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Poison Oak Cachers


Ca Racetramp

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Oh, and Naturesprite, are you sure you're not going to a conference "for 'tuna"?

For Tuna...I get it. :) Actually, we are all freshwater people. It's the Salmonid Restoration Federation conference. I do steelhead trout habitat restoration in SLO County. We do have steelhead here.

 

I'm bummed to miss the upcoming event, but with spring and summer coming up I'm sure there will be more.

 

I've been hearing good things about your cammo caches. I hope to give them a try soon.

 

NS

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Will there be 100 ppl there???  The stingy side of me (mwenechanga) says that 20-30 ppl spot would be cheaper for everyone and prolly all we need (my 2 cents)

It won't be as high as 100 but definetely over 30 if the last outing was any measure. So you need to figure on at least 40. If you go to the POC website and count the heads in the group picture you will find over 30.

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Thank you, local cachers, for attending today's picnic in Waller Park. It was nice to put the faces and names to the GC screennames, swap tales and watch the kids run.

 

Please note that the multi placed for the day is still pending approval. Watch for it if you completed the tour of Waller's Nether Region. :D

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Thank you, local cachers, for attending today's picnic in Waller Park. It was nice to put the faces and names to the GC screennames, swap tales and watch the kids run.

 

Please note that the multi placed for the day is still pending approval. Watch for it if you completed the tour of Waller's Nether Region. :lol:

HEYA! The multi has been approved so now you can log your finds! :P

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I'm sorry to have missed the event.

 

So, did BooBooBee actually win the divining rods I donated fair and square? B)

I told her I was going to ask around. I think she secretly imparted her juju on them before the event making her sure to win them. Next event I will pull the name myself <_<

 

See ya'll at the next event.

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I've posted some pictures on the cache page for April Fool's Day Late Dollar Short picnic event cache. Thought perhaps some of you might have some to share. (???)

 

I'm sure CA Racetramp wouldn't mind a few for the POC website either.

BooBooBee,

I will get to posting some pics first chance I get. There has been some illness in our family and my time is kinda taken right now. I hope everyone had a good time at the Picnic. I know nkansastoto and I did. ;)

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Hey All you POCs out there! It's MIGHTY quiet in here!

 

Just thought I'd let you all know I'm headed north, WAY north in a few weeks. If you have any TBs that would like to make a serious jump, let me know and we'll arrange some sort of exchange. (Of course, I'll be looking for them locally, too, but I thought I'd offer the lift if anyone was interested.)

 

Here's the event I've set up for one of our longer-term destinations during this trip: Pizza, Brews and Bugs Event Cache; Seaview, WA

 

RoscoBookbinder...might we see you there?

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Yeah, RaceTramp, that's a good idea for traveling the world. :laughing:

 

BBB, I've got a TB we started in February, but it's first move was to the High Lowe on top of the Cuesta Grade. Maybe I'll retrieve it myself tween now and when you leave if it hasn't been brought down before then. :laughing: What's your ETD?

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Yeah, RaceTramp, that's a good idea for traveling the world. :rolleyes:

 

BBB, I've got a TB we started in February, but it's first move was to the High Lowe on top of the Cuesta Grade. Maybe I'll retrieve it myself tween now and when you leave if it hasn't been brought down before then. :laughing: What's your ETD?

HEY! That's a cache that's high on my list. (Sorry...couldn't let that one go.)

 

Really, I do hope to get a bike ride in between now and May 21 when the girls and I will be leaving Reluctant Observer to his own devices. :laughing:

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Just to let all who subscribe here know:

I'm throwing together a little pizza night gathering at Klondike's (Santa Maria) next week (Tuesday). I've listed the event online but await its approval. My intent is to gather as many TBs as possible for our (partial) family trip north in a couple of weeks. The girls and I are driving to northern Washington. If you've got a bug that wants to make a huge leap north, bring it by! If not, just come for some good eats and good company.

 

Get there by 5 p.m. for quick seating or chance relatively long waits.

 

Watch for the new log post in the Santa Maria area caches as soon as the web admin approves it. :ph34r:

 

BooBooBee & Girls

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I guess we'll be heading out to High Lowe on Saturday to retrieve my Templeton the Giraffe to send him w/ BBB on Tuesday.

 

My little Digger can now ride a two-wheeler :lol: so we'll be taking the bicycles. Eight miles round trip seems do-able. Pretty much a slight incline out (road our horses along this ridgetop 20 years ago), so all the way back is DOWNHILL! :D

 

Meet at the gate on top of the Grade at 9:00 a.m. Saturday if you'd like to join us. We'd love the company. :ph34r:

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Okay, call me "chicken," but after reading BBB's post of her trip to High Lowe, I'm not heading out there this morning (Saturday). I doubt I'd get one mile from the gate with the 5 y/o's newly acquired riding skills, HA! Okay, so I was a little optomistic.

