Today I was able to clean up three nagging caches that I haven’t been able to find. I started solving the Petroglyphs puzzle cache during Christmas and finished the puzzle as soon as I got back to an internet connection. The petroglyph symbols obviously represent numbers. Assuming the cache has to be in our area, we know some of the digits. I deduced the following: N 37° 41.xxx W121° 55.xx5
I figured the symbols were probably a standard type face, so I looked up Red Rock on Google. It is a type face. Assuming the samples on the web portray the digits in sequential order, the final coords are: N 37° 41.980 W121° 55.895
This one is clearly near the Outback Steakhouse—the garbage container and sign pole in fact. I looked on December 31, but ran into thick bushes and lots of trash. Then, I was surprised by a worker(?) who drove up, but I didn’t hear. I walked around the corner, and we both were surprised.
I went back on January 4 and found a promising sign (the rock with the red petroglyph referred to in the clues) but did not find the cache. First of all, I was really disconcerted about the amount of trash I was digging through. Second, for some reason, I had in mind that I was looking for a micro and I wasn’t finding it in the obvious places. I emailed Blue iis, who had just recently logged it, and asked if I was close. His answer was that I was about a foot away. So, today at 0930 I made a quick grab.
During lunch, I decided to give No Hints Cache another try (I think I’d already been there three times). Today I thought a lot more about what I was seeing than just poking around. That paid off and I found the cache at 1258. The log only cache is inside a black plastic pop-up sprinkler head. After thinking about it, it was inappropriate for the park and there were no others like it in the lawn. So I grabbed it and twisted and it came right out of the ground. It’s a very clever hide and pretty difficult.
Since I was feeling pretty good about finding caches, I decided to have another look for Water, Water Everywhere. This is a multi-cache, but the first leg was very hard for me. Even using the clues, I couldn’t find it. Again, as I thought more than poked, an idea just clicked, and I went and looked and there was the first stage. The laminated clue sheet I was looking for was at a downspout, actually in plain sight. Perhaps the storms had washed it loose from its hiding place. When done with it, I replaced it behind the downspout.
Using the clues I tracked down the final cache, but not until I had first gone in entirely the wrong direction. Luckily, the area was closed today so no people around. The cache is right at the front entrance of the Pleasanton Acquatic Center. It’s a magnetic one on a post next to the building and under the sculpture.
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