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There's also this cache nearby in Monte Bello which seems to fit the theme of San Andreas Fault geographical anomaly. I believe the owner of that cache may be working on an EarthCache!

I though that Succession would be a good choice to convert to an Earthcache, although the current version would probably just be moved someplace with a lot of ivy like its twin, yuck. And you're right, I think the owner wants an Earthcache as part of his right-side icon collection. :)

 

If you are ever near West Oakland (disclaimer: tough neighborhood)

Yeah, not my favorite area!

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I though that Succession would be a good choice to convert to an Earthcache, although the current version would probably just be moved someplace with a lot of ivy like its twin, yuck. And you're right, I think the owner wants an Earthcache as part of his right-side icon collection. :)

What is an Earthcache anyway? I'm a little hazy on the idea.

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http://www.earthcache.org/. The site has guidelines, submission forms, etc.

 

"An Earthcache is an educational virtual geocache or physical site that people can visit to view a unique geoscience feature on-the-ground. Visitors to Earthcache sites can experience science in action – its landscape, its formation, its geology or the fossils that have an ancient story to tell."

 

I was hoping to get a good recommendation from the USGS folks at Menlo Park but I got no reply to my email. :)

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There's also this cache nearby in Monte Bello which seems to fit the theme of San Andreas Fault geographical anomaly. I believe the owner of that cache may be working on an EarthCache!

I though that Succession would be a good choice to convert to an Earthcache, although the current version would probably just be moved someplace with a lot of ivy like its twin, yuck. And you're right, I think the owner wants an Earthcache as part of his right-side icon collection. <_<

 

If you are ever near West Oakland (disclaimer: tough neighborhood)

Yeah, not my favorite area!

Los Trancos has features that make it ideal for an earthcache. I'll be up there in the morning taking some pictures for the cache page.

 

Hope someone else is working on one of these too...

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There's also this cache nearby in Monte Bello which seems to fit the theme of San Andreas Fault geographical anomaly. I believe the owner of that cache may be working on an EarthCache!

I though that Succession would be a good choice to convert to an Earthcache, although the current version would probably just be moved someplace with a lot of ivy like its twin, yuck. And you're right, I think the owner wants an Earthcache as part of his right-side icon collection. <_<

 

If you are ever near West Oakland (disclaimer: tough neighborhood)

Yeah, not my favorite area!

Los Trancos has features that make it ideal for an earthcache. I'll be up there in the morning taking some pictures for the cache page.

 

Hope someone else is working on one of these too...

...submitted.

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Ok, so Nazgul mentioned something in passing today that just keeps rolling around my cache-addicted brain. Anyone else think it would be fun to take a 3-day road trip up north this spring, and hit a bunch of fun caches... culminating in the Project Ape cache?

Certified lunatic cachers only I'm sure... but that includes most of us. Maybe caravan in a few cars? We could visit the Original Stash placque on the way as well (been there, it's a fun find)...

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Los Trancos has features that make it ideal for an earthcache. I'll be up there in the morning taking some pictures for the cache page.

 

Hope someone else is working on one of these too...

I'll have to keep my eyes open from now on for EarthCache-able locations. Mount Lassen seems a good candidate for one, much safer than Mount St. Helens. There are some interesting geography in the Eastern Sierras between Mono Lake and Mammoth Lakes.

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Anyone else think it would be fun to take a 3-day road trip up north this spring, and hit a bunch of fun caches... culminating in the Project Ape cache?

We could visit the Original Stash placque on the way as well (been there, it's a fun find)...

It would be nice to be at the Original Stash on 3 May, the 5th anniversary of Geocaching. (It's a Monday, which complicates matters a bit...)

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Anyone else think it would be fun to take a 3-day road trip up north this spring, and hit a bunch of fun caches... culminating in the Project Ape cache?

We could visit the Original Stash placque on the way as well (been there, it's a fun find)...

It would be nice to be at the Original Stash on 3 May, the 5th anniversary of Geocaching. (It's a Monday, which complicates matters a bit...)

That would be cool... wonder how hard it would be for everyone to get a Monday off.

I was thinking along the lines of

day1: drive to Portland (cache a bit on the way),

day2: drive to Ape cache, and back to Portland,

day3: Original Stash and home.

