WAIT
UNTIL DARK . .
.
was a 1967 thriller about a blind woman,
played by Audrey Hepburn, confronted in her apartment by three
criminals with an incredibly elaborate and sinister scheme.
This was probably one of the first true jump-out-of-your-seat
thrillers. To add to the heart-stopping climax, many theaters
turned out all the lights during the last 15 minutes of the
film.
Like the movie, this cache is meant to be
hunted and viewed in the dark and SINCE IT IS A NIGHT-TIME ONLY
CACHE, IT CANNOT BE DONE DURING THE DAY.
Specially trained fireflies have
been imported
from the Midwest and used to mark a
trail to the cache. These fireflies are invisible during the
day, but at night they glow when a light is aimed at
them.
The listed coordinates are
not for the location of the cache, but instead will take you
to a public trailhead in Alamo. From the entrance, proceed
along the trail for about 135', at which point you should spot the
first firefly on your left hovering in the branches of a
multi-trunk tree. NOTE: These fireflies have
their greatest visibility when your light is aimed at them at
eye level. If you hold your light at your side,
the fireflies may appear dim or even be invisible. However,
when you move your light up to eye level for viewing, the fireflies
will "pop" into view and glow a brilliant orange (See below photo).
They are also usually found in trees hovering at or above eye
level.
Now that you are familiar with the
firefly's behavior, continue to follow them along the trail and
through junctions as they guide you to the cache. When you
spot three fireflies hovering together, continue along the
trail approximately 120' and then walk north through the
meadow until you spot another one about 180' away. At this
stage, you should walk towards a firefly, stop, and then shine your
light around until you find the next one. Repeat this
procedure until you find the cache. How do you know when you
find the cache? You'll know...trust me.
The hike to the cache is less
than a mile from the trailhead with a fairly steep elevation gain
of 400'. The single-track trail is well defined and
winds through forests of oak and bay trees. The last
300' to the cache is off-trail as you pass through a meadow and
back into the trees along its border. As in most East Bay
Regional parks, there is some poison oak adjacent to the
trail. Since it is more difficult to spot at night, I
recommend that you wear long pants, a long sleeve shirt and stay in
the middle of the trail. Although I tried to cut most of it
away, I'm sure I missed a few sprigs. Because you will be
hiking at night, please take your time and
use extra caution. This is particularly important
during the off-trail portion and when walking downhill. If
this were a daytime cache, I would have rated it 1 star for
difficulty and 2½ stars for terrain.
If you've never been on a
trail at night, everything takes on a different perspective.
To hike at night, is to intentionally allow yourself to slip out of
your comfort zone and connect with the forest in a new and
interesting way. If you want more natural light during your
adventure, then hike during a full moon. You will find that
the light from the moon is so bright that you cast a shadow.
You could call it your "moon shadow". To determine the dates
of a full moon, click on the moon at the top of the
page.
The park curfew is from
10pm-5am, so time your hike accordingly. However, since there
is no gate at this trailhead, you don't have to worry
about being locked in if you're running a little late. The
list below is a reminder of things to bring:
-
A companion or two. This is strongly
recommended, however, I would not include any young children in
your party.
-
Your GPSr & extra batteries. Now's
the time to learn and use your backtrack feature since the
fireflies will guide you in, but not out.
-
A good light source for each person
in your party, including extra batteries and extra bulbs.
Headlamps work great and they keep your hands free to ward off any
critters or bogeymen.
-
Insect repellant. Part of the hike is
adjacent to a creek so there could be mosquitoes, although I have
never had that problem.
-
The cache page printout.
-
An adventuresome spirit.
-
Your fears and...
-
Some courage.
Have fun, be safe and carry a BIG
light!
The cache container is cylindrical in shape
(16" x 5") and initially contained the following items: