You will find yourself near some out-buildings for Bellarmine College Preparatory. BCP is an all-male, private high school. Founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1851, in conjunction with Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University - located about a mile away). It is the oldest secondary school in California. In addition to a strong academic emphasis, the school's focus on service is exemplified in it's motto: "Men For Others". The Bellarmine student body includes more than 1,500 students from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Quite a few of these far flung "Bellarmine Boys" commute to school on CalTrain. Trains only stop at the tiny College Park Station, just off of the Bellarmine campus, to serve the school's commute needs. Look about 150 feet down the street and you will see this small open-air pavilion. To keep from revealing the cache to the clusters of passing BCP students, avoid this cache as students arrive and leave on school days (8:00am, 3:00pm & 4:30pm Mon - Th, 8:00am &12:30pm Friday), or during football games. At all other times the place is practically deserted. NOTE: You do not need to go near the tracks. Also, the house you see is the BCP Maintenance Office. The cache is not on the actual school property. Even so, I checked with the maintenance supervisor, and he has given permission for the cache placement - still be stealthy…we don't want the maintenance workers to notice the activity and muggle the cache.
COLLEGE PARK STATION itself has an interesting history. Those who are fond of classic adventure literature may recognize these selections from the opening paragraphs of one of the most beloved books of the genre - Jack London's The Call of the Wild: "Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland. These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost. Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. Judge Miller's place, it was called....And over this great demesne Buck ruled. Here he was born...During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself... But he had saved himself by not becoming a mere pampered house-dog. Hunting and kindred outdoor delights had kept down the fat and hardened his muscles... And this was the manner of dog Buck was in the fall of 1897, when the Klondike strike dragged men from all the world into the frozen North. But Buck did not read the newspapers, and he did not know that Manuel, one of the gardener's helpers, was an undesirable acquaintance. Manuel had one besetting sin. He loved to play Chinese lottery. Also, in his gambling, he had one besetting weakness - faith in a system; and this made his damnation certain. For to play a system requires money, while the wages of a gardener's helper do not lap over the needs of a wife and numerous progeny.
The Judge was at a meeting of the Raisin Growers' Association, and the boys were busy organizing an athletic club, on the memorable night of Manuel's treachery. No one saw him and Buck go off through the orchard on what Buck imagined was merely a stroll. And with the exception of a solitary man, no one saw them arrive at the little flag station known as College Park. This man talked with Manuel, and money chinked between them." You are standing near the very site where Buck met his downfall. Buck was hauled north and sold as a sled dog, where the Yukon was his destination and destiny.
Included in the cache is a Buck TB that wants to travel to the Yukon, recreating Buck’s unchosen, but ultimately heroic, journey, and a Loonie (Canadian dollar coin) for the FTF, in honor of all of the brave dogs who were sacrificed on the altar of man's greed. Parking: tricky on school days. There is 5 min. parking just at the corner that always has free spots (5 minutes can be safely stretched to 10-15 if you keep an eye on your car).Or, you can park at the Salvation Army lot down the street and walk. Plenty of street parking outside of school hours, but double-check the neighborhood parking restricted signs.