Looking for a (Pine) Needle in a Haystack, Part II

Hey, Rich!

We found it!!! No matter how defeated we may have felt at times, we just couldn’t leave this one alone.

Our first intelligence-gathering mission took place last Wednesday, followed by a scouting expedition on Thursday. We enjoyed the hike, the scenery, the exercise, and the weather on that beautiful day, but we got essentially nowhere with the cache. Fortunately, we’d already set our expectations low so that we could just enjoy our morning out and not worry if we couldn’t find the cache!

On our second try, though, I think the stakes were a little higher. Work schedules and that fickle NEPA weather were very likely to conspire against us, as usual, and with such a small window of opportunity frustrations were growing. If we didn’t get anywhere this time, I feared we might have to set this challenge aside for a while. But we stole an opportunity last night to do further research under the proper conditions (once Mother Nature finally decided to cooperate!) and then set out this morning armed with our new information and renewed optimism. I didn’t want to mention it at the time, but I had a pretty good idea this morning that we’d return to my Cachemobile $20 richer.

The morning was sunny, humid, and very buggy in the woods. We made all the correct choices at trail forks and soon recognized something we had identified from across the valley and had hoped to use as a reference point. Could it be that we had really found the spot? I could almost taste victory (well, McSorley’s). Another few minutes of hiking, and Rich pointed right at the tree. It was unmistakable. We had found that #*&% tree!

Our First Find occurred this morning at 9:45am. During today’s hike, we had the pleasure of spotting three turkeys, two deer, and a coyote. No wonder hunting seems to be such a common activity on this mountain!

This was a most worthy challenge, and plenty of fun. Thanks for the intriguing cache idea, the invigorating hikes, and the beer money!!!

Zhanna