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It would be nice to be at the Original Stash on 3 May, the 5th anniversary of Geocaching. (It's a Monday, which complicates matters a bit...)

That would be great, although for me personally it would be tricky to get spousal blessing for two 3-day weekends away that are only a couple of weeks apart, the other being for the GBES rally on May 20-21.

 

Hmmm..... My calendars show May 3rd as a Tuesday.

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I'm up for a road trip and Monday's off are easy for me. If I have my new truck(my current one won't make it without long stops to refill the radiator and my wife won't let me take the durango) I'll volunteer to drive a group up there as well, could even drag the pop-up along, it sleeps 6. :o I guess this means there won't be an APE cache near here anytime soon ;)

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Well, there you go ... make the trip Sat-Mon May 1-3 and you're set! It would be fun just to hang out for an hour or two Mecca to see how many people (from how many states...) showed up.

 

Sounds like a great time! I've cached just a little bit up in Seattle, and would love to do more of it up in the northwest. VERY different than down here!

 

A caravan could be a lot of fun - take along some inexpensive FRS radios to communicate from car to car and you're set!

 

Everyone would have to have the same basic concepts about style (are you going for quality or quantity), and budget (are you camping or staying in motels, or ??). But it could be quite a time!

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It would be nice to be at the Original Stash on 3 May, the 5th anniversary of Geocaching.  (It's a Monday, which complicates matters a bit...)

That would be great, although for me personally it would be tricky to get spousal blessing for two 3-day weekends away that are only a couple of weeks apart, the other being for the GBES rally on May 20-21.

 

Hmmm..... My calendars show May 3rd as a Tuesday.

My calendar says Tuesday also...

Gonna cost some hubbie-points to go to both events. I better start remodelling the kitchen.

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I'm up for camping and if I bring the trailer I have room for at least 2 other people(or two couples) assuming people want a bed each. I've got a large tent that sleeps 4 people comfortably as well if people need camping gear. FRS radios are a good idea, we bring along three of them when we are out camping to keep track of the kids.

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So as I was searching for ND's new Oregon Cache up on Skyline(with adrenaline pumping knowing there was a shiny new WA geocoin in there) my gps zero'd over 1000 feet away, if not more?? It took about an hour and mutliple power cycles for the thing to settle down. Then today at Ardenwood it was telling me a cache that was 30 feet away was nearly 500 feet away... anybody had any experiences like that before? Was there a major solar flare in the last two days?? Can I use this when explaining to the big boss why I need a 60cs? Are they really any better in these circumstances? :o

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Up around Skyline signals can get pretty scarce in a lot of places (I know firsthand!!) and if you're down to say 2 or 3 satellites all of a sudden your zero may get wacky, or it may just stick in the last spot it had some sort of reading. Twice while I was caching in Vegas the zero on my 60c jumped half a mile! :o

 

If you want to check for solar flares and the like, bookmark http://www.sec.noaa.gov/today.html

 

Congrats on the FTF!

Edited by Team Nazgul
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anybody had any experiences like that before? Was there a major solar flare in the last two days?? Can I use this when explaining to the big boss why I need a 60cs? Are they really any better in these circumstances? :o

Joani and I were out caching yesterday and both our GPS's (a geko 301 and a Sportrak Color) were pointing a few hundred feet forward and then at the same moment they both swung to point 150 behind us (where the cache actually was). Today, both fizzy and I had some weird GPS behavior where the distance was going down, but the GPS arrow was pointing behind us.

 

--Marky

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Any Geocachers In Martinez, Concord Area? im new and am trying to see if any of u get together once in a while or go on hikes.

We periodically get together and go hiking for caches. One way to find people who want to go hike is to attend some of the area event caches. Another way is to come up with a plan and post your intent here and see who might be interested in going.

 

--Marky

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If anyone is interested, i would like to get together with a few people one of these weekends and go geocaching, ive only been geocaching for a few months now and dont know the best places in my are (martinez, concord and surrounding towns/cities) im not able to go to far due to car issues when i go to far but i can make it to most places within that area.

 

As for the meetings u all have once in a while, i would like to go to one but will have to wait till one is closer to me.

