Ok, let me start at the beginning.😁 Last week, I hiked in from the Secret Kennedy trailhead. I knew this trail from having ridden my mtn bike up here nearly 20 years ago, and while both my bike and myself aren’t in the shape we used to be in, I thought this was the closest I was going to get to a Moun10 bike coin in a cache and I had better give it a whirl. I ended up turning around about half mile from the Kennedy Trail Junction where it T’s. Even though I have a really good halogen flashlight, I knew I had to get to the cache before dark, and I wasn’t going to make it.🙂 The hike back to my car was really nice, I saw at least 20 mtn bikers and 5 of those I saw while I was on the way back and 2 of those didn’t have lights! I watched the city below turn on its lights as I trudged down the mountain and it was glorious. Two of the hunky mtn bikers asked if I needed help. Even though I didn’t, I thought it was nice they asked (I and really did think about it for about a second😈). I didn’t log any DNF’s because I didn’t look for a single cache since I was fighting daylight AND I was on a mission.
Then Ckayaks paid the area a visit and left 2 more caches 😁 and no one else had logged the finds, yet. This time I would take a route that looked a little shorter on a map, but one I was unfamiliar with. I went to where the Bald Mtn CITO was held and started on my merry way. It was hot, I mean, it must be almost 70 on that mtn and I wondered what it must be like in the summer(:P). I found SA-109 and started down Barlow Rd. Down, down, down. It felt like about 1000 ft down and I was a little concerned since a Geocaching Sage I consulted about this hike said, “Just keep going up.” But the trail kept going down!(?)At the Woods Rd Junction I thought about turning around and going back up. I will not be looking forward to this climb at the end of the hike. But it occurred to me that if I quit now, I'll get caught in rush hour traffic and I might as well continue on. Also, I heard water and wasn’t Ckayaks new cache something about water? OK, onward and upward, and upward it was. I found Ckayak’s cache and thought about turning around, but my GPSr said I had about a half mile to go to get to Sombroso Spur, really. It wouldn’t lie. I had about 2 hours of daylight, so off I went. I made it, as you see and that last 1500 ft took its toll. I want to say that it doesn’t help that the cache is hidden by a bunch of thorny twigs!!! I originally wanted to gaze at the mysterious moun10 bike coin and leave it for others to find, but I didn’t really have time. So I grabbed it and a CKayaks coin and left a GasCan coin, (The best of my collection) and another trackable coin in their place. I signed the log and literally ran back to the trail. The sun was already below the ridge and I wanted to get to back to Barlow Rd before it was completely dark. One thing about hiking in the dark, it’s very meditative and there is nothing to distract you. I like to ride my bike at night for the same reason. Of course, tonight, I had Godfrey, and who is Godfrey? Why, he was the bat that was drawn to the bugs flying around my light. So Godfrey flitted back and forth, catching his dinner while I trudged upward towards my car. I made it back to the trailhead at about 6:15 a bit weary, but it was a better hike than last time, easier that is. I prefer the Kennedy trailhead hike. When I put the coin back, I’ll have to try Alma Bridge Rd or maybe I’ll break out my old mtn bike. I still ride it in the rain in Henry Cowell. It’s a 1986 camouflage-blue Ritchey. Anyway, thanks for the adventure, now I need a beer!
Cheers,
Nooks
edit: for smileys 🤭 🙂 😁
[This entry was edited by nooks on Friday, December 08, 2006 at 10:22:38 AM.]