I returned home today from a fine vacation.  We flew to Boston, then took a cruise to Montreal, with stops in Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Quebec City and Montreal, Quebec.

I was able to find some caches along the way–2 in Bar Harbor, 5 in Halifax, 1 in Sydney, 1 in Charlottetown, and 2 in Montreal.  I got DNFed in Quebec City.  My Pocket Query failed and geocaching.com was down that day, so I couldn’t check on any details.  Not that it have helped–seems the quebecois don’t like to give any hints or details in their cache descriptions.

Not a lot of caches for 11 days, but I was just trying to get at least 1 cache in each province that I visited and that goal was met.

I’ll post some photos in the next few days of the international adventure.

I hiked Chivo Canyon today, going after the recently placed caches.  The weather was just right for a hike–a little on the cool side, with a sight breeze.

Jethro Bodine & Daisy May First Car was the first cache on the list and was a quick find.  Here is a picture of the “car.”

I had the trail completely to myself, with the exception of a few critters.  I was buzzed by a curious hummingbird, who hovered about a foot from my face.  I saw a very nice looking deer and a fairly annoyed rattlesnake.  Also a variety of birds.  All in all, it was a fun day for wildlife.

One of the interesting features of Chivo Canyon is the oil seep.  It’s the home of GCVDD3 Oil that is… The first time I hiked through here, I thought that some idiot had changed his oil here.  The next trip, I could see the oil pool was at least 4 times larger and the oil and gas was bubbling up out of the ground.  I’ve tried to get an Earthcache approved here, but can’t locate the property owner for permission.  If you know who I can contact, please e-mail me.

PEAK VIEW CACHE was my second cache.  As I walked by it, I thought, “That’s looks like a good spot for a cache.”  Then I decided to check the GPS and had to walk back the 50 or 60 feet to the cache.

The hillsides are really dry, with the grasses almost white.  Then I approached these bright red bushes–my friend, poison oak.

I thought it is interesting that a few hours from summer solstice, the poison oak was already wearing its Fall colors.

As I was heading farther up the trail, I decided it was time to place a new cache along the way.  The cache is Chivo Overlook.  It hasn’t yet been approved because it is too close to another unpublished cache.  We’ll see how it goes.  If you see the log in the photo below, check in out for a cache.  You might be able to log a non-cache.

I DNFed the next cache on my list–Over the Hills and Far Away.  The group before me DNFed it too.  I tried calling and e-mailing a few friends for help, but everyone was busy having fun.  I’m not sure if the cache is missing (and I have no idea why anyone would make a cache way up there disappear), I just know that I couldn’t find it.  I wandered down the ridge to I’m Bushed! for a quick find.  As I was logging in, I saw a deer below in Las Llajas bouncing through the grasses down the hill.  This is also a great spot to view the trail up the hill to Trogdor’s Shovel  AKA: P&H Model 206.

There was a nice variety of wildflowers out today.  This late in the season and as dry as it has been, this was a pleasant surprise.

After trying to find Over the Hills again, it was time to turn south and get the caches along the ridge.  On the way to RIDGELINE VIEW CACHE, I spotted a rattlesnake coming out of his hole.  We said hello to each other and I took his photo.  He really wasn’t too happy to see me and moved his head back into a striking position.  Then he decided to go home.  He doubled back and headed down into his hole.  It was fun to watch his body slide by.  When his tail popped out, he gave it a few rattles and down he went.

Continuing along the ridge, I found Cache Stop #3, Cache Stop #2, Cache Stop #1, and Liv’n on the Edge.  Liv’n on the Edge is not for the faint of heart or those who have problems with heights.  The trail is safe, but it is quite close to the edge a very high cliff.

THREE TANKS VIEW CACHE, GOLF COURSE VIEW CACHE, and Road To Nowhere finished the day.

The entire loop, including about 30 minutes of DNFing Over the Hills and Far Away, took me 3 hours 15 minutes.  That’s because I hike uphill slowly and downhill even slower.  I do recommend the clockwise route for this loop.  The way down the ridge is very steep and probably better done north to south.

Here is a Google Earth screen shot of the track, with today’s finds.

Chivo Canyon and Ridge

Here is a topo map of the hike.

