Hi, OB!

This morning I awoke to sunshine and the promise of a day free from work. Of course, I would pick the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere ) for my day off. At least the weather cooperated; what’s wrong with 12° when the sun is shining and the winds are calm?! Rich and I both needed to spend some time outdoors after being cooped up for several days. “GODZILLA!” had intrigued us from the moment it appeared on the site. Just the day before, in fact, Rich had expressed an interest in squirrel hunting at Nescopeck State Park. This morning we decided to combine the two activities into one wintry adventure. I also brought along some benchmark datasheets just in case we had some energy left after visiting Godzilla.

The frigid air was still as we hiked through silent woods on trails covered with just a dusting of snow, and some ice here and there. The sun disappeared soon after our hike began. We gained elevation gradually as we followed the switchbacking trail to the top of the ridge; the climb was enough to keep us warm, and I’m glad there was no need to bushwhack! We reached the top of the ridge after a 2-mile hike, and Godzilla very quickly came into view. The cache was a straightforward find, though it was covered well and was difficult to maneuver out of the claws of the monster (which is not necessarily a bad thing!). We signed in and made our trades (I left several Disney character rubber stamps, and took nothing), and had a snack while checking over our shoulders to make sure we didn’t wake the dozing monstrous reptile. Perhaps ‘Zilla is hibernating for the season. When we were done I carefully returned the box to his frozen grasp—I thought I heard a snort or a low growl at this point, but there was no movement—and we took off along the trail, heading back the way we’d come.

We took a very slow walk back to the car, scouting the woods for squirrels or, toward the end, any sign that we and Godzilla weren’t the only forms of animal life in the forest today. We finally heard and then spotted a woodpecker, but little else. By the time we arrived back at the car the sun was out again, and we took a quick walk to attempt to recover a nearby survey mark. The only true disappointment of the day was finding that someone long ago had vandalized the mark, removing the disk from its setting.

Thanks for the cache and the opportunity for one of the most peaceful hikes I’ve had all year. The woods are beautiful and I can’t wait till we can come back and explore—hopefully with our bikes next time!

Zhanna

Howdy, OB!

Happy First Day of Winter!

What started out as a promising sunny day turned cloudy and cold by the time we reached the upper ridgeline of Mount Yeager. Zhanna and I had met up around 9:00am for this planned day of squirrel hunting and geocaching. Nescopeck State Park seemed to be as good a place as any on this brisk morning, and since neither of us has had much chance in the past to explore the new park (except for a specific hike to recover benchmark tri-station OLEY just over a year ago), we were most anxious to make the drive down for another visit. This is exactly the kind of geocache hunt that I like best—a good 4-mile long hike, a climb up a mountain (with the potential for some good views), and decent trails to follow with hardy any bushwhacking required.

We found the cache easily enough. I admit that I had a suspicion we’d be looking for something like this, and sure enough Godzilla was right there, asleep, and guarding the spot well. After signing the logbook I traded one of my cyclist’s key-“chains” for the Geocaching keychain, a Sacagawea dollar for the Susie B. dollar, and added one of my novelty magnets. We had a quick snack after rehiding the cache, hoping not to disturb the beast’s slumber.

The trek downhill was quite uneventful, and by the time we returned to the car the sky had cleared, the sun was shining brightly again, and it seemed to feel so much warmer even though the temp was still only in the mid-20’s. Before heading out we had one more little chore to take care of—we wanted to find a USGS benchmark less than a quarter-mile down the road from the parking area. As fate would have it, the location was a cinch to find, but the benchmark disk was missing. It looked as if someone had pried it out of its setting on the boulder many years ago. What a terrible shame!

And, finally, as we were driving home, just a short distance from the parking area the only squirrel we saw all morning darted across the road in front of the car. Oh, I think it was his lucky day!

Thanks much for the fun cache.

~Rich in NEPA~