Edited by Scifi Man
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Ok, so Nazgul mentioned something in passing today that just keeps rolling around my cache-addicted brain. Anyone else think it would be fun to take a 3-day road trip up north this spring, and hit a bunch of fun caches... culminating in the Project Ape cache?

Certified lunatic cachers only I'm sure... but that includes most of us. Maybe caravan in a few cars? We could visit the Original Stash placque on the way as well (been there, it's a fun find)...

For railfans, there's always the Amtrak Coast Starlight which departs San Jose at approximately 9:00pm and arrives in Portland the next afternoon, but usually hours later because Amtrak trains are infamous for running very late. And unfortunately, caching-by-rail is inefficient, because you'd miss all the caches in between.

 

My avatar image is a photo of the Lewis & Clark Explorer Train I rode last Memorial Day weekend. Oregon DOT is planning to run it again this summer, between Astoria and Portland as part of the Oregon's 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, in case anyone is interested.

 

A group caching trip to the Northwest sounds like a lot of fun. If I go up there, I'd like to spend more time, probably around a week or so. In addition to the APE cache and the Original Stash, I'd also want to visit Mount St. Helens and Deception Pass caches, and "got coin?"

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I had exactly the same experience at Skyline yestereday with the Oregon cache and SHhhhhhh .... . The needle was varying by over 0.1 miles! It eventually settled down but after a power cycle it was off by another 80 feet. It just wasn't my day and Nurse Dave's new caches were left for another day.

 

It's encouraging to hear that others were having the same problem. /Lefty

 

P.S For reference, my problems occurred at about 3:00 PM.

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Hey Everyone:

Just a quick note to let you know three more caches have been confiscated along "shorelines" in the East Bay. Tepco USA (GCF014), Back atcha Looney Tunes (GC18AB), and Ye Olde Fishing Holes (GCE61C). The first two were on what I think is EBRPD land but the last one was not.

 

Does anyone know of any caches that weren't along shorelines that were confiscated? Seems like the district is treating all shoreline parks as sensitive areas. Future hiders probably should best avoid these areas.

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The hayward shoreline parks also confiscated some caches awhile ago.

 

It is possible to hide caches in these sorts of areas without impacting them. You have to make them a multi with virtual stages that lead to a final stage outside the park. I re-hid Licau as Licau II using that approach. A side benefit is that the physical cache is easier for me to maintain.

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The hayward shoreline parks also confiscated some caches awhile ago.

 

It is possible to hide caches in these sorts of areas without impacting them. You have to make them a multi with virtual stages that lead to a final stage outside the park. I re-hid Licau as Licau II using that approach. A side benefit is that the physical cache is easier for me to maintain.

Or you could skip it and just hide another down here in Quicksilver... 50 caches and growing. Any bets on when we get to 100?

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Or you could skip it and just hide another down here in Quicksilver... 50 caches and growing. Any bets on when we get to 100?

Well, I don't know that it's in anyone's best interest to push it that much. The County Park folks aren't exactly pro-caching. For my little part I'm trying to make sure that they know as much as possible about positive aspects of caching (such as by making them aware of your excellent CITO at the Workshop), and working with my local park community group (Friends of Santa Teresa) to make sure that they see caching and cachers as a positive thing.

 

I think we all should "get involved" in order to make sure those in positions to do screwy things are acting from a position of knowledge about caching.

 

But boy, if we turn Quicksilver into a miniature golf course there will be a backlash for sure. :-)

 

(I placed a cache in Calero today - it seems a bit under-utilized. Let's spread the wealth a bit.)

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Hey Everyone:

Just a quick note to let you know three more caches have been confiscated along "shorelines" in the East Bay. Tepco USA (GCF014), Back atcha Looney Tunes (GC18AB), and Ye Olde Fishing Holes (GCE61C). The first two were on what I think is EBRPD land but the last one was not.

 

Does anyone know of any caches that weren't along shorelines that were confiscated? Seems like the district is treating all shoreline parks as sensitive areas. Future hiders probably should best avoid these areas.

The Tepco and Back atcha Looney Toons caches sure didn't seem to be in sensitive areas. Tepco was right next to the trail in all that broken china and the other has dogs running all over the park.

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How odd, we went for a few hours today and the GPS was all over the place, some over 150 ft off! Had to use hints and geotrails to get several.

