FTF in Morgan Territory

Dan noticed there was a new cache (Pa Morgan’s Territory) approved this afternoon in Morgan Territory and called and asked if I was up for an adventure. He wanted to go after it when he got home from work. I did a little homework to find the appropriate trailhead--a bit different than the one suggested and different than the one Dan would have taken. We were on the trail and it was already pretty dark, but after a short while our eyes adapted to the moonlight and we did the whole hike just by moonlight. And we were the first to find.

Tassajara Road in Carmel Valley

Today I joined a group of bay area cachers on a 4x4 trip up to Chews a Ridge (actually a pretty easy drive--I think the Accord would have made it easily). We then found 2 quick ones in Carmel Valley before heading to Prunedale, where we hunted down another 15 in Manzanita Regional Park. We also hiked a little over 6 miles in this park. It was a long day--we didn’t get home until 10pm.

San Ramon and Alamo

I solved Dan’s Disney Villians puzzle yesterday, and picked it up today. Then went on to find another couple in San Ramon. In Alamo I finally spotted the Las Trampas to Mt. Diablo trailhead on Stone Valley Road and did a nice hike to pick up another 3 caches.

Take a Hike, Livermore

Took a 4.7 mile walk from home to go get a cache. It certainly lengthened the hike I did in the Livermore quad for the Bay Area quad challenge.

Morgan Territory and Round Valley

Dan and I drove over Morgan Territory Road today and found 5 caches. Then we did a 6 mile hike in Round Valley and found another 5 (our second time there, and I think we cleaned out the park). After dropping Dan off at home I detoured to pick up his new Nano Park cache.

Mt. Wanda

Karen and I drove to Martinez for a short hike and found 5 caches in the Mt. Wanda area. Total hike about 2.3 miles. It was clear and warm and nice area for hiking.

Lodi

Spent the day in Stockton and Lodi, but didn’t get as many caches as I hoped. Seems like it takes a lot of planning and hustling to get 5 caches per hour. Finished up with 15, none of them particularly impressive.

El Corte Madera Creek OSP

El Corte Madera is on Skyline a bit north of Woodside. I had some confusion about which trailhead to use, so I got a little bit later start than I should have. Since Skyline is along the ridgeline, the hike was downhill until the turnaround point and then a long climb back. The weather was great--for a change only shirtsleeves were needed. This was mostly second growth redwood, although there was one beautiful old growth tree (how did the loggers miss it?). I found 13 caches (and could have gotten more if I’d started earlier).

There’s a puzzling discrepancy with my GPS data. When I finished, my odometer read 7.73 miles. But when I look at the track log, and run an elevation profile on it, I get 11 miles.