 

Maybe on one of my "Kid-Free, Work-Free" days I'll head up there.

 

BBB - Did you really need knobbies?

 

OP

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Okay, call me "chicken," but after reading BBB's post of her trip to High Lowe, I'm not heading out there this morning (Saturday). I doubt I'd get one mile from the gate with the 5 y/o's newly acquired riding skills, HA! Okay, so I was a little optomistic.

 

Maybe on one of my "Kid-Free, Work-Free" days I'll head up there.

 

BBB - Did you really need knobbies?

 

OP

Nah, knobbies aren't required, but I'm sure it was more comfortable than my other wheels - street slicks. And for the ride down I'm certain I had more traction with the knobbies and the trail wheels held up a LOT better on my high speed decent (note downhill travel time...it includes one pit stop) than my road wheels would have.

 

As for the little one making it...well, I don't KNOW your little one, but I'd have to say this is a bit much for a tyke. The first mile or so is fairly steep and certainly not one I would have conquered before the age of 10 (ok, maybe 9). It's just so long and unrelenting. There isn't a "flat" spot 'til about 2 miles into it. Not only that, but you need to be QUITE well acquainted with the brake levers before planning to head DOWN this pup. As a mother, THAT woudl have been the scary part in taking my kids along. No way they would have been able to stop themselves (they're not really cyclists yet, though).

 

HOWEVER, your child MAY be able to walk it...maybe...how old? My kids don't walk 8 miles in a day yet (not on a trail anyhow...running up and down the hall and in circles in the yard I think they do about 20 miles some days!).

 

Sorry to hear, however, that my report put you off the otherwise great ride/walk. It's well worth a walk/ride even if you don't make it clear out to the cache site.

 

So...where did you go INSTEAD? :D

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Actually, blaming your ride, BBB, was just funner than the truth :D (our spare truck needs a new fuel pump). Talk about scary, Hubby didn't even want to think of my climbing the Grade in that thing.

 

Ry's a tough kid, but no, you're right he would not have made it. He DID climb 1200 feet/1.3 miles up in 1:20 minutes to SLO Higher last weekend though. :D If I could figure out how, I'd post the profile of the hike. Impressive.

 

Instead we cleaned house all morning and headed out at 1pm to Arroyo Grande. I'm a paperless cacher and boy, was I bummed to find at the first cache that my Palm had frozen up. Zip. Nadda was coming from it. No descriptions, size we were looking for, previous posts, nothing. After six caches and one find I realized how dependant I've become on those Hints to get me there when all else fails. I felt better upon reading the pages at home that previous cachers were unable to come up with three of them.

 

It was a great day anyway because we got to visit a lot of neat places. I especially want to go back to NOT! Price Park Entrance. Gotta love the history there!

 

OP

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I'm a paperless cacher and boy, was I bummed to find at the first cache that my Palm had frozen up. Zip. Nadda was coming from it. No descriptions, size we were looking for, previous posts, nothing.

I've run into that problem as well OP. I use CacheMate for my Geocaching needs. I found out that when I update my database file CacheMate doesn't always sense a change to the database (whenit is on a memoery card) and the result is as you described. There is an option to re-read memory and that has always fixed the problem for me.

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As it turns out I think my battery was dead. When I give myself a "reminder" on my calendar, the reminder sometimes sucks up all the remaining power if I'm low already. That's what happened on Saturday. Only thing on my palm's screen was a reminder. Even the "off" button wouldn't work!

 

My Palm M130 is 2-1/2 years old and just last week I ordered a new battery online. Should be here this week sometime. $25.00 for a new lease on life sure beats the cost of a new Palm. The M130 still does everything I want it to do.

 

I too use CacheMate in conjunction with GSAK. I love the combo. I don't think I utilize them to their full potential yet so I'm looking forward to the Event on Tuesday evening to learn more. BTW, CacheMate has always recognized new "info" on my SD card.

 

OP

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Just wanted to let all Poison Oak Cachers who are listening (hint hint) that I've replaced the "I" cache (now called "I"t's Not a Bomb to commemorate the rangers' and sheriffs' disposal of the last cache at this location) and FINALLY placed "H"igh Mountain Hide. Both are accessible via 2 wheel drive car. (We saw at least 50 cars of all makes and models headed our way yesterday on their way from Pozo where people were evidently thrilled witht the Willie Nelson concert there).

 

THis ALSO means you can (probably...if ANOTHER gate's not closed) drive to the"N"ot Mine cache...or at least get within much easier walking distance than doing the entire "K", "M", "N" hike.

 

See you all Tuesday at Klondike's! 5 p.m. Be there or be square!

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Bump! Had to get our group on top again.

