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Helloooooooo Bay Area


Nurse Dave

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For those of you that don’t know, I have recently moved from Oregon to the Bay Area. First of all I want to thank all of you who have placed caches I’ve found. It was a great way to learn the area. Gets you off the highways and into different areas. On the flip side I noticed caches here have a very different flavor to them. I come from the home of the geocaching version of home cookin’, having lived not too far away from the actual first cache. So I invite you to watch for some new caches in the area. I vow to never hide a micro cache in California. At least until I change my mind. I’m used to big metal boxes in the woods where McToys are frowned on and blackberry damage is a badge of honor. So that’s what you’ll get from me. Keep your eyes open and search your garages for nice big trade items! Here comes the series “Mine’s bigger than yours”.

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Welcome Dave,

 

It's good to see you settling in.

 

I'm also originally from Oregon, and quite frankly, feel the same way. My first few hides were micro's, just to see what the game was about without any big expense of time and money. Now that I have a few hides/finds under my belt, I try and put the biggest boxes I can reasonably carry to the cache site.

 

I look forward to finding some of your Big ‘uns in the wild. If you find your way down to the Monterey area, I can highly recommend the Ft. Ord BLM Land. Lots of room for some huge boxes if you’re willing to lug them out (much of the land is not open to cars).

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Well, perhaps I am biased, :D but I am pretty tired of micros. I will hunt for them but I prefer the big caches, and so do my kids. We like to trade stuff and read the log books! I used to use Watcher to filter out micros but I was missing a lot of interesting micro hides.

 

If I could have, I would have made all of my library series caches large-sized, but there just isn't anywhere to hide them at the libraries.

 

There are PLENTY of parks in San Jose without any caches at all in them... THAT's where the new BIG caches should go!!!

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I’m used to big metal boxes in the woods where McToys are frowned on and blackberry damage is a badge of honor. ...

 

Here comes the series “Mine’s bigger than yours”.

Welcome Dave,

 

Get those badages ready... 'cause around this part, our badge of honor is poison oak. Right Marky?? :D

 

We look forward to seeing what you can do but remember, size isn't everything [if it gets taken that is]. If you get sick of micro's, we do have several larger caches to the east in CVC (Central Velley Cachers) area.

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I’m used to big metal boxes in the woods where McToys are frowned on and blackberry damage is a badge of honor.  ...

 

Here comes the series “Mine’s bigger than yours”.

Welcome Dave,

 

Get those badages ready... 'cause around this part, our badge of honor is poison oak. Right Marky?? :D

Yeah, that's for sure. Well, on Tuesday I broke out in a full out systemic reaction all over my body. I had to go to the doctor and get some meds (first time I've ever needed them).

 

I would welcome some berry vines (although, poison oak very often hides in berry vines, so it's the worst of both worlds). :D

 

--Marky

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Sorry about that Marky. I didn't know the badge was that heavy. I feel for you as I've gotten it rather bad years ago. In case anyone's interested in minimizing or totally avoiding the badge... we've had poison oak forums before. Where I recall Marky saying he only get reactions on his ankles. Whops.

 

At least we have a new RN in town to show us the way. :D Maybe that first stash will have caladril or some other FTF prize. :D

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On the flip side I noticed caches here have a very different flavor to them. 

I am not sure if you also noticed that while the entire state of Oregon has one area code the Bay Area has five. Caching in a more densy populated area is going to be different. Yes, lots of micros because they are small not because there is a special fondness for them. I bet you will be placing a micro sooner than you think.

 

P.S. Earned my PO badge last month (Steroid shot and oral steroids) fun fun fun!

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On the flip side I noticed caches here have a very different flavor to them. 

I am not sure if you also noticed that while the entire state of Oregon has one area code the Bay Area has five. Caching in a more densy populated area is going to be different. Yes, lots of micros because they are small not because there is a special fondness for them. I bet you will be placing a micro sooner than you think.

 

P.S. Earned my PO badge last month (Steroid shot and oral steroids) fun fun fun!

Well, I do understand but to a point. I lived in Portland which is populated similar to San Jose. We, as a community, tended to places caches in interesting places which did not include parking lots of shopping malls and the like. And yes, if someone does think a cache needs to be placed in an area like that, they would need to place a micro. We tended to just end up driving father out of town once all the neat places in town were taken.

 

I have also seen caches in parks here that with a little more thought could have been regular caches instead of micros. But again, maybe here people prefer the hunt of a micro as opposed to trading items and finding an actual hidden cache of stuff. I'm just saying that since I'm used to the big box in the woods type of thing, that's what I'll be hiding. And there are a gazillion caches here so I'll be surprised if I find a place that's neat enough to deserve a cache that will only handle a micro.

