Did you know that the East Bay Regional Parks District is the largest urban park system in the entire country? This geocache is part of the "Passport to the East Bay Parks" series. The lands of Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve were dedicated to the East Bay Regional Park District by a local construction company in 1985. The scenic ridgelands were preserved after developers agreed to limit an adjacent subdivision to the low-lying areas. The area was formerly known as the Cutter Ranch, and belonged to Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley through the 1970s. The lab raised horses and cattle there, using blood from the animals to produce tetanus and diphtheria vaccines.
Today's Preserve was once part of the vast Rancho Sobrante land grant, given by the Mexican government to Juan Jose Castro in 1840. Great herds of Spanish longhorn cattle freely roamed the hills at that time, and were valued by the rancheros for their hides and tallow. The name Sobrante in Spanish means "excess" or "leftover," and reflects the late date of the land grant: the lands were leftover lands, not included in previous grants.
Be sure to stamp your passport with the stamp provided in the geocache. Many of the Passport geocaches have blank passport booklets in the container. You can also download a Passport via Passport To The Parks
When you completely fill up your Passport, you can redeem it for a special prize. Of course, there is no cost for participating. For further information on the Passport series, see Passport To The Parks
Cache information:
The Sobrante Ridge Passport is an ammo can, just a short hike up from the Coach Drive trailhead. Cache is a camo'd green ammo box, hidden at the base of a tree, 50' down from the trail, under a bundle of sticks (to keep it from being accidently discovered).