California Coast & Ocean

Sweet Little Secrets
The pleasures are deeper, of course, than uncovering bright little objects or even learning new facts. On one hunt recently in the Huachuca Mountains of southern Arizona, I set out on a 14-mile loop trail that took me through various biomes of that beautiful "sky island" ecosystem. I stopped to photograph alligator cypress, agave, and other plants unique to the area. I looked up and watched hawks soar and songbirds flit. Lizards skittered over rocks and smiled at me. Along the way, I ventured off the trail to explore an old mine site (and locate a cache called "5471 Broadway") and again to sit on a peaceful rock outcropping, and finally I stopped at an old ranch that has been preserved as a historical site (Brown Canyon Ranch). As a bonus, at several points where I came upon an unsigned fork in the trail (the only map I had was a sketchy one in my head), the GPSr suggested the correct way to go. It is good for practical navigation as well!

At home, too, thanks to geocaching, we've discovered luscious hiking spots we never imagined existed, the trailheads being no more than unmarked scuffs on the roadside. We've edged out beyond the bluff trail in Pacific Grove onto a jumble of rocks that invited us to sit and watch as cormorants preened, pelicans sailed by, and belly-flopped harbor seals eyed us lazily. At a spot a 10-minute walk from our house, in the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District's Frog Pond Reserve, a test-tube microcache is hidden in the struts of a bench in a small grove of redwoods. We walk here often, but now we are more likely to stop a bit and sit on the bench. We don't need to look at the cache again. It's just a sweet little secret we enjoy sharing with a bunch of strangers.

Today, we continue to work our way around the peninsula, ending up late in the afternoon at "Kegan's Cache," high on a hill in Seaside. We easily find the microcontainer (it holds a log only), and then pause to look out over Monterey Bay. The sun is blinding as it reflects off the water, silhouetting the distinctive topography of the peninsula. We never would have gotten this view without geocaching.