 

I wanted to share with our local group that I did an excellent night cache the other night put out by Geo_Cats. It is called Night Owl and it's in the Montana de Oro area. I'm giving it a geo-thumbs up and recommend it to the adventurous.

 

Last week I went caching in the Sonora - Groveland area. There were some cool ones out there.

 

Have a great holiday weekend!

 

NS

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:lol:

Thanks for the thumbs up. Glad you enjoyed it. I wanted to do a night cache in our area for a long time but couldn't think of a good location. Kathy, my barber and friend suggested MdO and she was right, an excellent spot. Montona de Oro is one of our favorite spots on the central coast. If geocachers plan their day right they could visit MdO during the day for the daylight caches, have a picnic and then at late dusk go to Night Owl.

 

I can't think of a better way to enjoy a jewel of a park and have great fun geocaching.

;)

Edited by Geo_cats
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FYI - some of us are hoping to hit up C'ISHUMU soon. Anyone interested? This is a family friendly, early morning hike with return to Santa Maria area by 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 30.

YES! I've been interested in this one since I first heard of it. Count me in. I'll have to drive down to SM to meet whoever is going. (Maybe meet for breakfast somewhere.)

I'll see if any others from North County are interested.

Keep me updated on who, when, where etc.

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I'll be there!

 

Since we talked last week BBB, I've been reading earlier postings and found info regarding the amount of time it might take us.

 

Someone wrote "three hours in, one hour out." Don't know if this is realistic or not, but it's a place to start. You said the parking site is an hour from Santa Maria. It usually gets hottest around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon so we should be able to beat the heat this way too. From these numbers we should be able to accomplish the hike by:

 

Meet in Santa Maria at 7:30 a.m.

Park at Camino Cielo parking site (with Wilderness Passes) by 8:30 a.m.

Hike in & arrive at cachesite by 11:30 a.m.

Start hike out by 12:00 p.m.

Arrive at parking by 1:00 p.m.

Arrive in SMA by 2:00 p.m.

 

Of course, this is just using the numbers I read from the earlier finder. If anyone has other times let us know.

 

OP

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Those times look great. I think I live furthest south, so how 'bout we meet at the Park n' Ride just east of Hwy 101 at the Clark Ave. exit?

 

7:30 a.m. sounds great to me. That's a 7:30 a.m. DEPARTURE time, right?! :)

 

FYI- It takes an hour to get to Santa Barbara from my house. I've never driven to Camino Cielo (east OR west).

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Yeah, good point. We should meet at Clark anytime AFTER 7:00 a.m. and DEPART Clark at 7:30. Google Earth had the travel time at 1 hr 6 min to the waypoint on Camino Cielo.

 

North SLO County participants - that means we have to leave K-Mart parking lot in Atascadero at 6:30 a.m. 55 miles - 45 minutes (ish)

 

NatureSprite - do you want to meet us in SLO somewhere at 6:45 ish?

 

Ptsaljim - where are you and your bro'n'law coming from?

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Right on! Regarding poison oak, I think BooBooBee is right on about using Tecnu BEFORE hiking close/through the trecherous plant. After seeing her earlier post about using it before hiking, I've used it the last 2 times that I did poison oak hikes and didn't get a "badge".

Also, I just HAD to become a member of the POC after I saw the compass rose logo that is next to our 3 leafed plant. Last year at VAFB, I built what I'm calling a mini "Stonehenge". Part of a new mini-park/pavillion featured (2) 30' diameter circles made out of nice red colored concrete that had the following etchings in the concrete: (2) concentric circles with a cross and 45* spokes in the outer ring. No other markings, but detailed layout angles given on the plans working off of existing buildings. I was the only person to figure out that this pattern was aligned exactly N/S - a compass rose without any markings! I guess the architect just wants it to be "discovered" gradually. Now that I am a geocacher, I went and checked it out with my GPSr the other day and sure enough, when I walk the cross, the GPSr reads dead on N/S! And then a nice trail leads from the furthest circle into a small forest that has all kinds of pretty poison oak! So, I was destined to be a POC. :P

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Yeah, Geo_Cats, sounds like as good a place as any. We may pick up Naturesprite in SLO too, but he hasn't checked in yet regarding where.

 

I've got some emails out to more locals who may have an interest in coming with us.

 

On another note, I finally bought myself some hiking boots last weekend. I'll be heading up Pine Mt a few times in the next two weeks after work to break them in. PM me if anyone's interested in joining in the fun. I'll be leaving at 7:15 - 7:30 at the trailhead under the bridge, (on which evenings I don't know yet).

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After posing my question about access to Hollister, I found this web page that did quite an extensive article about biking/hiking on private land.

