This cache is located in the middle of Arthur Johnson Park, an undeveloped park located at the northern end of the historic James Mattson Road (196th Avenue NE between Union Hill Road & Redmond-Fall City Road). The southern end of the brick pavement is located at N 47° 39.505', W 122° 04.732', while the northern end lies at N 47° 40.496', W 122° 04.744'. I strongly encourage all visitors to this cache to drive, bike, or walk the length of the Red Brick Road to get a sense of its history. From HistoryLink.org:
The Mattson Road contains the longest stretch of exposed historic red brick highway in King County. In 1901, the northern route between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass, first developed as a road in 1865, was realigned to create what is now 196th Avenue NE in order to eliminate a long, difficult grade. The dirt and gravel road was often impassable, and with the growing popularity of automobile travel, local resident James Mattson and his neighbors pressed the county to pave the road to provide an all-weather surface. In 1913, the road was paved with red bricks manufactured in Renton. In the late 1910s, the road became part of the Yellowstone Trail. This was a well-signed and promoted transcontinental driving route developed by automobile promoters to encourage and direct early automobile travelers in the age before state or federal highway networks were created. In the 1980s, the King County Roads Department resored the brick surface, which had deteriorated severely.
The cache is a drab olive .30-cal. ammo can with "GEOCACHE" stenciled in yellow on multiple sides and an "Official Geocache" sticker affixed.
A word of caution: watch out for nettles and sticker bushes in the area (the main reason for the 2-star rating on the terrain)! Bushwhacking is minimized by approaching the cache from the north (off of Union Hill Road) rather than trying to come directly from the Red Brick Road.
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