Parking available, short walk down the path, Bug spray necessary in summer |
Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)
9/6/2010 by Kabuthunk
Looks like I get to claim STF (or 2TF... whichever acronym is popular these days 
) on this cache. I kinda thought this must have been a relatively new cache. Last year when I made a trip up to my Grandma's place in Red Rose, I didn't recall seeing any other geocaches so close to the main highway such as this one. It appears as though this cache is only a scant few months old (or possibly one month younger still, if you count its migration after the wind storm).
In either case, this wasn't a particularly easy STF. I definitely had to work for it, to say the least. When I first spotted it on the GPS, I quickly swung off the road and parked on the shoulder. Soon enough, I found the trail of sorts that led to the area as a whole, where I was greeted by the description-mentioned fallen trees. However, given I hadn't previously read the cache description or previous logs, I may have misunderstood the cache name slightly. I proceeded to comb over and under the fallen trees, thinking the name was related to the fallen tree itself... instead of having been apparently moved AWAY from it after the storm . So I completely scoured that tree, climbing under it where I could, looking under branches, poking around in the stump area where it had uprooted, and generally getting myself covered with tree sap, needles, and other various plantlife that decided to stick to my clothing.
After about 20 minutes of dragging myself around every square inch of that tree, I decided it was about time to look at my palm pilot and check the description and past logs. Cachemate only holds the last four logs, which thankfully gave me all of the information for the cache in general. Zili's log on July 8th proved most helpful in pointing out to me that the past 20 minutes of searching were a completely loss . At this point, I began expanding my search away from ground zero. Or at least as close as I could get to ground zero... many a branch got in the way. Circling first over the 'higher' ground, I couldn't find the slightest thing, and thus turned to the 'lower' ground which seemed to have far more potential for cache hiding spots. Looking high and low around here, I still couldn't come across anything. I began to get somewhat worried that either an animal or some other storm had knocked away the geocache, since it's been over a month since the last find.
As I started to reach the 30 minute mark, I began thinking about writing it off and heading back to the car. My wife and I (she stayed in the car) were on a vaguely strict timeline, so I couldn't lose much more time here. Just about preparing to wrap up the search, my eye swung over one more potential spot. Taking a closer look... BAM, there was the cache, right in front of me 
. Wow, I thought... this was further from ground zero than I expected. Looking at the GPS in order to mark the coordinates that I was showing for it... oh, would you look at that. NOW the GPS has decided that right here... right exactly where the geocache is... it's showing me as being exactly 0 meters away from it. Oh, hey, thanks GPS... coulda used that accuracy a little while ago there . Although, I think it might have been me as well... when I thought I needed to be 5 meters further South, I might have been looking at it wrong and needed to be 5 meters North instead. In fact, that's the most likely case .
But finally triumphant, I signed the logbook and dropped in a signature chainmail ball. I was tempted to trade for that wooden barrel puzzle, since last time I saw it in a store I was quite tempted to buy it... but I didn't have any swag with me that would 'trade even or up', so alas, I left it behind for another finder.
Awesome area though. I love caches that are in forest type areas 
. And after all of this, I return to the car smelling pine-fresh .
Took: Nothing
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball
Rusty Village (42.69 kms S) Conquista Del Mundo - South America Continent (46.02 kms SE)Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)
Nuther Stump by zili (1/1)
Small Hidden on 7/8/2010
Terrain: 