Thanks to all who placed caches in this area.  It’s especially nice to be able to go hiking in a nice area like this only 10 minutes from my home.

My phone decided it was a better paper weight that a phone and I needed to replace it.  I took advantage of the $100 price on an G3 iPhone and got the Geocaching app for it.

This afternoon, I decided to give it a try.  I was in a parking lot and started the application.  It told me that a cache was across the street and then lead me right to it.  I was then able to enter Field Notes and send them to my account.  On the way home, I did it again.  Another quick find.

So far, I’m impressed.  I’m not ready to give up on my GPS, but for a quick find on the run, I think the iPhone application is pretty good.

Check it out here .

On the way home from dinner tonight, we grabbed a couple of caches. Then, Wendy saw a turkey vulture land right next to the car. We stopped and backed up. He was having a nice meal of a rattlesnake.

After a couple of minutes, another car came by and scared the bird away. He didn’t go far—the meal was too tasty. I got out and took a closer photo of the meal.

Molly Shock has added more caches to Griffith Park.  I decided to do the western section after work today.  It was a nice walk.  The paths were busy with hikers and a few horse riders.

The caches were all straight forward hides, except for Tuesday, which I DNFed.  I made a loop out of the hike, but I don’t recommend it.  You can see the route that I took on the photo above.  It’s all good trail (mostly road) the entire walk until  passed After The Fire.  After that, it’s iffy.  I took a clockwise route around the quarry which is the site of Batman’s Cave.  It was mostly a bushwhack for the last part of the hike.  If you know of a better way down from After The Fire to the Bronson Canyon parking area, please let me know.

Here are some photos from the walk.

Here are the cache’s on today’s Found list:

Today: A walk in the park.

Tomorrow: A walk in the park.

Yesterday: A walk in the park.

Monday: A walk in the park.

Wednesday: A walk in the park.

Thursday: A walk in the park.

Friday: A walk in the park.

Saturday: A walk in the park.

Sunday: A walk in the park.

After The Fire

We did a quick trip up the coast Friday afternoon, spending the night in Cambria, then coming home Saturday.  We had planned on staying longer, but had a hard time finding a room Saturday night because of the Memorial Day weekend crowds.

After the normal hassle of getting through Santa Barbara, we did a couple of Wine/Whine caches-Wine/Whine # 58 andWine/Whine # 19.  This photo was taken near #58.  Then it was on to the coast.

After a nice dinner at Linn’s in Cambria, we drove up the coast to see the elephant seals.  Late May and early June is the time the sub-adult males haul out and molt.  The “beach” was crowded with them.  It was fun to watch and hear them sparing with each other. SE AL the ELEPHANTS is the cache site with the larger of the two viewing areas.  There is also a viewing site a little farther up the coast that doesn’t get as busy.

Saturday morning started out a little gray and outcast, but it quickly burnt off to be a beautiful day.  There were a few caches along the boardwalk across the street from our motel.  We enjoyed getting the caches as we walked along the boardwalk.

We were joined in our walk by quite a few very well fed squirrels looking for handouts.

After Cambria, we headed down the coast to Cayucos, picked up a few caches, visited the community garage sale, then headed toward Paso Robles.  We found one cache and had a string of 3 DNFs, but enjoyed the ride.

Our plan was to spend Saturday night in San Luis Obispo, but it seemed like a lot of other people had the same idea.  The town was sold out, as was Santa Maria, so we decided to just head for home.

It was an enjoyable adventure. Here is the list of the weekend’s finds:

In answer to the question above, apparently not geocaching.  The State Parks issued Geocaching Guidelines which will severely limit geocaches in parks that allow geocaching.  But the bigger issue is the parks where geocaches won’t be allowed at all.  Locally, they include Point Mugu, Malibu Creek, Topanga and Santa Susana Pass State Parks.  Unless something changes, hundreds of caches will need to be removed and archived.  Very well done challenges caches will pretty much just evaporate.

I’m not sure how many caches that I’ve found in these parks.  Put I’ve found more than a few.  And very few of those caches have been hidden in ways that would have had a negative impact on the environment.  I think this policy is another case of an over reaction to isolated problems.

Well placed geocaches promote the use of state parks.  This new policy will have the opposite effect.

Hopefully, someone with some pull will rethink this overreaching policy and alter the ban on caches in our local state parks.

