With 1,045 finds in 2014 I failed to reach my annual goal of 1,200 caches. A flat tire on December 24 left me with a temporary 50 mile, 45 mph maximum spare. I couldn’t safely reach any power trails to make up the difference. I ordered 4 new all terrain tires. They didn’t arrive until January 2. &#%@#$^!!!
I started the year with a local hike at Chatsworth Park, South. An unexpected lack of parking, a registration table and cases of water bottles were indications that a big muggle herd was somewhere nearby. Nevertheless there was no one in sight to tell me that the area was closed for an event so I walked in at the trailhead: N 34° 14.980 W 118° 37.198
My first stop was at Need a Lift? (GC4EWF7) where I DNF’d what should’ve been an easy to find magnetic container. The cache owner later confirmed that it’s missing and disabled it.
The trail ahead was wide and mostly flat. But I turned S (left) on a side trail for Hometown View (GCEWFX).
Here’s the view looking back from GZ.
Returning N, eventually the muggle herd appeared. This is about 1/3 of the group. I was glad when they kept walking and didn’t come up to the high point where I was searching for another cache.
Later, it started to look like Along the Road (GC2NHX0) was only reachable from below. Then I found that the trail continued over the edge, down to a paved road. A chain link fence and “Area Closed – Hazardous Materials,” signs blocked access across the road. But then again the cache was named, “Along the Road.”
Cool temperatures made it easy to walk uphill and back to the plateau. There were no unfound (by me) caches in the cliffs so I turned S to find a final cache and hiked back to the trailhead.
On the way I saw a giant hole in the ground. At more than 15’ in diameter, it seemed too big to be a fire pit. And there were no obvious scorch marks on the masonry. Does anyone have info?
Posted by oldweeb 
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