Leakage from a Cluttered Mind

Before going to Briones Regional Park, I grabbed Land Rover. I had passed on this one before—just not comfortable with the location. But, Dan encouraged me—easy he said. Indeed it was, and I had it in hand at 9:30 AM.

I probably hiked a total of 8 miles in Briones. The weather was slightly overcast, hazy visibility, temperature in the high 60’s. I started at the Bear Creek staging area. Here’s how it went.

11:06 AM found Stumped again? Wow, this one was a challenge. Had to search for a long time. Then the cattle got curious and came up close to see what I was doing—funny. I finally decided it must be a fake cow paddy, but there were so many to poke with a stick. Finally I poked one that thunked. Below it was a 1 gallon container set inside a plastic pipe casing. Great job.

11:43 AM found Mini-Sprint 2. Started looking in the wrong tree, but once I got that straightened out, it was a quick find hanging in the tree branches.

11:56 AM found Mini-Sprint 3. Very straight forward find.

12:11 PM DNF on Mini-Sprint 4. Like others, I don’t think it’s there anymore. There’s only one bush in the area, and it’s been severely chewed on. I suspect the clue meant it was hidden in about the middle.

12:29 PM DNF on Mini-Sprint 5. Coords lead to bare hillside. Hint seems to indicate a log. Searched wider and found nothing. I think its gone too.

12:55 PM found Bye Bye Birdie crushed (destroyed) on the ground. Log was signable. Stuck all the parts in a zip-loc baggy and put it in the tree. Maybe it will last a bit longer.

1:14 PM found Mott’s Peak in an unimaginative spot and container is getting squished. At least log has been put in a baggy.

1:53 PM found Mini-Sprint 1 on return to parking lot. It’s hanging around.

I drove to the other side of the park at Alhambra Creek staging area.

3:05 PM found JAY’S #1 Cache. Easy, big cache.

3:28 PM found Happy Cachin’ after a good climb. Coords are off. Found it when I used coords from the logs.

3:46 PM found Ken’s Comix. Another easy find.

4:34 PM found Sit Awhile after I drove to new area on Hidden Ponds Road. Just as I got to the cache location (where the cache page suggests quiet voices to not disturb the neighbors) a half-dozen screaming kids erupt from the bushes with a couple of Dad’s in tow. Guess it’s OK—they were the neighbors. Cache was easy to find. Took Blue Blaze Irregulars geo button and left a quarter.

First thing this morning I noticed there was a new cache in Livermore, Prudence the Pretty Piglet #3. And then I noticed that Dan had already found it, followed closely by fizzymagic. Then close to noon, I saw another cache pop up out on Old Altamont and Carrol Road, Altamont Silo. I drove out and was FTF, but not before I stupidly tried to climb up an embankment, slipped, and slid down in the wet grass and mud. I should have just looked for the hider’s path in the grass.

Then a little later, I drove to Dublin and retrieved Lincoln Highway. I got there close to 3 PM again, and this is when the road gets very busy as drivers try to bypass the freeway jam up. I timed my grab, however, in a short traffic lull. It’s hidden in a rotten spot of the old wooden guard rails still left from the old highway at N 37° 41.970 W 121° 56.640.

I checked stage 4 of Dog Years again, and today the playground was empty. Found stage 4 and headed off for the final cache. I made a mistake in computing the coordinates and ended up behind a veterinary hospital, which almost made sense, but not quite (there certainly were a lot of dogs barking). I rechecked, corrected my mistake, and got to the right place to retrieve the cache.