eCache

Hiking, Exploring & Geocaching w/ Ken

I spent the day in Wharton checking out various sights. I arrived just before sunrise and actually had to wait a few minutes before my morning hike. I did a couple miles on the Batona before meeting Ken at the visitor center. The rain, which had been a downpour all the way up, had subsided.

We began our exploration at New Pond Dam.

After that, we walked up to the bridge at the Yellow Trail. The bridge has had damage. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, so I am not certain how long the bridge has been like this. We crossed over. The end is very steep; careful footing was necessary.

We poked around a bit along the Mullica. We noticed a lot of trash. That was a theme present all day. I am used to seeing cans and bottles when out, but today, everywhere we went, we saw chip bags, cups, and other trash.

We did find a couple pull tabs from old beer/soda cans on top of the fallen pine needles. It seems odd that some 25 years after they ceased being used, they would be sitting right in full view.

We then crossed back over the bridge. We followed the old channel that once connected the Mullica with the Nescohague. There appears to have been a mill once at the Nescohague. There’s a mound there and we found a brick there.

We re-positioned from there to the bridge at the end of Old Elwood Batsto Road. This is a neat area. I’ve been here previously, but know nothing about it. When was it used and when was it dismantled? I noticed the house on Pleasant Mills is for sale. We also checked out the abandoned boat in the swamp nearby.

We then headed up to Washington. Ken showed me a foundation I had not noticed before across from Washington Tavern.

Afterwards we went to Al Brandt’s and ate lunch there. There was a lot of aircraft flying over as we were there. After lunch we headed up Martha Road. We noticed that the road has been cleared. Access was no issue whatsoever. We made many stops along the way. We even saw some kayakers making pretty good time on the Oswego.

I have wanted to check out Shamong Road coming down from the north off of Martha so we drove up and around. We made it down to the fork and decided to retreat. Both forks narrowed and we chose not to force things. Long ago I recall asking about how far north one could drive on Martha. Well, we tested that out today. We made it to Andrews, but there isn’t much one can do as both ends have guardrails up.Back down Martha we went to Nash’s Cabin. The old beaver lodge is still there. We noted the felled cedar and another nearby that is being worked on. We poked around for a bit. There’s another lodge a little north of the cabin.

We then stopped by the pumping station on our way back out.Today was a beautiful day in the Pines. It was warm and the rain stayed away.

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Batona Trial #3

This is my log for the MLDC’s Batona Trial #3 cache.  I had previously found this cache on 15 July 2006 @ 11:40 a.m.

‘Twas out and about with Ski and our day was ending.  He wanted to hit this before we left the area.  We parked along 563 and walked in.  Wow!

The area had had a controlled burn since I was here in July.  Things were totally different.  I was no use in finding the cache.  Once Chris found it (after some searching) it was discovered this was a new cache and we both suspect that it was moved.  If not, it certainly was not what I remembered.

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Batona Trial #3

This is my log for the MLDC’s Batona Trial #3 cache that I found on 15 July 2006 @ 11:40 a.m.

This was the last cache to log for the day.  I drove down Iron Pipe Road from Washington and found a convenient spot to pull over and park.  Unfortunately, I should have driven up a bit more as I could have driven much closer.  No matter, however, as I enjoy hiking to caches.

I got onto the Batona Trail again right near 563.  The cache description made this sound as though it would be a mess to get to.  I poked around one area before the GPS sent me further in.  I was able to “walk around back” and avoid getting cut up.

Nearby I heard a lot of commotion.  It sounded like they were trimming trees along 563.

I like what MLDC is doing by placing caches along the Batona Trail for others to find.  While these locations may not be spectacular, hiking the trail is fun and to have caches to find is good too.

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Scooby Doo Remix at Washington Tavern

This is my log for the Frodo_Underhill’s Scooby Doo Remix at Washington Tavern cache that I found on 15 July 2006 @ 11:14 a.m.

This cache has an interesting story. It is the rescued SunCrush cache that she left when she moved to Florida. I had found this on the day of my 15th reunion when I went to SAS. It was pouring that day.

Well, Frodo hid this near where Tom’s Washington Tavern cache had been. I walked right to it. Lots of insects played with me as I logged in. I shared my experience with the logbook from when it had been SC’s and recounted the rain of the day and how I had gone to Delaware that day.

There’s far more to talk about when this was the other cache than this incarnation, which again was nothing special. Recycled cache. Recycled location. Uninspired.

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Mega Micro at Washington Ruins

This is my log for the Frodo_Underhill’s Mega Micro at Washington Ruins cache that I found on 15 July 2006 @ 10:58 a.m.

The ruins at Washington are a familiar sight. Tom’s cache was nearer, this one was across the road behind a log that I proclaimed from the road to be where the cache was.

I knew what I was in for before I got there. It was even worse than I suspected.

A white plastic bucket held a bunch (25?) film canisters. The object was to find the one with the logbook. Sigh . . .

It was the fourth one I checked. Oh boy, that was fun!

Here was another uninspired cache. One sees nothing new, spots the location from the road so there is no search, and then is presented with a micro. Where’s the fun?

Anyhow, afterwards, I treated myself to walking around and in the ruins. It was nice and peaceful out today.

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