Copperopolis long weekend

We spent the weekend at Bailey’s in Copperopolis (drove up on Friday). Saturday, Nov. 26, was a nice day so we drove to the Red Hills. We’ve always just driven the road or stopped beside the road to admire the spring flowers. This time it was fun to hike to a few caches. We stopped first at the Old Crimea virtual cache. Photos are in the spoilers area. Red HIlls Kids Cache was a .2 mile hike that we easily did. SHHH! LISTEN was about the same distance, but had a little more uphill to it. We did listen and heard the wind in the pines, and the Jamestown steam train whistle faintly in the distance.

Off the Serpentine Loop road we found Red hills Black trees #2 and then struck out for Red Cache, .3 miles away on top of a hill. Karen did really well climbing up, but was lagging a bit near the top so I told I’d go on and she should wait. There were lots of potential hiding places, so it took me a while. Karen grew concerned because I was out of sight, and then began calling me, but I couldn’t hear, so she got more concerned. I finally found it, and was starting down when I heard her, and by this time she was almost at the top. It’s funny that Fizzy and Greenachers thought they found a bear in one of the little caves here (it actually turned out to be a turkey buzzard on a nest). I’m glad Karen didn’t know that!

On Sunday, Nov. 27, we found G&M Jr. Plays Hide and Seek on our way back from church and lunch in Sonora. This was a bit of a puzzle because the cache isn’t at zero coordinates. The two stage Lake Tulloch multi-cache was easy; right at the bridge.

Thanksgiving

After turkey dinner, we (Dan, Janet, Karen, and me) decided a little walking was in order. Our first stop after driving to Pleasanton was Stroller Friendly #1: River of Concrete. We knocked that one out in a hurry, so I took Dan and Janet to Danville Trolls. I’d already done it, but it was a nice stroll for Karen. Unfortunately, the last 3 stages were missing. On the way back home we stopped and found Emerald Oasis II.

Chemo Day cache

Between Karen’s appointment with her oncologist and her chemo treatment, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we went to get a coffee and then she went to Crate and Barrel while I went looking for Olympic Sphere. Once I found out how to get into the parking garage, it was a pretty quick find.

Grant Ranch North

A while back, escooby (Dave C.) had mentioned in the forums that he wanted to do a long caching hike in Joseph Grant County Park (Grant Ranch). I told him I wanted to go too, and then asked geodanimal (Dan) about it. We made plans to meet at the Grant Lake parking area at 8 AM. Unfortunately, I had an email from escooby this morning saying his car’s clutch had gone out, so just Dan and I made the hike.

We needed to pay a parking fee, so Dan jumped out to feed the bills into the self-pay station, but the bill slot was jammed up. He couldn’t pull it out with his fingers, so I jumped out with my mini-leatherman tool and pulled a crumpled $5 bill from the slot. So... we got to park for free.

After parking, I made use of the porta-potty, and by the time I came out Dan had found Grant Lake Trailhead (8:29 AM). From the parking lot, we headed back down the main road to the Washburn Trailhead. Even though there is space for a couple of cars by the trailhead, the whole road is posted no parking.

Heading north on the Washburn Trail, the first cache we came to was White Barn. As we approached, we couldn’t see any likely hiding spot--no trees, rocks, etc. I zeroed about 30 feet away, but Dan wasn’t fooled. He searched the most likely looking spots and found it at 8:57 AM.

Just a short way farther up the trail we had to strike out across a grassy field for a small hilltop and Washburn Hilltop View. Again, my GPSr indicated about 40 ft away, but it was a quick find at 9:07 AM.

We found Enchanted... - Squashy! at 9:23 AM. Up to this point the trail had been relatively level, but soon began a steep climb.

Much of the road to Washburn Trail JAC followed a fence-line, so rather than going around hills on contour lines it just went straight up-and-over again and again. We found it at 10:06 AM.

Continuing on the Washburn Trail we found kablooey’s Garden at 10:21 AM. Next we got Alpha Virus 2 at 10:53 AM.The container was well camoed. Then we found Another tree, another cache at 11:18 AM.

