Geocaching Billerica and Chelmsford

Now that my weight is starting to come down, I've decided to walk a bit further each day.  With that in mind I set off for Billericia where there were 8 caches reasonably near one another, and Chelmsford where there was an area with an additional 3.  Temps were in the low to mid 20s and the sky was delightfully clear.  Here's what I attempted today:

Listing	Date	Log Type
DALE #2 (BILLERICA)	2/5/2010	Found it
The Green Way	2/5/2010	Found it
Gas Saver Copycat I	2/5/2010	Found it
Up Hill's Hills	2/5/2010	Found it
The Midway	2/5/2010	Found it
Concord Overlook	2/5/2010	Found it
Domus Rana	2/5/2010	Found it
Root of the Problem	2/5/2010	Found it
DLY #2 - Charlotte	2/6/2010	Didn't find it
Forrest Stump	2/6/2010	Didn't find it
Utility Pole Clue (updated)	2/6/2010	Found it

The day started in Billerica at Vietnam Veterans Park and Ralph Hill Conservation Area.  This is a small park just off Rt 3 at Treble Cove Rd across from a correctional facility.  This area is a flying site for RC models, helicopters, and boats.  On weekends it can be quite a show.  There are also facilities for riding, biking, playgrounds, athletic fields, and what looks like a shooting range.

DALE #2 (BILLERICA) - Found it.  I started just off Treble Cove Rd at the veterans memorial.  There is ample unplowed parking but it could be muddy. This is a particularly nice memorial.  The cache is off from the monuments unlike others in this series I've found.  It would be a difficult find in deep snow.  Like most of the veterans memorials in this series, the site is memorable and I spent a few minutes remembering my own time in the military.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

Just on the other side of the veterans memorial is an RC Aircraft field.  On weekends there is often quite a show.

I drove down the hill to parking at N42° 33.1363'W71° 17.8910'.  I left the car here for the entire 'loop' through the Ralph Hill Conservation area.  The parking area was large but I do not think it is plowed in the winter.  Today it was easily dealt with despite considerable ice over the gravel surface.

The Green Way  - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  Fresh from DALE #2 (BILLERICA),   The first cache on the loop is just a short walk and despite some issues with GZ being unstable, was quickly found.  The cache is on the ground and would be a tough find in deep snow. The area around this cache is rather nice open forest with a bed of pine needles.

Gas Saver Copycat I - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  This was a considerable walk from The Green Way over very mixed trails.  Some were entirely snow free while others were iced over from all the foot traffic and required some care.  There were a few muggles about but they were not an issue.  The cache was a relatively easy find with little snow.  Deep snow would be an issue.  The container had water and ice inside and the lip was split.  I drained it but it should probably be replaced. 

Up Hill's Hills - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  This was just a short distance further but I decided, probably incorrectly to bushwack up hill.  Good exercise but tough on this old man's legs.  Got to a trail and found an interesting 'lean to' in the woods.  Continued along the trail a bit and then bushwacked a bit more to GZ.  Found it.  Cache in good order but would be a tough find in deep snow.  OK today.

Concord Overlook - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  Bushwacked back to the trail and then followed to very near GZ.  Cache was VERY easy to find with much of the cover now on the ground.  Deeper snow would be a challenge.  I replaced it and returned the cache.

Domus Rana  - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  Short walk over rolling terrain.  Easy find but deep snow would be an issue.  Container needs maintenance but contents were in good condition. 

Root of the Problem - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  Another short walk along mixed trails some times snow/ice and sometimes clear.  The terrain around GZ shows a good deal of digging and is difficult to walk.  I bushwacked in.  Cache is a clever hide but I found quickly.  Not snow friendly though.

Having 'cleaned' the traditional caches here I decided to try three I've been curious about in Chelmsford.  I used to live there so this was a return to old haunts.

It's only a short drive to Chelmsford.  Parking is off of Mill Rd at N 42° 34.642 W 071° 19.829.  There's a sign for the soccer field.  Drive past the fields to parking near the Russel Millpond.  The parking area does not seem to be plowed but was usable today, though icy.  There's a trailmap at the trail head that may be available online but I couldn't find it.  Study the map as there are many trails some of which meander hither and yon.

