Unbecoming Levity

Henry E. Cowdrey Nature Center

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:06 -0400

Our first geocaching adventure of 2005. I hadn't been out caching since October and I was itching to go. We were a little out of practice so we selected this cache as it was supposed to be easy.

Team "Plastered Dragon" Ready to Go

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:05 -0400

When I got my new computer, I got a new digital camera, so Lynnea got my (very) old digital camera. She got a lot of use out of it today!

Trail Map

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:03 -0400

Here's the trail map. We started at the bottom following Old Wagon Road, walking toward the cache. Little did we know we were supposed to follow the Troll Bridge Trail, away from the cache.

Rickety Old Bridge

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:02 -0400

Bridges like these dot these trails. A lot of this area is swampy or underwater proper.

Teaberry?

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:02 -0400

We saw many of these red berries on the forest floor. Perhaps more than one variety because Pat saw some which she was certain were teaberries, then there were others, like this one, where she was not so sure.

Trail Markers

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:00 -0400

Trail markers were of various styles, sizes, and ages. It gave the place a sort of charming, organic feel.

Another Sort of Marker...

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:08 -0400

This memoriam of Glenn David Hubbard sits at the trail's edge overlooking something that confirmed the nagging doubt that we had taken the wrong trail...

0.13 Miles THAT Way?

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:07 -0400

My GPS calmly informed me that the cache was 0.13 miles in this direction. Which would put it on the opposite bank of the river. Oy vey.

We recalled from the trail map that there was a bridge at the end of Old Wagon Road, so we followed the river downstream.

Broken Bridge

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:06 -0400

*sigh*

Well here's the bridge at the bottom of Old Wagon Trail... as you can see, a tree has fallen across the spot where the bridge used to be, and only a few timbers of the bridge remain. The tree was standing in the middle of the water, and even if I could have walked its length, I'd not get to the other side.

Now what?

We reread the instructions for the cache, and realized it said we were supposed to take the trail to the right off the parking area, and it mentioned that we would cross a number of bridges. Oops.

We decided to follow Mulpus Brook downstream and see if we could find another bridge.

Glittering Brook

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:05 -0400

Mulpus Brook is quite beautiful, and I bet it looks even nicer once the foliage is out.

Baby Ferns

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:04 -0400

Aren't they cute?

Beautiful Sight

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:03 -0400

After what seemed like a long time walking, we finally caught sight of the bridge depicted above. Yayyy! Now we could cross the brook and find the cache!

Water Shapes

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:01 -0400

The brook was smooth like glass up until about 10 yards before the bridge, then it stumbled over some underwater rocks and became disrupted.

Crossing the Mulpus

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:00 -0400

Over the river and through the woods, to see the lizard we go. I still had no idea why this cache was called Off to See the Lizard...

Neya Playing

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:08 -0400

Once over the bridge we took a rest and Lynnea played at the water's edge. She's wearing her new "Britney Spears" style hat she got for her birthday.

Corrugational

Abacquer — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 16:00:57 -0400

This pipe is for a small feeder stream that runs into Mulpus Brook in Lunenburg, Ma. Took this picture while I was out geocaching today. The pipe was about a foot in diameter. Love that spiral look.

I had to hang over the end of the pipe and hold my camera down in front of it to get the shot. Needless to say, I was very worried about accidentally dropping the camera into the water. Fortunately this did not happen.

Frog Log

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:07 -0400

While we were off to see the lizard, we saw many varieties of wild life, most notably Wood Ducks, Mallards, a Brown Creeper, and this guy here. No lizards though. Although...

Sssssssssssssssssssssss!

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:06 -0400

We did see a Common Garter Snake. Here he is flattening out his body and trying to look big and scary so that the creep with the camera will go away.

Later we saw a second garter snake that had lost a bit of his tail.

Duck Blind Wreckage

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:04 -0400

The cache description told of a duck blind not far from the cache which you could sit in and watch the ducks in the marsh.

Here it is.

As you can see, the blind is in a transitional phase right now...

Marsh View

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:03 -0400

Here's the view of the marsh from where the duck blind originally stood. This would be a nice place for bird watching!

Strange Red Bug

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:05 -0400

Anybody know what this is? It is shaped like a junebug, but it is not a junebug. Whatzit?

Caution, Beavers at Work

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:07 -0400

This appeared to be very recent handiwork by the local beavers, who are busily trying to dam up Mulpus Brook and turn their swamp into a lake.

Beaver Lodge & Wood Duck Houses

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:08 -0400

Here's a beaver lodge in the water with wood duck houses nearby. We didn't actually see any beavers today, though we saw plenty of wood ducks.

Lynnea and the Cache

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:01 -0400

Hooray! It probably took us twice as long to get here as it should have, but finding the cache itself was relatively simple. As you can see it's a big ammo box.

It turned out that the cache contained among other things, about a dozen keychains with metallic geckos dangling from them. I guess that is why it is called 'Off to See the Lizard'. I took one to decorate my geocaching backpack which I hope to cover with pins and charms collected from various caches.

We took a few other items from the cache for Neya to keep and then added some treasures of our own.

Signing the Logbook

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:01 -0400

Here's what we wrote in the cache logbook.

I had to include the "against the better judgement of my wife" part because at several points my wife commented that she thought we had taken the wrong trail from the parking area. She was right, I can't deny it.

View From the Other Side

Abacquer — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:39:07 -0400

This is a look back at where we were when it became clear that we needed to head downstream and look for a bridge. Glenn Hubbard's memorial is up on that ridge.