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Classic San Pedro shore location
This is my attempt at a better replacement for "Thank You For Holding My Purse." I was considering unarchiving it, but in the process of checking the (free) eastern approach suggested by EScout and others, I found better sites to see and climb, so I placed this cache instead.
NOTE AS OF 12/28/11: THE EASTERN APPROACH IS GONE, LOST TO THE WHITE POINT LANDSLIDE. You can still park for free on Paseo Del Mar (until it ends abruptly in a landslide) and walk down the road into Royal Palms, or pay (quite a bit unless it is before 9am) to drive down into the Royal Palms park area. From there, it is a walk eastward along the ocean below the bluffs to the GZ, which is still above the Windy Point WP.
The Windy Point waypoint is the cool spot that got me to realize I needed to show you this spot rather than just repeat the previous cache location. What great views coming from the east compared to paying to come down to Royal Palms! If you need a shorter walk, you may be able to walk easier to this point from the lowest and eastmost Royal Palms lot, but from either direction, from here you need to go UP. But before you do, enjoy the breeze...as a jutting out point along the bluffs, the wind blew through here pretty good today, despite barely feeling it anywhere else. Hold on to your hat!
The climb up here is fairly stable, but the path is crumbly. STAY AWAY from the edge. Of the coords I gathered, I took the most NW of them to keep you from being tempted to go over the edge. DO NOT GO OVER THE PRECIPICE LOOKING FOR THIS!
Cache is a cylindrical cannister, 8" long, 4" diameter, in dark green. I won't make you search hard, the point here is the views: it is in a hole under a flatrock which is under a thorny plant, on the LEFT side of the trail going up, and RIGHT NEXT to it. Yeah, sounds bad, but you don't need to reach THROUGH the plant, just under it. Hole is blocked w/ a rock. Remove that rock, pull out cache. There was nothing in the hole today (because I made the hole by placing the flat rock there), but you might want gloves or a flashlight to ensure nothing has taken up residence.
There are signs of partying here, so the only way to keep this from getting muggled is to replace it as found, rock the front and push some trail dirt against it so it doesn't look obvious. (Don't bury it for the next cacher!)
Difficulty/Terrain rating suggestions accepted. MAYBE it's a D=2, MAYBE it's a T=4, according to the online D/T rater, so your suggestions are welcome. I thought I'd start low.
Initial cache contents are a beach vault, stuffed Pluto, two scouting patches, a whistle, a hiking bootlace braided into a bracelet (for wearing while hiking, of course), and a heart-shaped balloon. No FTF prize, sorry, I had meant this to be a replacement cache!
(I just realized, log may say "Thank You For Holding My Purse" and 'replacement log' on it. Oops! I had come to replace that one, when I decided to make a new cache instead. Ignore my confusion!)
NOTE AS OF 12/28/11: THE EASTERN APPROACH IS GONE, LOST TO THE WHITE POINT LANDSLIDE. I'm marking this next part to skip, but I'm hoping at some point a trail down the east side will still make this an adventurous hike down...once it's stable, that is...rather than just walking down the paid parking area.
Here is the old directions to the cache, now lost to the landslide:
The trailhead waypoint is listed below, there is free parking on Paseo Del Mar about 50 yards west of the trailhead and also 100 yards past it to the east. (No parking 10pm-6am.) There are ambiguously painted over 'no stopping' signs at the trailhead...uncertain if you'd get ticketed right there.
I almost called this 'PV Hiking Sampler' because of the range of terrains and trails...nice new sidewalks run from the parking areas to the trailhead, a disused road takes you to the shoreline, a rocky clamber over a trail-less rocky beach, then up crumbly trails on the bluff. Ready?
The trailhead takes you down a disused road which is now a hiking trail. The road is still stable and an easy grade down. For more spectacular views, walk the footpath along the ocean side of the road and you are walking above a steep drop...not suggested for anyone w/ vertigo. For that matter, if you have vertigo, you aren't going to like where the cache is, either.
At the 'end of the road' waypoint below, you are literally out of road, now you need to clamber down to the beach and walkover the rocks for a ways. There is no trail here, and some pretty large rocks, but it isn't too far. I was there at a high tide today and it was still passable, but I did get sprayed a couple times. Erosion of the cliffs indicates this may be impassable at some times of day.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
See pic. <-- That's not encrypted, so don't hit the button.