DLY #2 - Charlotte  - DNF.  This was about 0.25 miles in.  I walked on mixed snow/ice/clear trails then bushwacked to GZ encountering a white trail several times.  This seems to be popular with mountain bikes as there were MANY recent tire tracks.  Found GZ OK but DNF.  I found some boulders and trees that seemed promising but no cache.  It may be that the icy snow covered it.  I'll try again when the snow is gone.

Forrest Stump - DNF.  About another 0.3 miles in.  Similar experience bushwacking, white trail, icy snow covering a wall.  I'll revisit without snow.

Utility Pole Clue (updated)  - Found it.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.  I don't normally do multistage caches but this one was simple enough to be worth a show.  Found the GZ pole and got the number.  Did the math and went for it.  Got near and fortunately the cache was VERY visible and not snow covered.  This might be semi snow friendly.

Hiked out on tired legs and called it a day.  Nine finds, 2 DNF, 7 miles walking.  Good day.

Here's today's photo offering.  Some semi spoilers.  As usual click through to see full size.

Geocaching in two parts

For reasons passing understanding I had a dermatologist appointment in Burlington today at 8:30!  This is surprising for two reasons.  First, Thursday is BB's day off and I try to have the day to spend with her.  Second, getting from to Burlington that time of day in traffic is NOT fun.  But needs must so away I went with a view to do a little caching after my appointment.

Here, I should note that the wages of a lifetime of sun exposure if you are fair skinned, as I am, is a visit every 6 months or so to have various bits of your hide removed.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time in the sun flying, skiing, climbing, sailing, etc. enormously and wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.  I would however note that sun block is your friend.  I'm a classic case of "to late wise, to soon old."

At any event after my doctor's visit I was going to go geocaching in the area.  Unfortunately, when I turned my PN40 on, things were not well.  Changed the batteries and tried again.  No go.  Repeat.  No go.  Leave GPS on and look at other GPSs at LL Beans.  Lots to choose from but sales people are clueless.  Go back out to the car and much to my surprise, GPS seems to have healed itself.  Decide to go geocaching.

Part one

Listing	Date	Log Type
Back in a minute LPC	2/4/2010	Found it
Gazebo on the green	2/4/2010	Found it

Back in a minute LPC - Found it.  This is a very winter friendly park and grab near LL Beans. I tried up the wall before realizing that it had to be lower.  Quickly found. SL/TNLN/TFTC

Gazebo on the green - Found it.  A quick drive around the stores with winter friendly parking in a lovely gazebo.  Another park and grab.  Noticed the container from the entry to the gazebo.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

I was going to drive over and try Tucked in for New Years.  GPS is reinitializing and won't find satellites.  Frustrating as all was well yesterday.  Decide to go home.

On way home GPS decides to work again.  Decide to try a couple near Hanscom Field.  Get off on Rt 4 and head toward first cache.  GPS has another nervous breakdown.

Give up.  Drive home and call Delorme.  Short wait but got helpful human.  Far out.  A bit of magic reinitialized the satellite data and to quote the move "it's alive, it's alive!"

Part 2

BB and I decide to go for walk and try to find a couple of caches Nobscot Reservation.  I've been saving Ford's Folly to do with BB as I think she'll find it interesting.  Also I've got A Stitch in Time TB that want's to go to an interesting place.  Ford's Folly qualifies so off we go to find:

Listing	Date	Log Type	Actions
Ford's Folly	2/4/2010	Found it	Compose Log | Delete Note
Nobscot Breeder Cache	2/5/2010	Didn't find it	Compose Log | Delete Note

Ford's Folly  and Nobscot Breeder Cache parking is up Brimstone Lane at N42° 20.970 W71° 27.300.  The road is very narrow but plowed.  Today the parking was OK but I'm not sure if it is plowed or not.  At any event we parked and off we went.

Nobscot Breeder Cache - DNF.  It's only about .3 mi from parking to GZ for stage one.  There were a couple of places with some VERY SERIOUS ice from recent seasonal springs but these were relatively easy to bypass.  Got to GZ quickly but despite hint we DNF.  There was 5" or 6" of crusty snow on everything and about 1" of new snow.  We looked but had no luck.  I wasn't overly worried because I thought I had a fair idea of where the final cache was located so we continued down the trail.

