Local geocachers are no doubt familiar with the Battle of San Pasqual, if only because the names of Kit Carson, Stephen Watts Kearny and Robert Stockton can be found all over San Diego county. But what does that have to do with Penasquitos Canyon, miles away from the famous battlefield at San Pasqual, Mule Hill or Kit Carson Park? Read on!
In December, 1846, Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny and slightly more than 100 soldiers somewhat unwisely attacked Mexican "Californios" at San Pasqual. Having already claimed New Mexico, Kearny was on his way to San Diego when he met Kit Carson on the trail. Carson brought the news that Commodore Stockton had already secured San Diego, and so Kearny sent some two-thirds of his 300 men back to Santa Fe. San Diego turned out not to be so secure after all, but Kearny and his men (roughly matched by the numbers of Californios at San Pasqual) seemed confident of their superiority.
Though some still argue that Kearny won the ensuing battle, it requires a somewhat generous definition of "won." If being beseiged for five days on a hill and running so short of rations that the soldiers were eating their mules counts as a victory, the army certainly had a resounding one.
After relief finally arrived, Kearny and his men continued on to their original goal of San Diego. One website describes the scene: "When daylight came the Californios faded away and the Americans resumed their march to San Diego. That night they camped at a rancho and freely helped themselves to the supplies that they found there. Lieutenant Gray tried to control the Americans, but General Kearny intervened on behalf of his half starved men. One of the sailors wrote in his diary that the Americans had cleaned out the rancho's larder better than a swarm of locusts could have done." The rancho in question was Rancho de los Penasquitos, in what today is Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. The historic ranch house still stands; tours are given on Saturdays at 11am, and Sundays at 1pm.
Original first finder on this cache was TucsonThompsen. Now that the contest has passed, the cache has been restocked with standard caching goodies (puzzle, stuffed frog, miniature Zen sand garden, rubber duckie, various shiny rocks and frogs and glow-sticks). Plus, there's still a couple of contest coupons left that can be redeemed for spiffy hats. At least, I assume they're spiffy. No more hats, sorry!
Container is a tan 50 cal ammo box, hidden along the broken remnants of a road that was paved sometime during the canyon's colorful history.
The seven people who found the cache prior to its listing on geocaching.com can log it without revisiting -- if you signed the log book, we know who you are!