Mother's Day....in a marsh.

Happy Mother's Day!  And of course, what better way to celebrate then by going for a short and beautiful early morning hike by yourself into a swamp to fulfill a zero-day obligation.  Okay, so maybe that's completely nontraditional - but I did it anyway dammit!  Haha. 

Since I was slated to be at Mom's around 9am to cook breakfast for her (and the other vagrants mingling about), I had to get on the trail early.  The cache that was to be the Vivien Leigh to my Clark Gable, was Meandering Through the Marsh by Paleoman52.  The cache page boasted a three-quarter of a mile round trip hike down a rails-to-trails through a beautiful swamp.  How could I resist such temptation?

I hit the trail around 7:30-ish, with plenty of time to dawdle about taking pictures and doing the other nerdy things I do oh-so-well.  Everything I love about early morning hiking was in full force today.  The sun's rays were just starting to poke through the trees, the air was cool and crisp and there was a thin fog covering the world.  It was epic Szuchie hiking weather boys and girls.

The sun's rays streaming through the morning fog.

How much fun does this trail look?!?  :-)

Wait a minute! There's things here! There's rocks, there's trees, there's birds, there's squirrels.
Come on, we'll bless them all until we get vashnigyered.

Look closely for the wildlife kids.

I love early morning shadows.

Golden Rod leafing out.

The hike to the cache was awesome - and the swamp was spectacular.  What made it even more enjoyable, was the fact that the air was cool and therefore there were no bugs to be found.  Couldn't have planned that better if I say so myself!  After finding the cache, I really didn't want to leave this area as I was having myself such a good ole' time...so I decided to continue my hike until the trail left the swamp and entered into the woods. 

I really enjoyed this section of trail, and after maybe another half mile or so of hiking, I saw that my time here was starting to grow short.  So I spent a few minutes listening to the song birds, before doubling back to my SUVIE.  In total I did around a mile and a half - which was the perfect way to start a marvelous day filled with family and friends.

Letchworth Part II - C of Team CCC and CCC in LSP (follow all that?)

My cell phone buzzed indicating a new textual message.  It was an important announcement informing me that Cayuga Crew had just entered the northern end of Letchworth and was officially requesting my affable company in tackling CCC in LSP by Wolf Creek.  This cache is a multi-part adventure that highlights all the Civilian Conservation Corps (also known as CCC) locations in Letchworth.  The CCC was created during the Great Depression as a way to create jobs for the unemployed.  The CCC existed from 1933 to 1941, and in Letchworth alone over 3,000 men played a huge roll in developing the park and making it much more accessible for tourists and other exploration.  They built roads, buildings, fences and other structures that still stand in the park.  One of the most famous CCC accomplishments is the Stone Arch Bridge that spans the Genesee River below the Lower Falls.  It's the only spot inside Letchworth that you can cross from the eastern side of the park to the western side (legitimately of course...haha).

Anyway, this particular cache drove you around both sides of the park, showing you many informational kiosks, as well as remnants of CCC structures.  It was pretty cool actually, because it permitted me to visit many spots I haven't been to in quite some time, and also a spot that I had never known about before which made me all giggly and shat.  Haha. 

The twist to this cache, is that not only did you have to get certain information off the kiosks, but you also had to find a container with information that would help you decipher the final coordinates.  At first it was far too complicated a concept for Cayuga and me, but after some intense head and rear end scratching, we finally figured it out and started to quickly move between the legs.

The above stone lovely is all that's left of a CCC officers barracks.  It's hard to believe this is over 70 years old!  The kiosk beside this cool structure had an awesome picture that really resonated with me and so I'll share it:

I was amazed to see the same stone chimney I was currently loitering next to in this picture!  The notion of standing in the exact same spot where these two guys were sitting all those years ago was a mighty sweet slice of cool for me.  Alright so I'll stop drooling and get on with this post...haha.

As I said earlier, once we got the hand of what we were supposed to be doing, we did a pseudo decent job of working through the legs and getting the needed information.  The cache eventually took us to the east side of the park, and to a spot I had driven near before but did not know it existed until today!

Tucked away in a young grove of pine trees, was another old CCC chimney.  I would have looked to see if there was a similar picture to the one above, but as you can see here Cayuga's butt was in my way.  Haha.  This was a really great spot, and something I had never known about before.  See, I'm learning cool stuff all the time!  From here, we had all the necessary information and started the drive to the final cache location.  The final's location was at the northern most spot in the park that you can access from the Portageville East Side entrance.  The latter half of this road is a dirt road in every sense of the phrase, and is pretty remote considering the last couple miles there are no cabins, facilities, etc.  What you do get to discover is an awesome and probably rarely-visited overlook of the gorge.

Now that's a nice view into the gorge - not to mention it gives you a great perspective as to how steep these walls really are!  From this spot, it was a really short hike to the cache - where we found a juicy ammo can for us to crack open and log into.  All in all, this was a great day to be in Letchworth, and certainly a dandy day to hang out with my homeboy Cayuga Crew.  To finalize our adventure, we soaked in this vista, and cracked a couple of Yuenglings to celebrate.  It just don't get much better then that kiddies.

