I had the day off from work and couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than geocaching and benchmark hunting with Rich. Our first target was a new geocache by veteran cacher RenegadeJane, near the Ledgedale Natural Area. After an early (7:40am) start, we headed east on I-84 toward the natural area. We located the trailhead with some difficulty, parked and were on our way by 8:20am. It was a chilly, damp, cloudy morning, with the sky threatening rain, just the perfect atmosphere for a walk in a lush dark forest. In some places there were brilliant green ferns as far as the eye could see. We encountered no wildlife but could hear bird songs from the branches above us, which broke the silence but still added to the peacefulness of the experience.
While Rich composed his log, I explored the area around the split rock, eventually discovering tree branches on which I could swing as if they were monkey bars. (This was great fun and I even posed, swinging, for a photo!) Luckily for us the rain didn’t come, and we took our time on the return hike, making the complete loop and stopping for photos and little explorations and reflections along the way.
Back at the Zhannamobile, we snacked on pizza and took a few more photos while leisurely putting away our gear and planning out our next adventure. It wasn’t a big surprise to see a red truck pull into the parking area a few minutes later. We figured someone else would’ve been here by now, for sure! Our fellow geocacher was DeadBird652; as always, it was a pleasure chatting with him. We talked geocaching and GPSr’s for the better part of an hour before splitting up. DeadBird then disappeared into the forest, and Rich and I continued down to School House Road for a rather eventful benchmark recovery—F 234.
The benchmark description led us to believe that this one would be an easy find, but we had trouble finding the large rock “shelf”. It wasn’t obvious from the road as we had expected it would be. After poking around for a few minutes, we tried a different approach. Rich paced off approximately 250 feet along School House Road from its intersection with Ledgedale Road. We then turned 90° to the right, walked into the woods and immediately saw the shelf right in front of us. As described, the mark is set in the top of the east end of the shelf.
Our next benchmark search, for G 234, was much simpler. We basically walked right up to the mark and found it in good condition. And our third search wasn’t much of a search at all. We could see immediately upon arriving at the intersection of Route 739 and Blooming Grove Road that the “small store house” whose foundation had once held R 25 was completely gone.
We ended the day with a cache-and-dash at a truck stop/rest area just off I-84 and a small snack at the McDonald’s nearby. It may not have been gourmet, but after a full day of active adventures, those greasy fries tasted great!
Today's Geocaches
- Owner: renegadejane
- Location: N 41° 21.411' W 075° 19.348'
- Log Type: Found it
- Date: 16 July 2004
- Original Geocaching.com listing
- Owner: tmwolfe6
- Location: N 41° 21.343' W 075° 03.246'
- Log Type: Found it
- Date: 16 July 2004
- Original Geocaching.com listing
Hey, Jane!
What a surprise to see a new cache from you! Due to some sort of screw-up on GC.com yesterday, your cache was actually visible in my search list early in the day—even before it was approved (but none of the details were available). With only the title to go on, we figured it was hidden either near Split Rock Resort, or near an actual split rock. Considering your usual style, I was counting on the latter. Last evening, Rich checked the site and saw that the cache page was finally available—and how nice! Your new cache was conveniently located along the route we’d planned to take out to Pike County for some benchmark hunting.
A quick drive east on Route 84 and a few turns later, and we were near the Ledgedale Natural Area. After some difficulty we located the trailhead, parked and were on our way by 8:20am. This may not be a “typical” RenegadeJane cache, but you’ve still brought us to a lovely area for a hike! It was a chilly, damp, cloudy morning, just the perfect atmosphere for a walk in a lush dark forest. In some places there were brilliant green ferns as far as the eye could see. We encountered no wildlife but could hear bird songs from the branches above us, which broke the silence but still added to the peacefulness of the experience. We had no trouble finding the correct bench or the cache.
The sky threated rain and we didn’t want the cache to get wet, so we logged in and did our trading quickly. I took nothing this time but left a Jeep Travel Bug. While Rich composed his log, I explored the area around the split rock, eventually discovering tree branches on which I could swing as if they were monkey bars. (This was great fun and I even posed, swinging, for a photo!) Luckily for us the rain didn’t come, and we took our time on the return hike, making the complete loop and stopping for photos and little explorations and reflections along the way.
Back at the Zhannamobile, we snacked on pizza and took a few more photos while leisurely putting away our gear and planning out our next adventure. It wasn’t a big surprise to see a red truck pull into the parking area a few minutes later. We figured someone else would’ve been here by now, for sure! Our fellow geocacher was DeadBird652; as always, it was a pleasure chatting with him. We talked geocaching and GPSr’s for the better part of an hour before splitting up. DeadBird then disappeared into the forest, and Rich and I continued down to School House Road for a rather eventful benchmark recovery.
Thanks for a really great start to a perfect day, and for sharing this lovely spot with us. I’m looking forward to more RJ caches in the near future!
