Hello, all!

I’m usually diligent about checking my custom search page for new local caches (and all our First Finds are the reward 😉). Last night was no exception, so my jaw dropped when I got home from work and checked the site around 11:00pm. Not only was there a new cache just over 4 miles from home, but it had already been found by one of our local boys! Good job, jkur247!

I figured our “Second Find” would be safe till morning so I didn’t attempt this one in the dark, though last night’s warm weather would’ve been perfect for night caching. This morning we reached the convenient parking area by 8:40 and after a short but slippery five-minute hike to climb the rocky bank, we arrived at the coordinates. The cache was an immediate find because it could be seen from several feet away—I think we caught it at just the right angle. Like Rich, I was happy to find a convenient place to sit “on the rocks” to sign in and sort through the contents of this nicely-stocked cache. I chose to leave the goodies for the next finder, and to them I added a miniature can of bright purple Play-Doh (try it! It’s as much fun as it was in kindergarten).

We were in the midst of a conversation about benchmark recoveries when someone came crashing (to make it sound dramatic) through the brush toward us. No surprise, it’s DeadBird652! What a pleasure to talk with him yet again, and to discuss the finer points of sewage treatment. (Thanks for all the information, John! It’s nice to meet a man who likes his job.) We left him to find the cache on his own, and it wasn’t twenty seconds after we began the walk back to the car that we heard him call “I found it!”

Your first cache turned out well. You’ve chosen a surprisingly quiet and peaceful area for one so near a busy highway. There’s even a pretty view across the valley, which will be much improved on a clear day. I’m looking forward to your team’s future efforts!

Zhanna

Howdy, CC, BF, SKK, and LL!

If I didn’t log off so early last night I probably would have seen this cache listing before I headed to bed. And I don’t know for sure if I’d have run right out for a night hunt (good chance!), but I would have been better prepared to leave earlier this morning. Anyway, I’m glad that somebody was daring enough to tackle it at night. Way to go DogBoys!

I’m somewhat familiar with this area from previous mountain biking adventures along these old mining trails, but there have been enough changes since the windmills on Salem Mountain were put in place that I wasn’t sure what to expect. We parked just off the Jermyn exit of the Casey Highway as suggested, hiked in along the trail a short distance, and then followed the GPSr up and over the rocky banks to the cache site. The container, of course, was partially visible from a few yards away at certain angles. Quite a few nice things inside. I didn’t take anything but I left a magnetic geo-logo decal, a geo-haiku magnet, and one of my cyclist’s key-“chains”. And I placed the logbook in a small Zip-Loc bag for safe keeping in the likely event that some water gets inside the container.

After we had rehidden the cache and were standing around talking and checking out the views, we heard a voice from the shadows and saw DeadBird652 climbing out towards us. Wow, John, we really have to stop meeting like this or people are going to talk! 😮 Certainly, though, it’s always a fine experience running into you, as if the fact that we usually end up chatting for such a long while isn’t proof enough! 😁 In the meantime we managed to take a few more photos for our logs.

Thanks for the cache hunt. You guys did a nice job with your first one! Looking forward to many more in the future. Cheers, and happy caching …

~Rich in NEPA~