This is a true letterbox hybrid. The cache is NOT located at the posted coordinates, but this is a good place to park and start your journey.
"The Big Valley" was a television series that aired for four seasons in the late 1960s. The western starred Barbara Stanwyck as the widowed matriarch who ran a large ranch with the help of her three sons and a daughter. The youngest son was portrayed by Lee Majors, who went into star as "The Six Million Dollar Man" and the daughter was portrayed by Linda Evans, who went on to star in the prime time soap opera, "Dynasty". The series was moderately popular, but it never achieved the popularity of other television westerns of the time, such as "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza". It was cancelled in 1969, as westerns started to decline in popularity.
This letterbox hybrid tribute to "The Big Valley" is located in Hidden Valley Park. This park was donated to the city in the 1950s and named for some deep ravines that exist in the natural area of the park. The north half of the park has been developed in the last several years. The posted coordinates will take you to the parking area in this part of the park. Below, you will find directions and pictures that will help you find the location of the cache.
1) After you exit your vehicle (don't forget your pen!), face south and cross Russell Road towards the trailhead pictured below.
2) Keep walking south down the trail towards those foreboding woods. As you enter the wooded area, you should see the trail continue through an opening in an old fenceline. This is shown in the following picture.
3) Walk through that opening and continue south down the trail. After a short time, you will come to a fork in the trail with a few signs. This is shown in the following picture.
4) Take the blue trail to the right at this fork. Count your steps from the narrow sign with directional arrows and the blue and yellow stripes. Walk approximately 50 paces from this sign. The trail should curve back around and by the time you reach 50, you should be facing back to the north. Look to the northwest for the four-trunked tree shown in the picture below. This tree should be only 20-25 feet off the trail.
5) The cache is a plastic ammo can and it is located at the base of this four-trunked tree. Please rehide well.
This is a letterbox hybrid. There is a stamp and inkpad in the cache and they should remain in the cache. Please do not remove them.
Permission has been granted for this cache placement.