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Since Karen had a lengthy appointment at Kaiser in Martinez, I grabbed a couple of nearby caches. The first was California Riding and Hiking Trail #1 at 9:35 AM. It was a 0.1 mile jaunt up a hill. This was a 4″ diameter plastic pipe, capped on one end and threaded plug on the other that was hidden close to a eucalyptus tree. The second was Stars-N-Stripes, which I found up another hill at 9:50 AM. This ammo can was also next to a eucalyptus tree. Today we took the family to Copperopolis and Jamestown to celebrate my birthday. Had a marvelous barbecue and fun time riding the steam train. As we were going up in the morning on highway 4, we stopped in Farmington to find Connie’s Ride at 9:45 AM. In the afternoon, after riding the steam train, we got the virtual at the roundhouse, M.L.S.L at 4:00 PM. The railroad was incorporated in 1897 by T. S. Bullock and W. Crocker with 35 miles of track. The water tank (the old one that has since been replaced) was a mainstay shot in the TV series, Petticoat Junction. On the way home we stopped at the Jamestown Cemetery to find Pushing Daisies at 4:55 PM. Just as we were signing the log another group of cachers showed up (3Taylor3). Got a few things done around the house and then headed out to Las Trampas around 11 AM. I planned on making the trip into the devil’s hole area where there were a series of 7 caches I could visit. I expected it to be tough–it was. Lots of elevation change and 7 miles of hiking. Would have been more miles if I had not taken some of the short-cuts on use trails (mostly cow) I knew about. First one I found was The long or the hard–you choose at 12:47 PM. I approached it from above, but I didn’t follow a main trail all the way to get there. Didn’t take long to find it. It’s a decon container hanging in a tree. At the top of the ridge the views were excellent. I could see most of the tri-valley, the bay from Hayward to San Jose to San Francisco, the delta by Martinez, and Mt. Diablo. Then I started dropping down into Devils Hole and found Road to Perdition at 1:39 PM. This was a bit of a scramble, but doable. Dropping down some more I came to Belly of the Beast. This has a terrain rating of 4–glad I didn’t slip. Cache was easy to find (at 2:08 PM), but I’m thinking it’s probably out of position. I left it where it was. Purgatory was all the way down in the hole, hidden among some eucalyptus trees. The GPSr didn’t work very well, so I used the hint and found it at 2:33 PM. Then I started back up the steep hill on a single track trail that obviously doesn’t get much use. Finally got to Den of Iniquity (another terrain rating 4 cache). Found this one at 3:08 PM. Plodded on up the hill to 10-9-8-7-6…Fire! which I found at 3:41 PM. Just a few hundred feet away, I found June 4, 1988 after carefully winding through poison oak. Got this one at 3:57 PM. All in all, this was a very tough 7 mile hike, but worth it. Very beautiful day, lots of wildflowers, and the vistas from the peaks and ridge tops was great. |
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