The purpose of this cache is to bring you to a shady area in Edenvale Gardens Park close to the Hayes Mansion. The Hayes Mansion was designed by noted architect George W. Page in 1904 and was built in 1905. It had 62 rooms and covered 41,000 square feet. It was the home of Jay and Everis Hayes, who were early publishers of the San Jose Mercury News and important figures in the politics and economy of the Santa Clara Valley. They and their families lived in the mansion until the 1950's. After that, it was empty and decaying until it was renovated in 1994. Now it is a huge conference center, owned by the City of San Jose. The restaurant there is open to the public. The mansion is a California historical landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
There was no way I was going to put a cache at the Hayes Mansion itself. It is too well-tended. Edenvale Gardens Park is right next to the mansion, and you can easily walk between the two. The cache is located in a shady grove of tall trees. The older trees in the park were part of the Hayes gardens and arboretum. The cache is not in a very busy area of the park, so muggles are not as big a problem as at the playground. Unfortunately, the trees make for marginal GPSr reception. The coordinates are the average of several readings. If you're having too much trouble getting a good fix, check the hint.
Edenvale Gardens Park is on the former site of the Frontier Village amusement park. Frontier Village was built on 33 acres that were once part of the Hayes estate. It opened to the public in 1961 and closed in 1980. The park property was developed into condos and 19.7-acre Edenvale Gardens Park, which was acquired by the City of San Jose's parks department in 1988. There are remnants from the Frontier Village days near the cache site. It had waterways running through it. You could paddle canoes around in them. You can see the ditches running through the park that were once these waterways. The park also had trout fishing. How many amusement parks do you know of that have trout fishing? They provided the poles and lines, and all you had to do was throw in the line and pull in the fish.
The cache is a camo'd container that only contains a log. Bring something to write with. It is in an easily-accessible location, though the ground may be too soft for wheelchairs. This is near the park path and close to the park boundary. Watch out for muggles.
Winter is a good time to visit the park, as the unwatered areas turn green. In the spring, the trees are filled with colorful blossoms. Ample parking is available next to the park. While parking is available at night, the park is gated and has limited hours, so is not open 24 hours a day. It opens at 7:00 am to half an hour past sunset.
11/20/11 Update:
Note that there used to be 2 caches here. It's a long story. Read the old logs. Now there's only 1.
4/11/15 The cache was muggled. Actually, I found the camo scattered about in pieces. Maybe it was angry squirrels. I replaced the cache, at least temporarily. It's simple and cheap, so I won't cry if it gets muggled. Little container. No room for trading items or a pencil. Bring your own writing implements. Watch out for muggles.
4/17/17 Update:
The cache may have been muggled. I replaced it with an un-camo'd pill container. It has a small pencil in it. Since it's un-camo'd, make sure you cover it up so muggles can't see it.
6/9/22 Update: The cache disappeared. I replaced it with a camo'd pill container. It just has a log. It's attached so it won't roll away. It's covered for protection.