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Mt. Diablo Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

WRITE SHOP ROBERT: I'm sad to say that I'm hardly ever in town anymore, and when I do get here, I just don't have the time to make the trip over here to replace this one, so I'll have to archive it, and eventually make sure that it is in fact gone. Meanwhile I'd love to see someone else honor the mountains name by assigning it to another cache!

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Hidden : 12/19/2004
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Not as near to the top as I would have liked, because the mountaintop was occupied by another cache at the time I hid this one.

After finding the cache atop Mt. Tamalpias following work on a Saturday evening, I thought it would be cool to come the very next day to Mt. Diablo and find the cache that tops this mountain. I was surprised and disappointed to find that there is no regular cache at the top (only a nanocache that I couldn't find). The obvious thing then, was to hide one.

This cache can be found near the road on the way up the mountain, and is hidden near parking (if you don't like to drive to caches, then you can hike from wherever you want, of course increasing the terrain rating). It is in a place where most muggles will not have any reason or inclination to peek, but will be an overly obvious spot for geocachers to look.

The two main purposes of this cache are to actually have a cache named "Mt. Diablo" to match the one called "Mt. Tamalpias" (that only seems appropriate) and to have an easy one on the mountain that kids can easily find (and enjoy).

The following is taken from a book titled "1000 California Place Names" by Erwin G. Gudde (University of California Press)

"The name 'Monte del Diablo' (devil's grove) for an Indian rancheria was recorded in about 1824. It is reported that a fight between Spanish soldiers and Indians took place by a thicket near the site of what is now Pacheco, and that a grotesquely dressed Indian medicine man made the soldiers believe the devil had allied himself with the Indians. American explorers, believing that 'monte' meant 'mountain' as in Italian, transferred the name to the peak"

I have seen this same story written in other places as well, with the Indians being chased by the Spanish and with the 'thicket' being a vast expanse of willow trees that covered the entire area now occupied by Pacheco and Buchanan Field, which was at the time marsh and wetland.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

oruvaq gur jnyy.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)