We detoured out and back a little bit to get Drink Deeply. (11:36 AM)

Pala Seca Cabin was a nice place to take a break, after we spent quite a while looking for the cache. The hint was good, but... Found at 12:29 PM, then sat on the porch and ate our lunch.

Antler Point was pretty close by straight line, but up a very steep hill, so we followed the trail around and back. We found it at 1:14 PM.

Magnetic Therapy (Traditional Cache) 1:32 PM

Shelter From The Storm (Traditional Cache) 1:46 PM

Fallen Monarch (Traditional Cache) 2:00 PM

Who goes there? (Traditional Cache) 2:15 PM

Philcam L. Back Memorial (Traditional Cache) 2:32 PM

Where’s the Beef? (Traditional Cache) 2:45 PM

Moss Trees (Traditional Cache) 3:05 PM

Pig Hill (Traditional Cache) 3:21 PM

Just the beginning . . . (Traditional Cache) 3:36 PM

The Scale House (Traditional Cache) 4:18 PM

Rudolph’s Gift (Traditional Cache) 4:32 PM

Stary Night (Traditional Cache) 4:40 PM

Brushy Peak

Today there were four available caches at the new EBRP at Brushy Peak. I thought I could make quick work of finding them and doing the hiking. Turn out not to be so.

I started out down the wrong trail, but quickly realized my error when it began to veer off in the wrong direction. I backtracked and got on the West Side Loop Trail going clockwise. First cache I came to was West Brushy Peak. I had to search quite a while for this one. It was well placed to not be obvious.

I continued around the loop and then realized I had a long climb up a hillside to reach South Brushy Peak (I think close to 400 ft up in elevation). It wasn’t hard to find, but the climb was hard.

The next cache, Another Point of View, was thankfully downhill, as was the final cache of the day, Cache on Brushy Peak. By this time the sun had dropped behind the hills, and I quickly walked/jogged out to the parking area.

Overall this was a 4 mile hike.

Death march 3: Calero

Because Dan had a bad cold, we decided not to celebrate his birthday today, so I played hooky from church and decided, at the last minute, to join a group doing a long cache hike in Calero County Park in south San Jose. Up at 5:45, rushed around to get out the door before 7:00, and got to the parking lot before 8:00 AM--made it on time.

There were 13 in the group. Among them were: bthomas, kealia, Sgt Stiches, boulter, marky, Mystery Ink, fizzymagic, british invasion, cer, nazgul, and sammydee. Most of them had a normal walking pace faster than me, so I usually was a bit behind, and the cache was found before I got there. Even so, I felt pretty good until about the 10 mile point, where a long, steep uphill really killed my legs. But, just like biking up a long hill, you just keep going at a pace your heart can handle. I really slowed down here.

This hill took a lot out of the others too. I could more or less keep up with the lead group from here on. I ended the day with a track of 15 miles and 25 caches, none which I personally saw first.

Here’s the list.

Dog’s & Bikes
Play "Fore" Cache
Figueroa Creek
Figueroa-Canada Del Oro Junction
Vail’s Kissing Tree
Canada Del Oro Trail Switchbacks
Cutoff Trail
Restore Your Perspective
Serpentine Loop Trail
Rock Me Baby!
Longwell Canyon
Shoot, No Cows!
Longwell Canyon Break
Nice Place For A Break
Ascend Your Throne!
Bald Peaks
Cottle Rest Site
Cherry Canyon
Javelina Saddle
One of a Kind
In The Old Mans Hand
Pin Junction
Calero Bat House
Pena’s Panoramic View
Calero Wetlands

Pleasanton golf

I drove over to the Callippe Preserve (around the new golf course) in Pleasanton. The only parking was at the club house, and it was really crowded since it is Veteran’s Day. Callippe Preserve Trailhead was quickly found. Then I headed up the trail to find Callippe Preserve Trails Bridge. I had to search a while for this one, and I’m not sure I believe the hint. Finally, I backtracked and took the trail alongside the driving range to find Driven to Cache--a quick find.

Livermore three

I found Dan’s Ace par King this afternoon. I thought it was out of place, so called him. It was, so I put it back as best I could understand from his description. Then I brute forced Up The Mountain. I still don’t understand the puzzle. Finally, I went back one more time, with a hint from Dan, to get Are you Shur?