Ford's Folly - Found it.  It's an easy walk the rest of the way on well trod trails.  This is a neat site.  Who knew?  Got to GZ quickly after a bit of a detour to avoid some slick hillside and found the cache without much trouble.  Deep snow would make this a tough find.  Left A Stitch in Time TB after photographing TB with dam.  SL/TFTC.

Checked out where I thought stage 2 of Nobscot Breeder Cache was.  Today there was about 4" of water flowing out so I did not attempt to enter.  Could be I've the wrong place or the wrong end?  BB was getting cold so we headed back.  Along the way we checked stage 1 again but no luck.  We'll try again when the snow is gone.

After we got home BB and I spent a bit of time in the steam room/shower and warmed up.  All in all a good day.

Geocaching RI and CT #101 to 104

After my 100th find I decided to go to RI and CT to move along several travel bugs.  I've wanted to do this for a bit but various things conspired to make it inconvenient.  So this mourning I decided to go for it.  I called Mark of MM and we agreed to meet at the Buck Hill Management area in the NW corner of RI at 11:45.

It was a good day for caching with temps in the high 20s and about 1" of new snow.  Today's attempts:

Listing	Date	Log Type
Woodland Micro - Buck Hill	2/3/2010	Didn't find it
Beyond Benson Mountain	2/3/2010	Found it
Buck Hill Bunker	2/3/2010	Found it
Quaddick Quest	2/4/2010	Found it
Quaddic Reservoir	2/4/2010	Found it

It was easy enough to get to Buck Hill Rd but I drove past Wood Rd.  It turns out that's it is a dirt/gravel track with only a generic "Buck Hill Management" sign nearby.  Easy to miss in the winter with an inch or so of fresh snow.  I got turned around and managed to turn in on my second try.  I was the first to use it since last night's snow.  It looked reasonable so I gave it a go in my Mazda 3 and managed to navigate to parking at N41° 59.1100' W71° 47.3433' without incident.  This would be a cinch in no snow.

Woodland Micro - Buck Hill - DNF.  Mark was delayed (lost, he drove past Wood Rd. as well).  While I waited I looked for "Woodland Micro".  It was an easy short walk through less than 1" of new snow to GZ.  Unfortunately, GZ moved around by 20 or 30 feet or so notwithstanding the generally clear sky.  Despite almost 40 minutes of searching I couldn't locate the cache.  If it is on the ground then with the new snow it would be very hard to find.

Beyond Benson Mountain - Found it.  Mark finally called and with a bit of local knowledge got to the parking area about 50 minutes late.  We quickly organized ourselves and started toward "Beyond Benson Mountain."  With the recent warm weather and little new snow walking along the 'road' was easy and we quickly got to the place where we needed to turn off trail.  A bit of bushwacking followed and we quickly got near GZ.  As I was studying my GPS Mark found it.  The cache hide would be a challenge in deep snow.  I left

• C-3PO
• Chuck E. Cheese
• Everyone's HERO SPIDERMAN

That left the cache over full so I took A Stitch in Time so I could close it.  SL/TFTC.

Mark was up for a bit more of a hike so we headed out.

Buck Hill Bunker - Found it.  We bushwacked back out to the main trail and continued N toward the cache.  We got near GZ and bushwacked to GZ through reasonably open wood.  The cache is in an interesting geographic location.  A bit of searching got us to GZ.  At first I couldn't find it but a second inspection and a bit of rock shuffling found it.  This is an interesting hide and excepting deep snow access would be reasonably easy to find even in deep snow.  I left

• Discovery Educator Network - Goldsboro, NC
• Gasparilla

SL/TFTC.

We bushwacked back out to the main road and after a bit of discussion decided to call it quits for the day as Mark had a 3PM appointment and an hour drive.  It took some while to walk the 1.5 miles back out.  We said out goodbys and went off.

While I was in the area I took a moment to check for access to TGM-5 Rocky Brook Bonanza!, and the two RI - CT- MA Tri-state Marker caches.  It looks like there is good access from E Thompson and New Rd.  It looks like about 0.5 miles to TGM-5 Rocky Brook Bonanza! and another quarter mile or so to RI - CT- MA Tri-state Marke. 

Since I was in Connecticut I decided to find a CT cache or two and add Connecticut to my list of cache states.

