I've been spending quite a bit of time in the Santa Monica Mountains lately. It is home to 3 special challenge caches--Spinal Tap, Santa Monica Mtns History Adventure, and The SuMMit Challenge. As of 2 days ago, I qualified for all three. I've placed this cache to commemorate the completion of these 3 challenges and to say thank you for all the geocaches placed in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Spinal Tap requires finding all the active geocaches within .05 miles of the nearly 70-mile Backbone Trail. Currently there are 247 geocaches along the trail. When I qualified for Spinal Tap in 2009, I needed 95 finds. I now have 223 of the 247.
Santa Monica Mtns History Adventure requires finding all but 2 of the active caches that were placed in the Santa Monica Mountains during the first 3 years of geocaching. In other words, active caches placed before May 3, 2003. Currently, there are 65 caches in the SMMHA.
The SuMMit Challenge requires finding a cache within .2 miles of the top of 24 named summits in the Santa Monica Mountains.
To qualify for these 3 challenges today, you would need to find 335 geocaches. Or you can visit this unchallenging cache and then enjoy a drive through the Santa Monica Mountains.