Pat's Dad was looking for a nice hike today and so I suggested he and I go geocaching (Pat either didn't want to or wasn't able to come). We decided to do a cache on Hawk Mountain in Waterford, ME called "The Jimmy Buffett Box". Apparently the cache was on an outcrop with nice water views that is oft used as a party spot. The cache description suggested one should bring a few brews and enjoy a private "Margaritaville".

We didn't have very accurate maps but I had my trusty Magellan Meridian Gold, which had excellent street maps for all of Maine, and largely using it for a guide, we wended our way along mountain roads, some of them paved, to a parking area about 0.62 miles from the cache. After that it was a mostly uphill hike along what appeared to be a rock-strewn gully which carries meltwater during early spring. There were many large and apparently longlived mudpuddles along the trail, I say apparently longlived because many of them were inhabited by leopard frogs.

The area was thick with interesting flora, and we enjoyed listening to more birds than I could possibly identify. The other interesting thing were the mineral-rich stones along the trail. I had been noticing a lot of little places here and there on many of the roads about town mentioning minerals for sale and the like. Perhaps this whole region is noted for interesting geology.

Before long we reached the outcrop and began hunting. It took about 5 minutes to locate the cache. We traded a few items, signed the logbook, rehid the cache and then enjoyed the views for a bit. From this outcrop on Hawk Mountain we could see a very long connected system of lakes, featuring at the northern end, I kid you not, "Crystal Lake". Rather amusing considering that this week's Name That Movie was Friday the 13th.

I snapped this picture of the view luckily catching a turkey vulture that was flying through:

I was pleasantly surprised to find a White Jeep travelbug in this cache. I'm told there is some sort of contest going on at geocaching.com regarding these travelbugs. The winner will get a new Jeep Rubicon. I have no use for such a vehicle really, but it is fun to take part in the contest. I'll have to check into it and see what I do with the bug now that I have it. I think I just need to log it and move it on.

The hike back to the car was much easier of course, and I didn't need to rest nearly as much. Chuck, my father in law, is in great shape and didn't really need to rest at all going up or down. All in all a very pleasant excursion that took about 2.5 hours.

No, we didn't find Jimmy Buffett, but we did find his box!