Trails Challenge: Morgan Territory Traditional Cache
Trails Challenge: Morgan Territory
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Each year the East Bay Regional Park District holds an event known as the Trails Challenge. Park staff and volunteers write descriptions of their favorite trails, which are compiled into a booklet featuring the top 20 trails for that year. People who register for the Challenge (see www. ebparks.org) can earn a pin for completing five trails by December 1st. Those who want a greater challenge can take on the May Marathon, which involves completing 26-miles of trails in the month of May.
In honor of the (then) 10-year anniversary of Trails Challenge, I have placed caches on five of the featured trails.
Morgan Territory is especially nice in the spring when the wildflowers are in bloom. The drive in can be a bit nerve wracking (slow and careful, please!), but the park itself is spectacular. There are beautiful grasslands, calming oak woodlands, and amazing valleys. My favorite trail is the Prairie Falcon trail, which isn’t on the featured hike, but you pass right by it and it’s worth the side trip. Watch your step at the back part of that trail.
This cache is near the start of the hike, not too far from the main parking lot. Dogs are welcome, and will especially enjoy the start of the hike (near the cache) where there is a special doggy attraction. It gets very hot here in the summer, though, so dogs may not want to do the complete featured hike then. Kids should be able to handle the hike to the cache.
The cache is small, so bring only small items to trade. There is no need to bushwhack or disturb anything to find it. Be gentle with the container, and be sure to secure the lid. I am hoping the container will survive until the Trails Challenge ends in December 2003.
You may need hints to find this cache, as tree cover made it hard to get a satellite fix. Anyone driving all the way to Morgan Territory deserves to find the cache, so do not be too proud to check the hints. There is a reference to a "Bonus cache" in the cache notebook, but the Bonus cache has been archived so just give yourself a bonus pat on the back for finding this one!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx sbe n gerr tebjvat fb pybfr gb n ynetr ebpx sbezngvba gung vg nyzbfg gbhpurf gur ebpxf. Ybbx sbe gur “gbbgul teva” (n ubevmbagny tnc) va gur ovt ebpxf. Purpx gur tnc.