Middle Ridge Road offers some nice views to folks hiking out of the Big Basin headquarters area. Further up the trail the trees give way to chaparral, opening up the views on both sides of the trail. Ocean Summit is the best place to take in those views and it is well worth the hike.
The road from the gate on Gazos Creek Road to this point is a little steep, it had us breathing hard by the time we got here. It's not so steep from this point on so I decided to leave a cache here to mark the end of the initial climb.
If you're heading up the Middle Ridge Road you have several options for loop hikes. The first trail you will come across is the Dool Trail. It will take you back to the park headquarters. The next trail is the Meteor Trail, which you will reach after passing Ocean View Summit. It will take you down to the Skyline to the Sea trail, which will take you back to the headquarters. The third option is to go all the way to the Hollow Tree Trail, which also goes down to the Skyline to the Sea Trail. The last option is to take the Johansen Road to Gazos Creek Road. That is the one route open to bikes and horses and is a very nice 16 mile trek. Whichever route you take you're sure to have a nice outting.
The cache is a camo painted baby soda bottle.
Congratulations to the voucher and Passport11 for being first to find!