Zhanna
P.S. Hey, trackerz—Darn it! How did we miss the chance to be “First Loggers”??? Must be because we were so busy enjoying a full day of geocaching and benchmark hunting and just plain fun. Guess we’ll have to settle for being merely the “First Finders.” 
Howdy, RJ!
It was quite a long and truly eventful day! I don’t know if I have enough energy left to write a lengthy or very detailed log, but I will try. I’d seen your new cache listed on my Zip Code search page yesterday afternoon, only it hadn’t been approved yet so I had no idea where it was or what it was about. There must have been a glitch on the Website (So what else is new?!) that allowed it to show up like that. My curiosity was becoming unbearable! Not until mid-evening did it finally get approved and then I could view the entire description.
Zhanna was off from work today so we arranged to get an early-morning start and (hopefully) spend the day in Pike County. Our gameplan was to do two Geocaches and a few benchmarks, as long as time and weather permitted. Departure time was around 7:40am. We were going in the new Zhannamobile. And our first stop was the PP&L Natural Area at Ledgedale. After some initial difficulty getting to the appropriate parking spot (I should have been looking at the right map at this point!) we grabbed our gear and headed out on the trail, wondering if the fact that there weren’t any other cars there meant no one else had found the cache yet. The sky was heavy overcast, the air felt cool and clammy, there was a light breeze and the woods possessed an intoxicating musty smell. We were surrounded by ferns and thick mosses and lots of vibrant green color everywhere. I felt as if at any moment we would encounter the fair and magical elves of Lothlorien!
We arrived at “Split Rock,” then found the cache without any difficulty at all. What a pleasure to have a real bench to sit on while going through the contents and signing the logbook. The scenery there is enchanting! I didn’t take anything this time, but signed the logbook and left a magnetic Geo-logo decal.
After spending a good bit of time goofing off and taking photos we resumed our little woodlands journey, following the second half of the trail at an easy pace back to the car. We even stopped a few times for more photos and just some general lollygagging. At the parking area it was time for a light brunch of Gatorade and leftover pizza (Yum!). That’s when DeadBird652 pulled into the parking area next to us. If Zhanna and I had been any less carefree with our time I’m certain we’d have missed him. (Nice to see you again, John, and as always it was a real pleasure to chat with you!)
From here we decided to check on two nearby benchmarks, both of which were definitely worth a stop to conduct formal recoveries. These were a lot of fun to find and to document all the new information about their conditions and locations. Then it was on to Lords Valley for the new micro-cache near the interchange, along with some additional scouting along Rt. 739 for future BM hunts, and a quick afternoon snack at McD’s. We lucked out and didn’t meet up with any rain until the drive home on I-84.
Thanks for helping to make this a super day with a totally new and unique RenegadeJane cache experience. So glad to see you’re back! Cheers, and happy caching …
~Rich in NEPA~
Hi, tmwolfe6!
This was certainly an unusual micro cache. It’s probably the first one I’ve found while inhaling simultaneously the aromas of exhaust fumes and hot french fries. (Turns out one of those proved to be irresistible. I’ll let you guess which one.) While our coordinates differed from yours by around 60 feet, the hiding spot was obvious to us as soon as we parked. The cache was well-hidden; it’s just that after so many finds we have a pretty good idea where to look! 
For the second time today we had a convenient spot to sit while signing the log sheet. Because I had nothing small enough for the container, I did no trading this time. No one bothered us while we were logging in, or even looked twice. The key to this one is to go about your business while blending into the background. It was daring of you to place a cache here—I hope it lasts.
Thanks for a nice little hunt to end our busy day of geocaching, hiking, and benchmark recovering. The snack we purchased nearby was also most welcome!
Zhanna
N 41° 21.343′ W 075° 03.248′
Howdy, tmwolfe6!
Spending the day with Geo-buddy Zhanna in Pike County hunting caches and benchmarks. Did “Split Rock Mini Cache” near Ledgedale first, recovered two NGS benchmarks in the same area, and then drove over to the Lords Valley interchange for your micro-cache. Afterwards, we scouted out a couple of other benchmarks for future recovery, and rewarded ourselves with an afternoon snack at McD’s. Had no real problem finding the cache even though the posted coords were leading us to a place about 62 feet away. We were able to pick out the most obvious hiding spots as we pulled into the parking area. Must be that 6th sense called geo-intuition at work again! There were a couple of big rigs nearby but we simply pretended to be having lunch at the site and nobody gave us a second glance. I didn’t take anything, nor did I have anything small enough to leave, but I did sign the login sheet. Sorry, we took no photos here. After all, we were kinda burnt out from all the photography we’d done earlier. Thanks for a nice little cache hunt and the opportunity for a welcome break during our rather exhaustive day-trip. Cheers, and happy caching …
~Rich in NEPA~
