Holy Jim Falls Traditional Cache
Boilermaker_82: Time to move on....
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Cussin' Jim
If you expect that the Holy Jim Canyon is named for a pious, early preacher in the Santa Ana Mountains, you would be very wrong! Jim Smith was a beekeeper who settled in the north fork of Trabuco Canyon in the 1870s. It was said that: "Jim Smith was a talker...no ordinary talker... a man given to blasphemous eloquence. When he started cussing... he could peel paint off a stove pipe." When government surveyors first mapped the canyon, they chose to name it "Holy Jim" rather than "Cussin' Jim," since the word "cussing" was considered neither polite nor appropriate for a government publication.
Another bit of history marks the place: the last wild California Grizzly -- an old bear named "the honey thief" -- was killed at the mouth of Trabuco Canyon after robbing beehives here in 1907.
To get to the trailhead: Head north on El Toro to the point where the road forks at Cook's Corner. Take the right fork (Live Oak Canyon Road) past O'Neill Park. A quarter mile past Trabuco School, you will pass over Trabuco Creek. Turn left onto the dirt road (Waypoint TURN). Some people park here and hike in: this adds 4.45 miles and 840 feet to your hike (one way). Most continue on the road for another 4.45 miles and park in the Holy Jim lot (Waypoint PARK). Though washboarded in parts, the road is usually passable for most passenger cars. The trail ascends the canyon on the left side of the parking lot. Roundtrip hike at this point is 2.8 miles. Elevation gain - 625 feet. Estimated hiking time - 1.5 hours. Note the attribute for poison plant. There is poison oak. Stay on the trail and you should be fine. Remember leaves of three, let it be.
Save the keystrokes about telling me the coordinates are off. The canyon will play havoc with any attempt to get accurate coordinates. Use the hint if you need more help. Take care in replacing it as this is a very high muggle area so verify that your replacement is difficult to see.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Snpr snyyf, haqre perivpr haqre ebpxf gb gur yrsg.