Let Sleeping Bears Lie Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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A camo'd small round plastic container with a view of an interesting rock formation in Santa Teresa Park
Bears? In San Jose? Well, not any more, but a long time ago, the hills were full of them. If you go to the Bear Tree Lot on Curie Drive before San Ignacio, you can see where the ranchers held fights between bulls and captured bears. Eventually, all the bears in the area were hunted to extinction. However, you can still see a bear in Santa Teresa Park near this cache site. This cache is located near the high point of the Ridge Trail. From here, you can see an interesting rock formation up on the hill above the trail to the south. It gets more apparent as you get closer to it. To me, it looks like a bear lying on his back. See what you think. There are lots of interesting rocks in the these hills. You might see other critters, including another bear. Post your animal rock pictures here.
The Ridge Trail runs from the Hidden Springs Trail to the lower Coyote Peak Trail. The easy way to get here is from the Pueblo Area parking lot up the Hidden Springs Trail. It's about 0.2 miles from the trailhead. The disadvantage is you have to pay for parking. The hard way (but cheaper) is to start at the Golf Course by "Santa Teresa Driving Lessons" (GCQCYH), head up the hill past "Coyote Peak Shady Rest" (GCN793), take the right fork to "Rest On Your Laurels" (GCNYXZ), then head up the hill. As you climb, you get nearly constant views of the Santa Teresa Golf Course and the Santa Teresa Area. Eventually, you can see much of the Bay Area on a clear day.
Rattlesnake warning: There have been rattlesnakes spotted in this area. Watch where you step and don't put your hands where you can't see.
The cache used to be a camo'd decon container, but after muggling, it's now a camo'd M&M's container. Bring your own pen. You don't have to worry about lots of muggles on this trail, but you are out in the open and can be seen from far away. Watch out for snakes and poison oak on this trail. Watch where you put your hands. Don't even think about bushwhacking your way up here. Poison oak grows in solid hedgerows on the steep hills. Stay on the trails. Watch your step. There are some steep slopes on the lower parts of this trail that can get pretty muddy and torn up by horses in the winter.
Near the bottom of the trail is the new "Ridge Trail Rest" cache (GCTM17). You go for this first and come the trail or get it on the way down. This is close to the Hidden Springs Trail Junction. You can take the Hidden Springs Trail to reach several caches.
3/11/06 update: swapped camo'd Bison tube for decon container, left original logsheet in the cache along with a new logbook. Original contents:
Logbook
Pencil
Mini-Rubik's cube
2 racing cars
4/21/09 update: moved the cache to a less rattlesnake-friendly area, but more exposed to muggles. There is no need to reach into dark areas.
8/3/09 update: cache was muggled, replaced with a micro for now, moved farther up the trail. Be careful you don't get scratched.
1/30/11 Got some awesome rainbow views. The end of the rainbow was at the sleeping bear. See: (visit link)
4/21/14 The cache may have been muggled. I replaced it in the same place, hoping it won't get muggled. Let me know if you find the original. The new one is dated 4/21/14.
9/2/14 There is fence construction going on for cattle grazing. The cache location will soon be behind barbed wire. I replaced the cache in a temporary location. To see the sleeping bear, go west at least 10 yards.
3/4/15 The cache disappeared, so I put a replacement in the previous location. It's outside the fence, so you don't need to hop or go near the fence. The cache only contains a pencil.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs ohfu.