BIG BEAR at Firestone GC78

GC78 Firestone by Scott Hinds

BIG BEAR’s birthday wish was to do this cache, it was published 10/02/2000 called Firestone.  It is located near Bodega Bay, North of San Francisco. So after biking the Golden Gate park earlier in the day, we jumped in the Jeep and headed north up Hwy 1 to the cache location.  The road into the cache was winding but it was a beautiful drive.

This was rated a 1/1 but we parked at the closest point and walked over, looked down and thought no way this is a 1 terrain.  We did see a trail though and later found out if you parked at the Trail Head (which we passed on the way up to the cache) that you could have an easy hike into this cache that was a terrain of 1.    Since we were at the closest point we through caution to the wind and started our way down to the cache, our terrain was about a 4.  It was very steep, but the views were extraordinary… it was beautiful.  There was no fog and we got there just about Sunset to witness one of the prettiest views of the ocean.

Sunset at Firestone

the view from Firestone

the view from Firestone

Watching the Sunset from Bodega Bay

going through the tunnel

Sunset

BIG BEAR and Tru2Cntry at Firestone

Heading up to Bodega Bay – the tunnel

BIG BEAR on his way to Firestone

BIG BEAR and Tru2Cntry watching the Sunset from Bodega Bay

There aren’t too many of these old caches left and this one filled in a spot, or rather a date on our “Finds by Placed Month” calendar.  The caches with the older years for 2000 and 2001 are few and far between.  They were published when Geocaching was just beginning and now are very sought after caches.  On Firestone at the time there are only 260 finds for the cache.  For being published 11 years ago you would think there would be a lot more finds.  I hope this cache stays active, the owner has stated on his cache page that he has moved and it is difficult for him to maintain it, the Geocaching family is pretty good however at helping to maintain caches if they know that the owner can’t do it himself.  Trying to fill in the Jasmer Challenge Calendar: GC1GBC1 The Jasmer Challenge (Northern California Edition) by jasmerb

This cache for me will be remembered for not only the numbers it fills in for me but the memory of one of the most beautiful spots I have ever been to, and we ended the day by watching the sun go down. Perfect ending to a perfect caching day and it was a great way to honor my best friend’s birthday!

Happy Birthday BIG BEAR!

IGOR – GCDE – A very old Cache!

GCDE Igor

Nov 27, 2011 – BIG BEAR and I got up early this morning to make our way to this cache site… its got a very old GC#. This cache fills a spot in our “found for that year and date chart” that we both needed, and that’s why we seek these older caches out.

The terrain/difficulty rating was a 1/1.5… but that was the hardest 1.5 terrain I have ever done,