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Well, it looks like "The Empire Strikes BLACK"--Empire Lakes park that is! This is another great NIGHT CACHE--right in the middle of the Bay Area.
So grab your flashlight and a friend or two, and head out on the trail of the "Night Lights". Your hunt will take you along a section of the Empire Lakes Trail System that allows for foot traffic after dark. Permission has been granted for this cache placement.
Park your vehicle in the off-road lot, at the listed parking coordinates, but DO NOT enter the John Topits Park, which is closed from dusk til dawn.
Instead, walk on the trail along the road to the posted coordinates for the cache. The cache is not located there, but that is where you will begin your hunt. Your first set of "Night Lights" are in the shape of a triangle, visible from the road, located just below the road level, along a short, slightly-steeper trail, which takes you down to the main path. This is where your hunt begins.
The actual "Night Lights" are fire tacks with highly-reflective properties. They have been placed at various intervals (10-100 feet), and various heights (1-12 feet) along the trail. Most of them are located on trees, though a few may be on fallen logs or in bushes. The best way to see them is to hold your flashlight at eye-level (i.e. beside your ear) and look for small "Night Lights" somewhere on or near the path ahead.
When you spot one, walk along the path toward the "Night Light" (or as close as you can get without leaving the path). Then use your flashlight, again at eye-level, to look for the NEXT "Night Light". There are over 100 orange and white "Night Lights" to guide you to the cache location.
You will know you have reached the end of the hunt when you find 4 "Night Lights" arranged in a square. From that point, turn left (in front of the final "Night Lights"), and walk until you cross a log. Turn left again, and look for a camouflaged plastic container underneath an old root growth. You should be able to see another "Night Light" just above the cache.
When you have logged the cache, walk back to the main trail, and continue along the trail--this time following VERTICAL PAIRS of "Night Lights"--until you find your way out of the park.
The entire hike is about 3/4 of a mile long, and should probably take you 30-60 minutes.
AS A BONUS, you will find in the cache container the EXACT COORDINATES for 3 additional "Mystery Caches" in the Bay Area. These "Bonus Caches" are not available without first finding the "Night Lights" cache.
HERE ARE SOME BASIC GUIDELINES FOR YOUR HUNT:
1. For safety reasons, please do not attempt this cache alone. And we recommend that your group stays together while you hunt. There are not many who walk these trails at night, but occasionally there are some (Reyga had a bit of a scare when "Jack" startled him from behind as we were doing a test-run of the course, haha)
2. There is no need to leave the paths until the final set of markers. Some of the actual "Night Lights" are a few feet off the path, due to the absence of trees along the path. Just get as close as the path will take you. Also look for additional "Night Lights" which have been added to clarify your route.
3. Please watch for roots, rocks, fallen logs, and low-hanging trees & branches along the path. Also, some areas may be slippery and/or muddy at times, especially after rains.
4. If, at any point, you cannot see a "Night Light", move around a foot or two, looking higher and lower, nearer and farther, and just off the path, until you spot one. Or, as a last resort, you can walk a bit further down the path until you find the NEXT "Night Light".
*ONE ADDED NOTE: Near the beginning, shortly after you cross a wooden bridge, your path will turn. The abundance of overgrowth, and lack of visible trees along the path made placement of a visible firetack somewhat difficult. But, if you look, there is one very bright light for you to follow directly in the center of your intended path. We mention this because several have mentioned getting somewhat lost at this point.
BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qvq jr zragvba gung lbh jvyy arrq n synfuyvtug? Oevtugre znl or orggre ng gvzrf, naq lbh znl jnag rkgen onggrevrf, orpnhfr vs lbhe yvtug tbrf qrnq, lbh'yy unir gb cbfg n QAS (sbe "Qnex-Avtug-Srne").