Quaddick Quest - Found it.  I first tried Breaults Landing Rd which is just north of Quaddick park.  I drove a bit south to the park at xxx.  There's good winter friendly parking here.  This is a really lovely little park on Quaddick Reservoir.  A quick walk down the road and then cutting NE on a red blazed trail lead me to GZ.  There were recent footprints of someone searching (I don't think they found it) and I followed those without any luck.  Then I searched the North side of the wall toward the road and with the help of the hint found it.  Deep snow would make finding the cache difficult.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

Quaddic Reservoir - Found it.  This was more or less on the way home so I decided to try this one.  A quick drive to the N end of the Reservoir got me within 200' of GZ.  There is reasonable parking just off the road (not winter friendly but OK today).  This cache is a nice 'park and grab.' There is a lot of brush piled along the road but the cache stood out and was easily found.  Deep snow would make finding it difficult.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

I was a bit tired at this point (5+ miles of hiking in snow and cold) and decided to head home with four finds,  one DNF, two new cache states, 5 TBs moved along, and 1 TB to move!  All in all a good day.

Here's the photo log of today's adventure.  As usual no spoilers and click through to see full size photos.

Geocaching #98, #99, and #100! Framingham and Sudbury

Out geocaching today to get my 100th cache find.  Here's the adventure.

Return to Tradition #8: Henry's Hill Hybrid	2/2/2010	Found it
X marks the spot	2/2/2010	Found it
Nobscot Mt	2/3/2010	Found it

Thanks to INEZ36 and KASHK9 I realized that "Return to Tradition #8" and "X marks the spot" were now accessible.  I'd wanted to do these for a bit but winter parking has been an issue.  So I drove by and saw that it was now possible to park one car at N42° 20.4840' W71° 27.9070'.  There is only room for one car here.  It might be possible to park on the side street just a bit north.

#98 - Return to Tradition #8: Henry's Hill Hybrid - After yesterday's 8 miles of walking my legs were a bit tired so I decided to go up the hill to "Henry's Hill" first while I still could go up hill.  This is a lovely area and a very pleasant walk with temperatures in the high 20s, little wind, and bright sun.  I followed the tracks and quickly got to the cache.  It's an interesting hide and I quickly found it within 20' or so of GZ.  Deep snow could be an issue when searching for this cache but today wasn't a problem.  The cache is in good shape.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

#99 - X marks the spot - I decided to loop around to "X."  Part way down I got to some abandoned farm equipment.  It was a seeder I think and realized that I was walking away from the cache.  Since the forest was relatively open I just bushwacked toward the cache and eventually rejoined the trail.  This took me by the source of the rocks mentioned in the cache description.  Just a bit of searching revealed the cache.  As with most such caches, deep snow would be an issue.  The cache is in good shape.  SL/TNLN/TFTC.

I went to checkout parking for Abandoned and Crazy Callahan Climb as I've wanted to do these for a bit.  There is allegedly trail head parking along Edmunds Rd.  I don't think it would work even in the summer.  I also drove west to the Harvard Facility.  This looks like an attractive option.  There was also some so so parking along the road toward there.

One of the things I wish cache owners would really do is think about parking particularly in the winter.  It would also be helpful to note if the cache is reasonably winter accessible.  Just a POV.

Having found some possible parking for a future adventure I headed out to #100.

#100 Nobscot Mt - I've been saving this and the nearby Ford's Folly for something special.  Number 100 seemed special enough and with the recent warm weather and snow melt Brimstone Lane, the road up, was easily navigated.  Instead of parking at the state park area I continued to the summit where in good weather there's reasonable parking in several areas.  I parked at N42° 20.7738' W71° 26.9737' off the side of the turnaround at the summit.  From there it's only about 500' to GZ, almost a park and grab.  I bushwacked in over crunchy snow direct to GZ.  Just a little searching found the cache.  I picked up another travel bug, C-3PO, that I'll move along on my long delayed trip to Rhode Island.  The cache is in good order.  Deep snow would make the find difficult but on a day like today is was easy enough.  SL/TFTC.

With my 100th find I went home, had a celebratory drink, and began planning the Rhode Island trip so I can move along the travel bugs.

As usual, I took photos, no spoilers.