Orange and Gold Lichen, Nature's Color Challenge
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This is a Challenge cache, which means the container is at the listed coordinates. You can find it and sign the log at any time, while to claim a smiley for finding it you need to fulfill the requirements.
When you talk to old-timers of geocaching, one of the things they say most (besides GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU KIDS) is that they got into geocaching because it encourages going out for a hike and enjoying nature. And that's what this challenge is for - to show that you get out in our natural world throughout the the seasons. All you have to do is find 12 caches, one each month, which contain natural colors in the cache names. These can refer to plants, animals, geographical features, or whatever else is colorful in the environment.
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Think about blue skies, green leaves, silver streams, black bears, purple blossoms ... doesn't it make you want to get back outside and look at all the beautiful California scenery ?
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Here are some examples of qualifying caches, typically with a color name and a natural "thing" which is described by that color:
Amber Fields of Grain GCZ5JG
Black Phoebe Lake GC12F0C
Black Sage GC3G28H
Blue Mountains Gateway GCTQDH
Blue Oak GC3G285
Emerald Pool GCW9R6
A Green Valley View GCTWBJ
TreeTop Green GC23H6Q
Big Gray Whale GC24K1V
Golden Eagle Hangout GC19XH6
Lavender GC2113E
Orange Blossom GC1N6R2
Hetch Hetchy Trail - Purple Wisteria GCN5YM
Red Bluff River Trails GCHVRP
Red-Tailed Hawk GC3G29D
The Forgotten Flying Redwoods GCGKEH
Silver Leaf Park GC2081A
Yellow Rose and Panther Beaches Parking GC14TN8
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Sorry, man-made colors, no matter how attractive, don't count for this challenge. No -- Yellow Brick Road, No -- Black Gold (technically that should qualify, since "black" is a color name, and "gold" is a natural thing - but we all know that petroleum and oil wells don't fit the spirit of this challenge. Go find a better, more colorful one instead.)
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Yes, you can repeat a color name as many times as you want, as long as each is a separate cache find which meets the requirements. Adjectival and compound forms count, so "golden" for "gold" and "redwood" for red are okay. But the color name inside a completely different non-color word is not okay. No -- "Fred" does not count for "red", so if your search program looks for that kind of string, you'll have to sort them out before posting.
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You may have already found your qualifying caches. Finds don't need to be in consecutive months - you can find them in any order over several years, as long as you end up with a find for each month.
One more detail: you may own, and maintain, a cache with a natural color name to count as a find (as a substitute for one month you haven't found a qualifying cache, regardless of which month you placed your cache).
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When you log your find, list your twelve qualifying caches with name, GC#, and date found.
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The 4-1/2 star rated difficulty is based on how difficult I think it is to accumulate qualifying caches. It's not intended to be a gimme. Challenge yourself to be excellent at finding caches which describe our interesting natural world.
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The actual cache hide is probably a 2-1/2 star difficulty and terrain. Part of the difficulty is to find a reasonable access to the hilltop area.
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DON'T OVERTURN ROCKS WITH LICHENS. If you feel like you have to move one, put it back in the same orientation when you're done -- but this cache should not require moving any rocks except one which has no lichens. At GZ, what looks like a "geopile" is probably a gopher or snake den. Look for a simpler niche where a small cache could hide under just one rock. Loknlok with red lid, probably visible from a certain angle.
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Whew! Go out there and have fun, people!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
jrfg onfr bs ynetr wnttrq ebpx