At lunch today, I figured that I would stop by O Pole Mio, a newly minted cache near my office.  I parked across the street from the GZ and noticed rammd on the phone. Then my cell rang.  “Craig, it’s Richard.  Have you done O Pole Mi yet?”  Just about then, he turned my direction and saw me walking toward him.  “Never mind.”

We put our collective geosense together, but still came up empty.  Between us, we have more than 10,400 caches, but we still got the DNF instead of the co-FTF.

That the way it goes sometimes.

P.S.—I just got an e-mail from the cache’s owner.  Richard and I did find the cache, afterall.  We just couldn’t couldn’t extract it.

P.P.S.— 5/12/09  I dropped by the cache today and tried to extract it.  I even used a ladder loaned to me by the nearby painters.  The cache is wedged in its hidey-hole so tightly, I doubt it will ever come out.  And that’s also the way it goes sometimes.

PPPS–Richard placed another container in front of the jammed one and turned our DNFs into FTFs.

Ever since the caches where placed along this trail, I’ve been looking forward to hiking it. Today, was the day.

I didn’t have a great start.  I DNFed the first cache-SSSHP – South Entrance–but figured that I would give it a try on the way out.  The day started out with a little overcast, but quickly burned off.  It was a perfect day for hiking–sunny, but not too warm, with a slight breeze.

Spring was my first find of the day.  It made up for the DNF.

There were a few other hikers and some horse people, too on the main trail, but as soon as I turned off on the “trail” the caches where on, it was just me, the lizards, and the wildflowers.

I was somewhat surprised with the number and the variety of wildflowers.  With the hot weather that we had a few weeks ago, the hills have turned from green to brown.  I figured that I would have been too late for the flowers, but I did get a good showing of them.

A Trail Less Traveled helped show me the correct path.  The trail was varied between a wide service road and a game trail.  I was impressed with whoever figured out this where to go on this trail.

The trail quickly gained elevation, climbing several hundred feet right away. Cross Eyed View andI’d like to make a Withdrawal were along this part of the trail.  The photo above is looking back toward Oakwood Memorial Park, near where today’s adventure began.

I was giving some thought about trying Don’s Stairway To Heaven a try on the way back by going cross country, but decide that it was not a safe way to go.  One false move and I might be on my stairway to heaven, so I’ve try it another day from below.

After reaching the top of the climb up through the cliffs, the trail flattens out.  I found the next group of caches without any problems: Stand and Salute,Tubular, Reservoir Dogs, Micronaught, and The Great Cliffs of Chatsworth.  While looking forThe Great Cliffs of Chatsworth, I came upon this cache guardian, watching me look in the wrong place.

Bring It On Home (The Cube) takes you to an interesting area–an unfinished homestead that we probably burnt out before it reallly got started. NOT a Kodak Moment was an interesting cache along the way.

The Battle of Evermore was the toughest find of the day.  I had my hand almost on the cache within seconds of arriving at the location, but it took me another 20 minutes and 2 phone calls to locate it.  I was glad to find Pepper’s Scenic Picnic Plateau immediate on arrival, after taking so long at Evermore.  After going down the hill to get Y Here?, I decided on a new plan of action.  I had tweaked my back earlier in the week and wasn’t looking forward to the hike back down the steep parts of the trail.  The Box Canyon only a few minutes away, I called a friend who was gracious enough to drive up from Simi Valley and pick me up along the road and return me to my truck.

It was a great morning of caching.  I’m looking forward to returning to the area and picking up the few caches that I missed because of my decision to make this a one-way trip.

If you are sensitive to poison oak, take care along the way.  There are the normal large stands of poison oak along the trail, but, because this trail is seldom used, this is also plenty of my old friend right in the trail, mixed in with other plants.

Here is a track of the hike today.

I had a few extra minutes on the way home today so I decided to give The Cascades another try.  When I was there in March, there was plenty of water coming down the cascades.  Today–nothing.  But in March, it was a DNF.  Today, a find.

I continued on, looking for more caches in the area.  I just drove by a few–roadside caches without nearby legal parking–but did find enough others to make the short detour worth it.

• Pipe Dream #2
• Peligro
• Pearson Dental
• L3
• Stairway to Sylmar