 

FYI there are 2 area codes in Oregon. :ph34r:

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Sounds good to me. We look forward to seeing larger caches. In case San Jose does get filled up, you're always welcome to come over to the Central Valley Cachers area.

 

Speaking of Larger Caches, I found two caches yesterday over here that were surprisingly larger than one would have guessed the area would support. However, since proper time and effort went into them, I'm guessing they'll both do well. So I'll end with this challenge to everyone...

 

Anyone can hid a micro in ivy. Place the largest cache the area will support. If it's an ivy hid, it better be a darn large cache!

 

Welcome to the Bay Area Nurse Dave. We'll look forward to seeing you on either the SF Bay Area geocachers or the Central Valley Cachers forums.

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Okay, first one placed yesterday and just waiting approval.  :D

On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak. I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods. Ugh! :D

 

--Marky

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On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak. I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods. Ugh! 

 

Hehe... Why do you think the terrain rating is so high?? (Actually, there are other reasons too.)

 

At least you've been warned! :D

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On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak. I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods. Ugh! 

 

Hehe... Why do you think the terrain rating is so high?? (Actually, there are other reasons too.)

 

At least you've been warned! :D

Yes, definitely thanks for the warning. I may just have to ignore list this bad boy... either that, or do what I did on Equinox's papa cache that was hidden in poison oak. Make Joani find it without me. :D

 

--Marky

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Okay, first one placed yesterday and just waiting approval.  :D

On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak. I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods. Ugh! :D

 

--Marky

Well jeesh, not everyone can do all caches.

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Okay, first one placed yesterday and just waiting approval.  :D

On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak. I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods. Ugh! :D

Well jeesh, not everyone can do all caches.

I totally agree with you. There are some caches I won't attempt. I have no problem with people placing caches in areas that some don't care to visit. However, you won't win any brownie points with me if a cache is hidden in poison oak. :o Expect to get some complaints and fewer cache visits since nearly 90% of the population is allergic to it. One thing about poison oak hides, they tend to last a long time since they will be less likely to be muggled. ;) I did notice that Semi-Hex didn't complain about the poison oak, so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds. I also see that is in the location I had guessed it was. (I saw the original coords, and determined that they were off, and went about trying to figure the actual location by the description. So, maybe I can claim first to have the actual coords. :P )

 

--Marky

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On your next hide, can you please make sure that there is a way to the cache that doesn't involve poison oak.  I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go back to the doctor for more steriods.  Ugh!  :rolleyes:

Well jeesh, not everyone can do all caches.

Bah, as I still haven't fully recovered from the last poison oak encounter on 2/16/04, this isn't the kind of badge of honor I'm looking for more of. I guess I'll be content with Dr.Hug's 35mm film canisters.

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BTW it wasn't placed near PO on purpose.  It was just a neat hike, a cool view and a good place for a big cache.  Not trying to tick anyone off.

Is there any way to remove some of it so there is a way to get to the cache without touching the stuff? I've seen some cachers do this.

 

--Marky

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I have also seen caches in parks here that with a little more thought could have been regular caches instead of micros.

 

actually, many smaller urban parks in the valley get so much use that large caches get muggled too often to make them worthwhile, especially since there is tons of open space not far out of town for the big ones.

 

Is there any way to remove some of it so there is a way to get to the cache without touching the stuff? I've seen some cachers do this.

 

I had to go back and do this to "LeChuck's Hermits Treasure" (Captain ordered me to) because I didn't want to move the hide. No PO within 25 feet of the cache now, mostly, but now that it has the PO reputation nobody will visit it. Either that, or it's the warnings the Capt'n left. Pity too, there's a TB just sittin' in there, all forlorn...

 

I had my bad case in november. I have a few extra spots of it now that are slowly fading. At least this is not a broken bone / pulled groin / shin splint / ear infection type of pasttime.

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Welcome to the area!

 

RE: The Poison Oak--I've started using Ivy Block (available at Long's Drug Stores for $11) since I got tired of taking prednisone every other month. You put it on before you go out, and so far it's been working for me. You just can't cache around here without getting into it...

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BTW it wasn't placed near PO on purpose. It was just a neat hike, a cool view and a good place for a big cache. Not trying to tick anyone off.

I used to live in the Bay Area Dave. Watch out, all city dwellers down there. Our standard Oregon offset cache placed by tossing an ammo box deep into a Poison Oak Bush probably won't fly down there.

 

It's just getting to be nicer weather up here and we're preparing for the upcoming caching season by wearing speedos and running through blackberries. :D

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