Dirty Harry’s Manzanita Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is a small container about 3 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep, resting in a rock teepee near a moss covered rock. Look for the opening in the vegetation.
There are two species of Manzanita in the Santa Monica Mountains: Arctostaphylos glandulosa and Arctostaphylos glauca, or by common name: Eastwood and Bigberry respectively. They are both attractive shrubs with a beautiful smooth, red bark, are evergreen, and look very similar. They frequently grow near each other. There are a couple ways to differentiate between the two. One way is to notice that the Bigberry reseeds after a fire and has a single trunk. The Eastwood has a basal burl and root-crown sprouts after a fire resulting in a number of trunks.
The easiest way to differentiate them is that the stems and leaves of the Bigberry are smooth and hairless. The Eastwood stems and leaves are hairy and somewhat rough. Since Clint Eastwood played Dirty Harry in the movies, all you have to remember is that the hairy Manzanita is the Eastwood Manzanita. Not much of a clue for this cache because the area is replete with this shrub.
Today our volunteer trail maintenance crew worked up this section of the Backbone Trail from the junction with the connector trail that begins at about milepost 3 on Stunt. This would be the easiest access. Watch out for reckless motorcyclists and sports car drivers.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Rnfg fvqr bs genvy nobhg 10 srrg va.