Geocaching Guides and Trips
Trips
Anne has organized several group hikes to the Sierra Club's "Hiker's Hut" at Sam McDonald County Park. This year Elaine and I finally got to go! We started Saturday morning and hiked up to the Hut. We quickly moved in and made ourselves at home. After some snacks and a little rest we headed out for a hike. Our goal was to see Tarwater Creek, where naturally occurring tar oozes out of...
The Boccardo Trail is adjacent to Alum Rock Park, but not part of it. The land just North of Alum Rock is owned by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, who put in the Boccardo Trail in 2007. You access it from the Todd Quick Trail in Alum Rock - and you access THAT from the parking at the bottom of the canyon. :)Boccardo is steep and exposed. It was in...
Coyote Lake County Park - Geocaching Adventure
San Martin, California, United States
Geocaching | 7.2 miles
Geocaching | 7.2 miles
A nice geocaching hike with Elaine, hotshoe, airsax and dragonswest. Fun time! It was an unseasonably cool 72 degree August day.
Deathmarch. In local geocaching circles, it means a hike of at least 12 miles, with at least 1500 feet of vertical gain. This hike, my friends, is a deathmarch. But...everyone made it back in one piece, and we enjoyed the forest - so how bad can it be? :)We drove to the trailhead on China Grade, on the north edge of Big Basin ... and then headed to Pescadero Creek County Park....
Joe, Joel and I went on a coastal adventure. South Bay temps were forecast for the high 80s, but the coast was foggy and cool. I was astonished by the variety of flowers and butterflies we saw along the hike ... fantastic by South Bay standards for July, where everything is already scorched and most flowers long gone. The trail was steep in spots, but no big deal. The views and flowers...
Last weekend I did a 9 mile hike at Calero in 97 degree heat. Not having learned my lesson from that, THIS weekend I wanted to go to Coe."Coe in July?", you say. "Are you crazy?"Well ... probably. :)Back in April I did a 2 day backpacking trip up here. I want to do another one! But I had questions. In particular, I wonder if any of the springs that were available...
About 3 years ago I did this hike with a group ... and failed miserably. I was incredibly out of shape and couldn't handle the vertical. I've wanted to go back and try it again for some time. Joe agreed to come along.There are three peaks in a row here ... Monument, Allison and Mission. Of the three, Mission is by far the most famous. But once you've climbed to one ......
I hiked this loop to prepare for an Introduction to Geocaching class I'm teaching for the Santa Clara County Parks on May 15th. (If you're interested, please contact me.) The class is on the brand new Mummy Mountain trail. The trail opened on Earth Day 2010 after more than a year of construction. In my opinion it's the best trail in the park. While I was looking for one geocache I had...
Matt, Matt's son, Ben and I had a great day caching at Arastradero. I hadn't been there since 2003, so it was good to come back.
Uvas Canyon County Park - Knibbs Knob and Maymen Flat
Sveadal, California, United States
Geocaching | 5.1 miles
Geocaching | 5.1 miles
I hiked up from just outside the park's main entrance to Maymen Flat and back. Nice hike! This is a steep hike ... doing it on a drizzly winter day wasn't too bad, but in August this would be a bear. But at the end it was fun to get to the top! There was a nice road barricade up top labelled "Property of Santa Cruz County", which was fun to see....
I had MLK day off, and wanted to go hiking ... but it was supposed to rain. A friend suggested Woods at Sierra Azul, as it's not muddy in the rain. I've always wanted to hike to Sombroso from Hicks, so sure ... sounds good.Rainy it was. Sheets. I learned later there were severe weather warnings out. But I have a rainsuit, and was actually comfortable and not too wet. The hike...
Almaden Quicksilver - Wood Road to Hidalgo Cemetery
English Town, California, United States
Geocaching | 4.6 miles
Geocaching | 4.6 miles
A quick geocaching run down the popular Wood Road trail. I had found the caches before, but wanted to make sure all was well with them before my upcoming geocaching class, where students will find them again. I took the time to go out to the Hidalgo Cemetery, to find a cache I hadn't found yet.
A hike to explore this park on a drizzly day.
I'd never been up the Deep Gulch Trail ... time to fix that.
Another hike to prepare for a geocaching class I was to teach in October. On this day I hid several new caches for students to find, and explored an alternative route. It was over 90 degrees on this day - not the best Calero weather!
Calero - Pena, Vallecitos and Figueroa Trails
South Coyote, California, United States
Geocaching | 3.4 miles
Geocaching | 3.4 miles
Sharon and I hiked this loop in preparation for a geocaching class we were going to hold here. We found the existing caches on the route and looked for spots for a few new ones. This is a nice loop, with an interesting mix of terrain types.
Calero - Pena and Los Cerritos Trails - and a Bridge
South Coyote, California, United States
Geocaching | 3.7 miles
Geocaching | 3.7 miles
We went on a nice hike at Calero. The geocaching class I was supposed to teach that day was cancelled - no students registered. That's OK - let's go for a hike anyway! Calero is hilly and steep. Not as bad as Coe, but it's ridge after ridge after ridge. We went to explore the Los Cerritos Trail, and to see an old bridge that is usually under water but which surfaced...
Almaden Quicksilver - Hacienda to McAbee
New Almaden, California, United States
Geocaching | 8.0 miles
Geocaching | 8.0 miles
It'd been 20 years since I hiked from one end of the park to the other ... seemed like time to do it again! Fun time with a great group.
A fun hike in Joseph Grant County Park. It was dry when we started, but as we approached the ridge the rain started. Instead of finishing the 8 mile loop we had intended we beat a retreat to the cars.
Geocaching hike to Buena and Day Tunnel
English Town, California, United States
Geocaching | 4.5 miles
Geocaching | 4.5 miles
A fun hike with a group on a geocaching adventure.
