Urban geocaching

The view from our last hike

In June, David, Alastair, and I finished our 100-Mile Hike—which I wrote about here, and here, and here. I somehow neglected to celebrate the final, but I can at least quote Alastair/Mimring's comment on that last, prize cache, claimed on 6/25: "In the end, we found 9 of the (11) caches in the series giving us enough clues to get to the final. In total we hiked 95 miles. . . . In addition to the caches themselves, we found 284 other caches, testimony to the fact that the hike took us to places we had never visited before. Oh the places you will go!"

Yesterday we gamely set out to find some more caches. But without the structure of a challenge, it proved, well, challenging. Where to go? What to look for? We decided to try to find some of the urban Santa Cruz caches planted by one 50sumtin/Bud Gawlik, now deceased but ever beloved. (There's a challenge cache in Wilder Ranch State Park that you're qualified to claim if you've found all 134± of his caches. So far we've found 48. Including yesterday. We've got a ways to go. But what the heck. It's a project!)

Bud does have various caches scattered around Santa Cruz. Finding them proved—did I say this already?—challenging. Traffic. Parking. Muggles (geospeak for curious non-cachers, i.e. normal people, out and about, possibly regarding a trio peering under benches or feeling around electrical boxes with a bit of suspicion). Urban caches, which means teeny containers that are really not at all satisfying to find. In the end we found fourteen caches, six of them 50sumtin's. Only 87 to go! 

It's a lot less interesting than the 100-Mile Hike was. That was a pleasure: contained, with set destinations, great hiking trails, good geocaching along the way, not much driving required. Finding 50sumtin's caches, in contrast, is something of a chore. 

But hey, I'm not complaining, not really. The three of us had a fine day out, and we found all but two of the caches we sought. And got 10+ miles of walking in. And caught up. Because really, the catching up is the best part of caching, for me anyway.

Here are some photos I took:

The "host" of our first find of the day

Our goal: that lighthouse—or rather, the tetrapods
surrounding it, which held clues to the "final" of
a puzzle cache

A few of the tetrapods in question

The geocacher stance

Stand-up paddleboarding on calm water sure
did look appealing

We were treated to a lot of nice street art
along the way—including one multi-cache
dedicated to street art, in the shape of
painted power boxes

A stuffed sea otter (with urchin) and harbor seal
attempted to entice us to go paddling
in the Santa Cruz Harbor.

This black-crowned night heron couldn't have
cared less about our presence, as we crept closer
and closer. All he was interested in was the
insects flying about, which he snapped up
with the awesome beak of his

Though I believe he was waiting for meatier fare

Araña Wetland

A bridge decorated with swimming salmon

Downtown Santa Cruz's river, the
San Lorenzo

Bridge art

David going for the find on 1298

I don't enjoy geocaching so much for the individual "finds." What I enjoy about it is that it takes me out into the world and I get to look around and appreciate nature, humanity, art, inventiveness. And walking. I do enjoy my bodily involvement in the pastime. And when it becomes a social occasion, as with Alastair, all the better!