As a child, one of my favorite books was Jean Craighead George's 1960 Newbery Honor book, My Side of the Mountain. Later, as a teacher, I used it with my 5th grade classes. The story follows Sam Gribley, a 15 year old boy who leaves home to spend a year living off the land in upstate New York. Sam fashions a home inside a hollowed-out tree which he shares with an assortment of animals he befriends. A central line of the story is the relationship between Sam and his peregrine falcon, Frightful, which has inspired many people to love nature and falcons from Robert F Kennedy, Jr. who says the book interested him in falconry and eventually a career as an environmental lawyer, to staff members of the Santa Cruz Predatory Research Project.
Since Sam lived in a tree, the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains seems like a natural west-coast place for Sam. This site was pointed out to me by Ranger Rose as a good possible spot for the cache. It is near a family of redwoods that remind her of her own family - her mother, father, herself, and her sister. In the cache are some items that Sam made during his year in the wild. Please leave them in the cache. The log is a copy of the book. Take a few minutes, read a bit of the book, find a page you like, and sign the "log!" Original swag in the cache includes assorted bookmarks, reading bracelets, etc (hey - I'm a retired teacher-librarian after all!)
Potola State Park entrance fee. From near the Vistor Center take the Sequoia Nature Trail to the Iverson Trail. Don't attempt if the bridge has been removed for the winter and water is high.
There are some National Park quarters & an unactivated trackable for the FTF. Congrats to NurseBoyER on your FTF! I'm glad the cache brought back fond memories for you.