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Sgt Stitches

+Sgt Stitches

Posted
Posted
Anyone going 'caching in the Santa Cruz mountains in the next few days?

My little Tovah the Triceratops TB is nestled in the lovely Got Trout? cache, and while that would certainly be a *pretty* place to spend the next 6 months, it would be even more awesome if she could hitch a ride out of the cache before the park closes for the season after September 15th. So if anyone feels like making a trip out to get her before then, t'would be awesome. (Don't let the terrain level scare you - it's currently fairly easy to reach by either foot or rented boat - and it's a *lovely* place to rent a boat.)

 

Wish I had read this just a little bit earlier... my brother was heading out to Loch Lomond today and could have picked it up .... Oh well.

 

It turns out FFFF did grab little Tovah... so he/she will not need to spend the winter in Loch Lomond. FFFF did however put 2 Jeep TBs in the cache... so they will be sitting for a while.

 

BTW.... The cache and all of its contents are NOT still in place.... the cache has been deactivated and PHYSICALLY removed from the park while the park is closed. I have arranged with the park rangers to have them hold on to it until the park opens again. The rangers wanted to remove any temptation for people to tresspass during the off-season... :blink:

 

FFFF talked to one of the rangers on the last day, and the ranger was very enthusiastic about geocaching.... he even offered to lead a hike next season to help FFFF and I place a few more around the park. Of course, we would need to remove them at the end of each season, but that shouldn't be a problem.

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Nurse Dave

+Nurse Dave

Posted
Posted

Hey, I want to thank everyone that placed caches we found in SF this last week. And even BuckyD even though we DNFed on 2 of her's :blink:

 

We were very impressed with the lack of micros and finding ammo boxes in even busy parks. Also of course we saw a lot of cool areas and views that we wouldn't have if we just followed the normal tourist path.

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beckerbuns

+beckerbuns

Posted
Posted
Hey, I want to thank everyone that placed caches we found in SF this last week. And even BuckyD even though we DNFed on 2 of her's :)

 

We were very impressed with the lack of micros and finding ammo boxes in even busy parks. Also of course we saw a lot of cool areas and views that we wouldn't have if we just followed the normal tourist path.

Yeah, what he said. We had a great time in SF the 11th-15th on our honeymoon. Now it's back to the old grind... But eek now I'm a married woman!!!

 

It was great to see everyone. I had such a good time and I just wish I'd been able to get around to talk to everyone but it was madness there, so many people we know!

 

I wanted to ask a favor... I would love to get hires pics from everyone who took some at the wedding... To compile an online album and maybe print some nice prints for our wedding scrapbook. You can contact me directly via email. Thanks!!!

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boulter

+boulter

Posted
Posted

popeye2 sent this to the siliconvalleygeocachers yahoo group if you didn't see it:

 

On a posting on Sept.5, I floated the idea of group hikes to search

for geocaches in some of Bay Area's larger parks. Unfortunately, I was

unsuccessful in getting such a hike approved as a geocaching event.

The approver's advice was to organize the hikes on an informal basis.

Well, here it is; your chance to meet other geocachers who are also

interested in finding caches that are not just 'grab and go' but

require some physical effort.

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004---9: 00 A.M. TO ??

SKYLINE RIDGE OPEN SPACE PRESERVE PARKING LOT

On Skyline Blvd., about one mile south of Page Mill Road.

 

N 37° 18.735 W 122° 10.616

 

BASS (Bay Area Sweat & Search) events are designed to help

geocachers go out as a group to search for caches in some of Bay

Area's larger Parks. The caches to be attempted are the ones that

require a fair amont of hiking.

 

In this first BASS hike, we will head out to the cache sites of

"Grizzly Stash (GCKAXV), rated 2/3.5 and " End of the Trail 2: Lambert

Creek (GCKBMF)" rated 1.5/2.5. Time permitting, we will also search

for other caches in the general area. After finishing the search, we

will rendezvous to a pub/coffee shop for liquid ef

reshments.(optional)

 

Searching for these caches may take four to six hours. All

participants must be reasonably fit and are advised to dress

appropriately and bring water and lunch. Please e-mail your reply to

desai2@sbcglobal.net if you are interested in joining us. Please

invite any other geocachers who may be interested in joining us.

 

Please meet at the time and place indicated above.

Popeye2

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The Rat

+The Rat

Posted
Posted
I've been having a lot of problems opening Pocket Queries lately. Either the GPX file has lots of glitches, or the ZIP file is corrupted and won't open. Is anyone else having this problem? If not, I guess it must be something related to my e-mail.

I was having trouble with my GPX files opening in EasyGPS but only showing a small percentage of the caches, and once in awhile bombing out altogether. I discovered the problem was the cache named "?Bridge The To Happened What" The initial ? was not parsing correctly, and the program treated it as an end of file or just crashed. Now I edit every gpx file to delete the ? (WordPad works for this) and they all open fine now. That one cache is a pain, though, and I wish I would either go find it or the owner would archive it so that it doesn't appear in the queries any more. That doesn't sound like your problem, but you might at least try editing the file with WordPad or other editor of choice (assuming you can save it as a GPX file in the first place). I haven't had any problem with the zip files, but then I don't zip mine. You might also try modifying a Pocket Query to transmit as a regular gpx, unzipped, and see if that makes a difference. Ifworse comes to worse you could try what I did: open the gpx file in a word processor or text editor and try deleting each individual waypoint one by one, saving and reopening, then restoring and trying the next one until you find the problem. If there is just one oddball cache or log that does something weird, this should eventually find it. Of course, that depends on how big your gpx file is. You might try running a small query first and working on that.

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