Trail Hound

Marching toward a milestone on Martha's Vineyard

Geocachers place a special significance on milestones, usually every hundredth find.  Some crank through a few hundred finds on a single, intense, "power trail" excursion, while others only pass that magic 00 number once a year.  Geocachers are generally a supportive bunch, though, and celebrate each others' milestones online, whether they're number 100 or 2,000.

For me, it's not just about the numbers, so it's taken four years to approach even the pedestrian milestone of 300 finds.  But I seized that opportunity this week, when my plans for a few days on the Vineyard abruptly changed, and I had a full day to explore.

Number 298, "Place of the White Stones", was just three miles down the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road from the B&B where I was staying.  Located next to a historic Wampanoag trail and one of several local sites commemorating Native American culture, it was a quick park-and-grab find.  The area also seemed to be a favorite beer-drinking spot, judging from the bottles on the ground, but the cache was still securely in its place and in good shape.

Continuing east toward Edgartown, I set out for Number 299, "Pond Pursuits."  The challenge of this cache wasn't the search at ground zero; it was the search for the appropriate access road that didn't trespass on aggressively-patrolled private roads or dead-end at Edgartown's Great Pond.  After driving by some impressive horse farms and island mansions, I wound my way down dirt roads to Wilson's Landing, a quiet spot that led directly to the cache.  Again, the beer drinkers had been here and left their cans just a few feet from the cache, but didn't disturb the hiding spot.

With many great caches on the island to choose from for the magical Number 300, I figured I'd circle around Edgartown, have lunch, and then pick up the milestone at a scenic spot in Tisbury - either at "Lake Tashmoo - Hey, There's No Ice Cream!" or at "Island Roots" in another historic conservation area called Christian Town.

A casual swing by South Beach in Katama, for a view of the surf and dunes, brought me unexpectedly right up to another park-and-grab cache, "South Beach Hide."  This may be more difficult in peak season, when the non-geocaching "muggle factor" would be high, but on a gray November day I had the site to myself and quickly found the roadside microcache.  Number 300 - woo hoo!

Excited to log my finds on geocaching.com, I grabbed lunch and free wifi at Espresso Love Cafe in Edgartown and had the best chicken curry sandwich on French bread that I've ever tasted.

I did stop by Lake Tashmoo for an easy Number 301.  But my Vineyard geocaching ended in a DNF - did not find - for Number 302, at "Island Roots," in an off-the-beaten-track site where Christian Town, one of the "praying villages," once stood.  The post-daylight savings time afternoon sun was getting low, so after 45 minutes of searching, I called it a day.  Maybe another time.  

But then, it's not about the numbers.

Photos, from top:

Stone wall at Christian Town

Wilson's Landing - Edgartown's Great Pond

South Beach, Katama

Lake Tashmoo Water Works

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Harwich Conservation Trails: Cache 'em before fall is over

October is the year in its prime.  It is ripe, colorful, mellow and secure.  But catch it quickly, before it withers and blows into a dusky dotage. 

In the past month or so, several new geocaches have been placed along trails in Harwich Conservation Trust properties.  Now is the time to explore these HCT trails in their autumn glory, and bag some finds.  Cache 'em while you can.

"Bank Street Bog Box" lies at the far end of, what else? Bank Street Bog.  Most passersby don't realize just how extensive these historic cranberry bogs are.  The round trip walk to the cache from the parking area is a good mile, and worth every step.  There are bluebird nesting boxes and wildlife aplenty to make this meadow and wetland preserve a habitat to explore.

For a walk through the woods, check out "A Boot, a Bike, and Mrs. Mehitable," at the Lee Baldwin Memorial Woodlands off of Lothrop Avenue.  The trail, which borders a red maple swamp, has a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk over the first segment.  Continue on and you'll find the three title items on your way to the cache.

Up the road, spend a little time encircling "Coy's Brook Woodlands," a 30-acre property which covers wooded uplands, an Atlantic white cedar swamp and the edge of the Herring River Marsh.  The geocache is a four-part multi so you get a full tour.

"In Your Soul," you know that a cache at the A. Janet DeFulvio Wildlife Sanctuary Boardwalk will reward you with sweeping views of the Herring River Marsh.  The short, fully accessible boardwalk brings you to a peaceful deck with a bench for watching nature play out in the classic salt-marsh landscape.  Ospreys soar around their nest and provide a dramatic show.  The cache is cleverly hidden, but as the cache description says, think outside - or inside - the box.

HCT and the Town of Harwich have many more paths to discover, and you can read about them in the full-color Walking Trail Guide available online or in the trailhead information kiosks.  Almost all the trails hold a geocache or two.  That just leaves Thompson's Field Conservation Area, 57 acres owned by the town.... Any geocachers looking for a good place for a hide? 

Happy trails.

Photos, from top:

Bank Street Bog

Lee Baldwin Memorial Woodlands

Herring River Marsh, from A. Janet DeFulvio Boardwalk

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Punkhorn hunting: Too close for comfort

Click on the link to the Boot Swamp Trail, one of  several mapped trails in Brewster's 838-acre Punkhorn Parklands conservation area.  Hike along these peaceful paths, observing wildlife perform its daily dance through the wetland habitat and the surrounding woods.  If you're lucky, you may spot a doe and fawn as I once did while geocaching on one of the park's side trails.  You may pass  someone walking a dog, or a group of trail riders on horseback, but you're surrounded in quietude.

If the committee of Brewster sportsmen who presented a proposal to the conservation commission to allow deer hunting in the Punkhorn gets its way, that hike on the Boot Swamp Trail network won't be so peaceful between mid-October and the end of December.  The committee presented a request on Sept. 29 to allow archery hunting (Oct. 12 - Nov. 21) and primitive firearm hunting (Dec.14 - 31) in a section of the Punkhorn bordered by Punkhorn Road, Westgate Road and Squantum Path - the area encompassing the Boot Swamp.

