Some Caches Just Aren’t Worth It!
Posted By Shirley on May 3, 2009
Yesterday as we drove toward northern Worcester County for an afternoon of caching we saw so many areas along the highway that still show serious damage from the ice storm of last December – thousands of trees topped off by the weight of the ice or bent over with their tops resting on the ground, fallen branches too numerous to ever count. It will probably be a decade or more before it’s not so noticible. As you drive through the towns there’s still huge piles of branches in front of half the homes. People have cleaned their yards but the towns haven’t found the funds necessary to remove the debris yet.
We were in Fitchburg, MA at a nice little spot – Coggshall Park. It’s a great recreation area for families….picnicking, walking the dog, a small pond for swimming, trails for hiking, great roads for biking. On the trails we saw lots of debris left over from December’s storm. The less used trails may never be cleaned up.
According to Gus – the GPSr – the cache we were searching for was about 250 feet away and up a relatively small though slightly steep hill. It was pretty rocky and we were having a problem finding a trail. Almost passed this one up….but for just 250 – 260 feet we wanted to try it. We finally found a trail heading in the general direction of the cache and began our trek up. It wasn’t long before we ran into storm debris, then a huge and interesting boulder with a surrounding foundation/stone wall….no idea what it had been used for in another lifetime. We kept trudging upward. Unfortunately the storm debris only got worse. We were climbing over huge fallen trees and branches, the trail was pretty much non-existent after passing that large boulder. In addition to the debris there was a field of smaller boulders and rocks as well as mud and a small creek traveling down the hill – all this needed to be crossed before we reached the cache. We finally got to GZ – after what must have been a 1000 foot walk – and knew we must be in the right area. The big problem again…..storm debris. There were enough fallen trees and branches in this area to build a medium sized log home.
Yes, we found the cache…..well hidden but the contents were damp. Now our next concern….how to get back down the hill. Gravity is usually our friend after a climb but in this case the branches and rocks were just a little dangerous. It took a while to negotiate our way back to the car. We finally made it…..with find # 917, a few scrapes and scratches and at least one tick.
Our assessment……..in this case the searching wasn’t so much fun and the cache just wasn’t worth it!
About The Author
Found your coin today #1180 – it was in the High Banks cache. We will be moving it along soon.. Just wanted to say hi~ Happy Caching…