 

www.newtimes-slo.com/archives/cov_stories_2000/cov_05252000.html

 

Why IS everything named HOLLISTER off-limits? (The Hollister Ranch south of Pt. Conception encompasses about 10 miles of prime surfing beaches and it is off-limits unless you boat in.) :anicute:

 

So, what I guess I am wondering now, is if someone has a connection to get us a legal invite. I noticed that BooBooBee has done some serious research about figuring out how to legally get to Pt. Sal. Have you ever tried contacting the landowners to obtain permission? :lol:

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If there is a spare seat in the northcountymobile I'd appreciate a ride from SLO. How about I meet you (OP) about 6:45 in SLO at the Denny's on Calle Joaquin. It is right off the Los Osos Valley Rd. exit and a quick off and on from the freeway. I'll be with a white ranger with a shell. Of course, I'll look like a cacher too, so it will be hard to miss me. Let me know if you don't know where this is and I'll send more details. I can be emailed at brian@naturesprite.com.

 

I know the owner of Hollister Peak. He is a nice guy. Not even he accesses the top of the peak. He does this out of reverence since past access was thrashing the place. I think it is fine to have one of the mountains that we can't go to. It preserves the mystery of the mountain. :) I read somewhere that the forbidden fruit shouldn't be eaten B) lest there be an eternity of sin to deal with.

 

NS

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Why IS everything named HOLLISTER off-limits?

Just for the record...there's also Holllister State Vehicular Recreation area (aka Hollister SVRA - for those acronymn-enabled among us). :) It's open to every form of motor vehicle you can imagine. Home of the "tank trap" a DEEP mud hole in which only the truly foolish (and deep-pocketed) play. Imagine losing your street car in a hole three times its depth...all full of SOFT mud (more like VERY dirty water than MUUUUUD)

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From the article PointSalJim shared:

"Alex Madonna, who owns Cerro San Luis Obispo, said the attitude of entitlement to access is a hallmark of the younger generation, which he said has had it easy compared to previous generations.

 

"'They've never had to earn a dollar and don't appreciate the importance of property rights,' Madonna said."

 

FYI - I spoke on a number of times with Mr. Madonna. While he spoke publicly of privacy rights, one-on-one he was interested in keeping things simple. It was the lawyers and the lawsuit-happy among our society he was fending off. (After having spoken to him on several occasions for various reason, I asked one day for permission to cross his land to get to Bishop Peak. This was before the city "acquired" the same access path. Mr. Madonna said, "You're not ASKING me, are you? 'Cause if you ASK me, I have to say no. If anyone gets hurt and I've given them permission, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. But if you're not ASKING me, I really don't care.")

 

Sure, he could be an ornery cuss when he wanted to be (surely his family would agree...and hopefully wouldn't be offended by such a comment...my grandpa, and great grandpa and...hell, even I fall under same description...and damned proud of it), but Mr. Madonna really was a nice guy who did well for himself and his family through guts, sweat, blood and determination.

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And to further comment on the same article:

"Nipomo resident Sehon Powers confronted two teen-aged trespassers on his 20-acre property one year ago. "

 

That's my uncle...he's a tall, imposing guy with a soft heart really. He doesn't have patience for disrespectful people of any age. He only flamed at the kids AFTER they were incredibly disrespectful to him while trespassing on his property. Then they returned and LAY IN WAIT for his return...then they literally bashed in his skull. He CRAWLED to the house to call for help. It's amazing he made it ANYWHERE with his injuries...

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:)  I read somewhere that the forbidden fruit shouldn't be eaten  B)  lest there be an eternity of sin to deal with.

 

NS

But the real question IS..... would any of US be here free to CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES without Eve choosing to do what she did?.....After all, the tree was called the Tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. Isn't knowledge all we're after when we're out geocaching, (knowledge of WHERE'S THAT CACHE!),...... besides having a good time, getting in shape, and visually FEASTING our eyes?

 

As to respect, I'm a firm believer in treating others as you wish to be treated. I've found that many things can be negotiated/learned just by being willing to acknowledge whose in charge....Everyone knows the saying, "You'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"......Some people call it "kissing up", but IT WORKS!

 

On to ASKING PERMISSION.... There's also a saying that "It is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission! (I see that on a lot of people's desks out at the Base and it does sometimes seem to be the modus operandi)

I had different experiences with Alex Madonna. I had a Seven Sisters Booklet that the Boy Scouts of America were using and it said to ask Alex for permission before taking a group of boys hiking on Cerro San Luis and Bishop's Peak. Both times when I phoned him he said OK. Maybe he had some prior arrangement with the Scouts not to bring a lawsuit if we got hurt. Maybe that's part of the answer! When seeking to go on private property, present to the owner a waiver of liability upfront? AND let the owner know that we are KNOWLEDGEABLE and seek knowledge about how to be responsible on their land as to not leaving gates open, not messing with streams, going off trails, etc.

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