Hollister Hills GeoBash II

This year’s Hollister Hills GeoBash II was very similar to last year’s event. The main difference being that Sam and I didn’t need to get winched back onto the trails this time.

I’d enjoyed last year’s inaugural event – other than the whole almost-rolling-backwards-down-a-steep-hillside thing – so I’d been looking forward to the sequel event. And so on Saturday morning, April 13th, I again found myself waking up to my alarm far too early for a weekend. By 0720 I’d met up with fellow friends and geocachers Sam and Yvonne at a south San Jose Starbucks, and from there we drove down to Hollister Hills SVRA where we registered before the 0900 briefing.

The attendance looked good again for this year, with maybe twenty vehicles or more lined up adjacent to the Area 5 stage. I noticed that someone had brought a trailer with quads, not understanding that this was strictly a 4×4 event. Also this year a couple of folks seemed to have showed up without having arranged for rides ahead of time, although maybe they were those quad owners. I knew a lot of the geocachers there but definitely not everyone.

The event schedule was much like last year: we’d drive around looking for new geocaches that had been placed in the Upper Ranch and Hudner expansion property areas until lunch, when we’d be fed free hot dogs and chips. After lunch we’d go back out for a few more hours before returning to turn in the info cards we’d found inside the geocaches, and be rewarded with raffle tickets in exchange. The raffle would then be hald and the event would officially be over.

Besides the fun and the raffle, there were two big benefits of this event: each vehicle received a free day-use pass, which you normally have to pay for; and attendees gained access to the Hudner expansion property which is normally not open to the general public. It’s a beautiful area and very different from the usual Upper Ranch trails at Hollister Hills.

After the briefing, it seems like 3 or 4 groups headed over to the Hudner area, including us. Most of the groups had several vehicles I think, but we just had three: my Land Cruiser, Sam’s FJC, and Rick’s Jeep Patriot. At least I think it’s a Patriot, I’m not too familiar with those.

We had a good time and spent a couple of hours on the Hudner trails, picking up a half-dozen or so geocaches along the way. We were led along a few trails we’d not done last year, which was nice. and some were pretty narrow, especially for my big Land Cruiser! Like last year, in the tight spots I found myself wishing for a ’46 Willy’s Jeep! But I squeaked through. We again drove the trail where Sam and I had our incidents last year, but this time with no difficulties whatsoever.

Here’s a sequence of GoPro captures that reduces our two hours of driving around the Hudner expansion to two minutes:

Having completed out tour of the Hudner side, we returned for the free hot dog and chips lunch, chatting with others about their morning experiences, before heading out again. This time we were on more technical trails in the Upper Ranch area, where the terrain was steeper and rockier, and we had some challenging steep hairpin turns that were a little sketchy but fun. Our group was pretty laid-back about the caches and returned in plenty of time to turn in our clue books before the raffle.

Unlike last year when I think I won three or four prizes, I came away empty-handed this time. Despite that, it was still fun and when it was over we spent some more time catching up with friends before heading home.

I’d like to again thank the Hollister Hills staff, HHORA, the raffle sponsors, the geocachers who volunteered, and the attendees for another very fun 4×4 geocaching event. I’m told that the event will continue next year, and I’m looking forward to it. Watch for details on the Hollister Hills SVRA Facebook page, and I’ll see you there!