Today at about 2:45 PM I was at WG Portal (which I DNF'd) and the GPSr went from 30 ft to 0.18 miles(!) and back again in a few seconds. Then for about 30 seconds it swung from 20-150 ft and the arrow swung all over the place. All this while I was standing still.

Had 3 finds and about 10 DNF today.

Edited by Wacka
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How odd, we went for a few hours today and the GPS was all over the place, some over 150 ft off! Had to use hints and geotrails to get several.

Today at about 2:45 PM I was at WG Portal (which I DNF'd) and the GPSr went from 30 ft to 0.18 miles(!) and back again in a few seconds. Then for about 30 seconds it swung from 20-150 ft and the arrow swung all over the place. All this while I was standing still.

Had 3 finds and about 10 DNF today.

You know, now that I think about it, I was out caching with my daughter and one of her friends about that time in Quicksilver today. They were complaining that the compass was pointing all over the place and that the distance kept changing. I told them they just weren't holding it right... :D

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And speaking of Quicksilver, I just saw this on the SCC Parks website:

 

"The following areas are closed (this information will be updated as conditions change):

* Almaden Quicksilver- All trails are closed due to poor conditions. Virl Norton Trail is closed until spring 2005. The New Almaden Trail at Senador Mine and Mine Hill Trails is closed until April 23, 2005."

 

:D

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And speaking of Quicksilver, I just saw this on the SCC Parks website:

 

"The following areas are closed (this information will be updated as conditions change):

    * Almaden Quicksilver- All trails are closed due to poor conditions. Virl Norton Trail is closed until spring 2005. The New Almaden Trail at Senador Mine and Mine Hill Trails is closed until April 23, 2005."

 

:D

My brother and I were caching in Almaden Quicksilver today, and we noticed some rain caused erosion on our approach to the Power House on the April Trail, similar to what's happening on the Limekiln Trail in Lexington County Park.

 

We saw many hikers and bikers and a few equestrians on the trails, and most of the trails seem to be in good shape. Bthomas must have been charging through Wood Rd. and Hidalgo while we were on the other side of Mine Hill.

 

My eTrex hasn't wigged out like what has happened to some of your GPSr, but maybe I should pay more attention to it. :D

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That area by the powder house on the April trail was getting a major overhaul last time I was there about 8 months ago. It looked like hell and I think they were using bulldozers to push the mud around. Hopefully if you went to the cache by the old powder house you made it down to the bend in the April trail where the wood mining building with the raised track trestles is! I think it's one of the cooler mining remnants left in the park.

 

I didn't notice any unusual swings with my GPSr in the last couple of days but I'll go look at the track logs and see if I missed something. It's definitely possible, because I wasn't watching too closely (6 hours of hiking with just 4 caches.)

 

And since I happened to notice, congrats to atc for hitting 1,000 finds! And of course that means that budd-rdc isn't far behind...

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And speaking of Quicksilver, I just saw this on the SCC Parks website:

 

"The following areas are closed (this information will be updated as conditions change):

* Almaden Quicksilver- All trails are closed due to poor conditions. Virl Norton Trail is closed until spring 2005. The New Almaden Trail at Senador Mine and Mine Hill Trails is closed until April 23, 2005."

 

:D

Quite often, these trail closures refer to equestrian trail use. I don't know if that is the case here.

 

--Marky

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Got word that my Earthcache was approved and is being sent on to GC.com. They say that takes a while though...

 

Have 2 more in the works. These are kind of fun to create... (though you get no icon for doing it, bummer...)

I'm not so sure about that. I have looked at some of the earth caches and it looked like the hiders have a earthcache hide icon.

 

--Marky

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WoW and I have had our sights on some of the new trails for some time now.  Apparently, we are just too lazy to get out there. 

FYI from http://www.parkhere.org/channel/0,4770,chi...3D12761,00.html

 

"NOTE: As of 11/ 15/ 04 the Canada Del Oro section of Calero Park will be closed until Spring 2005. This includes Chisnantuck Peak trail, Bald Peaks Trail, Serpentine Loop Trail, and Canada Del Oro Trail. This scheduled closure is part of a negative declaration document agreement supporting the recent trail work and revegetation at Canada Del Oro."

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