California's coastline used to contain vast areas of salt marshes. Today only about 10% of these ecologically rich areas remain. Some can be found along the bayfront shoreline near the Dumbarton Bridge. Walking in this area, you will see a beautiful diversity of plant and bird life (as well as the occasional rabbit or snake). Large old ceanothus (California lilac) bushes can be found making stands here (shiny dark evergreen leaves with delicate purple or lavender flowers). Red-tailed hawks and red-winged blackbirds are not uncommon, and I have often seen black-necked stilts wading in the pools here. In the spring, snowy egrets spend a little time here during their migration.
A paved nature trail through the salt marsh runs outside the perimeter of the Sun Microsystems Menlo Park campus. You do not need to go on Sun's private property to access the nature trail, nor to get to the cache. Officially, you should not park in Sun's parking lot. There is a small bit of public parking just outside the south-east corner of the campus, accessible only heading west on Bayfront Expressway from University.
The cache is an 8-inch round tupperware container. Original contents include a bunch of Sun-logo stuff (yo-yo, silly putty egg, rubber computer with feet, twisty toy, nerdy mood indicator) and other geek stuff (3 floppy disks, 2 blank CD-Rs). You're encouraged to keep with the geek theme when trading.
10/17/03 Note that the original cache was plundered, so it has now been replaced in a nearby location, and more carefully concealed. (Coordinates are slightly revised, and I've upped the difficulty to 1.5.) Some camouflage materials are glued to the lid of the container, so handle with care. The cache can be reached within a couple of steps of the trail, so NO major expeditions off the trail are required. Please don't trample the beautiful plantlife here. Several hints provided in order, decrypt as needed.
#include "std_disclaimer.h" -- This cache has no affiliation with nor official sponsorship from Sun Microsystems, Inc.