This is a night cache. It cannot be found during the
day.
Let the eyes guide
your way to the cache.
There are eyes in the night that glow
when you shine a light on them. The eyes vary in brightness. The
brighter ones can be visible from over 200 feet away while the
dimmer eyes require you to be closer and to pay closer attention.
You will need a flashlight to follow their lead to your
destination. The brighter the flashlight the further away you will
be able to see the eyes and the brighter THEY will be. For best
visibility hold your flashlight at eye level.
The coordinates above are not for the
cache location, they are for your starting point. You will spot the
first of your guides ~80 feet to your West. You will find 3 eyes
there. One bright and two dim. They will give you an idea of what
to look for as you proceed.
Your journey will be less than a mile
from the coords, mostly along well marked trails. Only the last 100
feet or so will be off the main trails. You will recognize you
final location by the three bright eyes there. You will come to
intersections. In each case you should find a bright eye a short
distance down the correct path. Between intersections there will be
variable distances between eyes, so do not worry too much if you do
not immediately see another eye as long as you are going along a
trail without intersections. The bright and dim eyes generally
alternate after the first few bright ones. In a couple spots there
are telephone poles with reflective stripes. Do not be lead astray
by them.
Administrativa: The park is closed
after 10 pm so plan your trip to be complete before then. There is
a gate at the nearest park entrance that does get locked so be
mindful of the time so as to not be locked into the park. The
closest parking to the starting point is at the Chabot gun range,
however the gates to that area of the park are generally locked
when the range closes (probably before dark), so even if you go to
the park when it is still light don't park at the range or you may
get locked in.
The additional waypoint is he closest
safe parking to the starting point. The shortest route from this
parking area to the starting point is via the road to the range
(about half a mile), otherwise you can go along the Brandon Trail
which is somewhat longer (about a third of a mile longer). You can
also park at the Marciel Gate along Redwood Road which will add
roughly 1.6 miles each way to your trip, but you don't have to
worry about the park entrance gate being locked.
Additional considerations: Bring a
friend or two. More eyes will help in spotting the Eyes. And
company will make the trip a little less spooky :)
Watch your footing. The trails are
mostly lined by eucalyptus which tend to drop lots of small debris
on the trail.
Bring a print out of the cache
description.
Be sure to bring extra batteries
for both your lights and your GPSr.
Bring a BRIGHT flashlight. I used an 80 lumen flashlight in placing
the cache and had the placement tested by folks with similar
lighting which should give you an idea of the best tool for the
journey.
There are a variety of trading items in the cache as well as a
separate zip-lock of pathtags made specifically for this cache.
Please only take one per person in your group and let me know how
many are left in your log.
Thanks to Chuguy for the inspiration.