Drizzly day. Breakfast at Cafe This Way, which we’d somehow managed to miss until now. We had to change tables because of some screaming brats positioned in the corner right underfoot, where we were initially seated. The drizzle turned to mere fog, with some patches of slightly brighter sky from time to time. Rich surprised me by wanting to do a simple hike to Fernald Hill. The tri-station there was near the bottom of our list because it has already been found by so many geocachers; still, the promise of doing a complete and careful recovery always tempts us. In addition, most geocachers were simply finding one or both of the reference marks and not the station itself, which is an admittedly difficult-to-spot copper bolt. After the hike we retreated to Jordan Pond House, where we sat indoors to warm up, watched the rain showers pass through as we devoured our lobster rolls with grapes and chips, blueberry tea and the famous popovers. In the Jordan Pond House gift shop we spent some time looking for a jacket-in-a-sack for Rich (there were none left of the proper size) and playing with various moose items. At some point, I recalled seeing a USGS benchmark that was, I thought, near an outlet to Jordan Pond. I was only half right. The benchmark was, according to the description, near the outlet to Bubble Pond instead. In the woods we first spotted the little stone and wood dam across the outlet, another neat artifact that we would never have seen if we hadn’t been seeking a mark. Carved into the stone dam was a distinct chiseled square, made all the more evident by the bright orange pine needles that had fallen into its recessed areas. After plenty of confusion Rich finally located the disk, and we spent the next half hour in the humid woods taking photos and just enjoying the colorful and peaceful scenery. We then took the long winding drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and located the elusive CADILLAC 1975! Supper was two small pies at Rosalie’s, comforting and delicious as always.
Sep102007
