Garin Park: Above Buttonwood LbNA #27428 (ARCHIVED)

Garin park in the Hayward hills is the home of a late summer apple festival, but it’s a beautiful park to visit any time of year. Go to the main picnic area near the parking lot. There is a big red barn here, an old wagon, and restrooms. Facing the hills with the parking lot behind you, turn toward the left and walk a bit down the path toward the Buttonwood picnic spot. (Buttonwood is right near a stream, and has a great tree with the trunk almost horizontal to the ground, great for kids of all ages to clamber around on.) Before you get to Buttonwood, scan the barbed wire fence that separates the big meadow from the hills. There’s a wooden gate that you can pass through, and uphill from that gate is a stand of eucalyptus trees. Climb up to these trees. The front rightmost tree is one of the biggest in the stand; behind it is a second tree, and behind that one is a tree that has died and fallen onto the second one. The dead tree is held up at a 45 degree angle, and the base of the tree is split. Wedged into the base of this split trunk, under some sticks and leaf litter, you’ll find the letterbox (film canister).