Hi, Rich!

Well, this time you get the $1.00 log instead of the $20.00 log!

Following yesterday’s adventure, which was a success only in that we managed to find the trails that you didn’t take in order to place this cache, we weren’t feeling too optimistic about this morning. Still, having spent the better part of last night studying maps and discussing possibilities, we knew we had to give this cache one more try on our day off. This tree has been haunting us in our dreams, and it was time to put the mystery to rest.

After a short (but scratchy!) walk on a trail quite different from the one we chose yesterday, we located the anthill, and a decent view across the valley came into view. This already put us in better standing than we had been at any point yesterday. But frustrations soon ensued, mostly revolving around the observation that nothing up here looks remotely like it does from your viewpoint coordinates! What to do but search around every lone pine tree within a reasonable radius? Anyone who has been to this area knows this is a laughable method.

Fortunately, we pushed ourselves along just a bit further and noticed a tree that, however unlikely, had to be examined. Just a few yards from it, we stumbled upon the rock and found the cache beneath, hidden as promised. We signed in as First Finders at 10:50am, collected our “prize”, took a few photos while I froze in the chilly wind, and then left the way we’d come.

Thanks for the experience. Finding this cache involved exercise, education, and an enigma. We certainly got to know the area well from our topo maps and aerial photos, and on foot! Now we’ve just got to come up with another couple bucks for our next case of McSorley’s.

Zhanna

Howdy, Rich!

After scrutinizing our maps and photos again, we were ready for a second trip to the mountain early this morning to explore another new trail. We didn’t have to go far before we came upon some evidence that indicated we were finally at least on the right path. First came the anthill. Woooeee!!! This must be the trail, we thought! Now we had some reassurance. Next we came upon a nice open area with a potentially good view across the valley. And lastly, we discovered an “item” that more or less cinched the deal! It wasn’t the pine tree, of course, but this thing really raised our hopes to a new level. However, this was the point were the real “fun” began. We spent the next hour or so roaming the area and attempting to compare the photo to every tree and shape and cluster around us. Making our way through some of the dense brush and scrub proved a challenge in itself. I’m going to have to say that we found the pine tree mostly by luck, ‘cuz nothing we saw in the immediate vicinity, especially with a perspective so close up, matched the photo with any certainty. I’m sure that from a distance things up here look a whole lot different. We never did get back to the viewpoint with our spotting scope. How you found this #*&% tree on your first visit sure beats the heck out of us!

Anyway, thanks for another interesting and (physically & mentally) challenging hunt. The unique concept for both of these pine tree caches had us very intrigued right from the beginning.

Oh, and no ticks today!

Rich in NEPA