An arrow can fly 400 to 500 feet, and while a muzzle-loaded, or black powder, gun doesn't have the mile-plus bullet range of a modern rifle, it can reliably shoot over 400 feet.  The proposal would require hunters to shoot downward from tree stands.  Still, the possibility of a stray bullet or arrow hitting a person or domestic animal in an area intertwined with well-loved trails is cause for concern.

About 30 people showed up at Tuesday's conservation commission hearing to voice disapproval of the plan.  The commission tabled action on it until a future meeting so it could gather more information about safety and enforcement.  If you're concerned about keeping the Punkhorn a haven of natural tranquility, let the Brewster Conservation Commission hear from you by emailing conservation@town.brewster.ma.us.

Photos, from top:

A fawn approaches in the Punkhorn

Punkhorn regulations - no hunting?

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DIY exploration of Cape Cod's national treasure

While the nation continues its third century of debate over the role of federal government, from propping up the economy to providing access to health insurance for all citizens, it's useful to step back and appreciate some things we have entrusted to government to preserve.  Medicare and Social Security, for example, are federal programs to preserve the health and well-being of the elderly and disabled.  We may not be able to afford them in their current form for much longer - and that's another important debate - but they've made a difference in the lives of generations.

In 1961, four years before the federal government took on health insurance for the elderly with the passage of Medicare, the National Park Service became caretaker to nearly 40 miles of Atlantic coast when President Kennedy signed into law the establishment of Cape Cod National Seashore.  Forty-eight years later, the thousands of acres of preserved dunes, marshes, woodlands and shore are still available for the public to enjoy.  No gated communities or private beaches.  No development to the water's edge.  Compare this to, say, the Jersey Shore, Rhode Island, or even much of Nantucket Sound.

When my husband and I began vacationing on the Cape some 20-plus years ago, we would set out to explore a National Seashore self-guided trail on most days.  We followed the boardwalk through the jungle-like labyrinth of the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail in Wellfleet.  We closed our eyes and tried the Buttonbush all-senses Braille Trail at the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham.  Our favorite Thanksgiving dessert recipe, cranberry pake, came from the trail guide to the Pamet Cranberry Trail in Truro. 

Over Labor Day weekend, a perfect end-of-summer weekend if there ever was one, we celebrated our wedding anniversary by revisiting one of our favorite National Seashore trails, Fort Hill Area in Eastham.  The plant growth around the meadow trail has increased in depth and richness over the years, and we didn't see quite as many rabbits as before.  But the view over Nauset Marsh is just as spectacular.  A handicapped-accessible boardwalk through the Red Maple Swamp Trail, new since our last visit there, allows extensive opportunity to wander through another diverse habitat.

The National Park Service doesn't generally allow traditional geocaches on park land, but a virtual geocache, one that requires photographic or other non-physical proof that a cacher visited a specific location, is OK.  "Where's the Fort?" was my geocaching souvenir from this trail.

So as populist furor heats up over federal indoctrination of impressionable schoolchildren, encouraging them to work hard, or  over creeping socialism of extending to those under age 65 the option of benefits currently enjoyed by senior citizens, it's time to calm down and take a step into a national treasure.  A self-guided trail tour is an excellent escape from political crazy season.

Photos, from top:

Vine-covered back of Captain Edward Penniman House, Fort Hill Area

Winter view of shed along Salt Pond, CCNS Headquarters, Eastham

Nauset Marsh from Fort Hill

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From Cape Cod to Quebec: Have GPS, will travel

Cape Cod tourists bring home saltwater taffy, beach shells and Cuffy's T-shirts.  A traveling geocacher brings home a logged cache from each destination.

This August, after persistent lobbying from the kids for a trip to a foreign country, we embarked on a recession-modified international excursion to Montreal, with a stop in Burlington, Vermont to take in New England's west coast. With 897,380 active geocaches hidden around the world, bagging a souvenir geocache shouldn't be difficult.

There are differences, of course, when caching outside of one's usual domain.  First, there's different topography and vegetation.  Even relatively near regions like the Lake Champlain Valley have taller trees, particulary more birch, as well as more rocks and higher hills.  The remote but accessible tall-pine forest hillside home of  "Cache Naked" seemed to capture the mellow, laid-back atmosphere of The Green Mountain State so it was an ideal souvenir.  Plus, it was only a mile from the hotel - a bonus when nongeocaching family members are impatiently waiting.

Montreal presented additional challenges.  Quebec's cache pages on geocaching.com are en français.  Reaching back thirty-plus years to my high school and college French, I was able to identify an urban micro, Avenue du Mont Royal - Est #3, about two miles from our hotel.  This cache should have been easy, according to previous logs (also en français), but not knowing how the local authorities would feel about someone casing the streetlights, utility boxes and a bus stop, I moved on fairly quickly without making the find.  My next attempt, Saint-Stanislas - Eglises #12 brought me to a delightful neighborhood in the Plateau and to an elegant, neo-Roman church surrounded by a peaceful little park.  I quickly found the cache, which was well removed from the street and didn't attract attention from anyone other than the occasional dog walker.

The most dramatic views in Montreal and Burlington weren't from my furtive souvenir-caching forays, although there may be caches hidden along Lake Champlain's Battery Park or in the Frederick Law Olmstead-designed Mount Royal Park.  Montreal's Olympic Park and Botanical Gardens are also prime stops for touring geocachers.  But if you want to find your way around a new place like a local, follow your geocaching GPS.

Photos, from top:

Sculpture garden at Mount Royal, Montreal

Lake Champlain from Burlington, VT

Rose garden at Montreal's Botanical Garden

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