Letchworth Part I - Topo Lesson's Last Stand

Today was a random sort of day with pseudo-plans that really only involved going in a certain direction and endeavoring to accomplish whatever tickled my fancy along the way.  The destination was Letchworth (geez...I'm spending a lot of time here...cool!), and my plan was to re-find a few caches that I had either not logged because of stupidity or that I logged and just plain forgot when I had visited them.

At some point in all this half-ass planned non-planning, I managed to text Cayuga to let him know of my intentions.  He had a couple things going on in the A.M., but was going to try and sneak away to join me at some point and participate in the tomfoolery.  So at this point I was left to my own devices - which worked out well enough since my first stop would be to revisit Brogan's Topo Lesson by Brogan (obvious right?  Haha).  This cache was located on a steep hillside that took you down towards the Genesee River.  In total, I think it was 300 or so feet of elevation down to the cache site, before doing a 360 and hauling my ample little cheekies back up towards the road.  It's a hell of a hike on the way out...which plays into why I had to pay this cache a return visit.

It all started on my birthday in 20-ought-ten.  To celebrate another year of being older (and at the time being rather miserable), I decided to go hide in the woods.  Letchworth seemed like a worthy location to drown my sorrows, and this cache fit the bill.  I had spent far too long putting it off, and figured this was a better day than ever to test my luck.  So down the hill I went.  When I arrived at the cache site, I learned the cache had been trashed by a bear and the container and contents were strewn about all over the place.  So I recovered what I could, and did my best to dry out the damp logbook.  I above all people was shocked to learn I had some cell reception down there, so I dropped a few texts to Brogan to see what he wanted me to do.  Eventually it was decided that I replace the cache where I figured it belonged.

After crawling up the few hundred feet, I had just arrived at my car when I realized that after all that I had forgot to sign the logbook!  That meant I would be unable to claim a find...and there was no way in hell I was hiking back up that hill after just doing it!  *Shakes head*  Oh well, I would just return another time and make it official.

Today was the day!  After trading a few emails with Brogan, it was decided that because the cache probably needed some TLC, and the fact that it had been sitting in those woods for nearly 9 years, it was time to pull this oldie but goodie and send it packing to the retirement home.  So my job today was two-fold.  Find the cache (and log the damn thing) and pull it so Brogan could archive it.  I'd be the last to find this cache, which was cool in a sort of bittersweet way.  Regardless, I did want to find this and also help out a friend. 

With that I arrived at the parking, and headed down hill.

Boy this pic makes it look so easy...haha.

From there it was a quarter mile downhill.  This was pretty easy, and I even commented to myself at how nice all the while knowing that the uphill portion would probably kill me.  That or the bears.  Haha.  For all the elevation though, this was a stunning section of woods.  The open hardwoods were beautiful, and the ground was alive with green - Spring has sprung!

Eventually through the trees - which were just starting to bud - I could see the mighty Genesee River...which looked more like a lake than a river.  With all the rain we've gotten, the dam much farther downstream was working overtime holding back all the water. 

Genesee "Lake" just feet from where I stood!

I arrived at the cache sight and found that the cache was hidden especially well.  After retrieving it, I learned that there was a group of cachers here just a week and half ago that had yet to log their adventures online.  I was bummed I wouldn't be the first one to find this cache since the last time I was here (yes I realize how dumb that sounds), but glad that the cache itself was in fair shape (albeit pretty damp still on the inside).  I grabbed the cache, said a few words, and started to methodically tackle the uphill portion of my trek.

My methodically I mean "try not to stroke out and/or swallow too many black flies as I huffed and puffed my way to the top of the mountain."  Logical right?  It was slow going, especially carrying the large cache container with me, but after several stops to catch my breath and curse the flies who kept dive-bombing my face, I finally hit the road and my vehicle.

It's strange seeing this cache and pavement in the same picture...

With that, I took a nice break, and learned that my buddy Cayuga was moments from entering the park from Mount Morris....which means more LSP adventures to come!

Szuchie's Sense of Serenity...

At some point during work today I had the brilliant idea to go for a hike once I set free for the weekend.  Normally that's a standard occurrence - only this time this genius notion was accompanied by an agenda and everything.  I was surprised as anyone, because my ideas never come with an agenda attached.  It's like my brain just gave itself a gift or something...what a bizarre and strangely psychotic concept.

The back story on this idea and agenda (because most everything comes with a 25- page dissertation that could easily be boiled down to one or two sentences) was a combination of two things.  Both involved caches...shocking right?

Part numero uno of my plan was to head to a section Wyoming County public forest and re-find the final for The Tranquil Trickle of Trout Brook by Snowman257.  This is a cleverly done 5 park multi that requires you to bushwhack through a the woods alongside Trout Brook.  Some parts are a swampy mess with wall to wall thorns, prickers and other undesirables...but for all that, there is also nice open woods and other cools spots.  Chicky and I had found this cache back in 2010 when I was going through a non-logging phase.  So basically I had found the cache, but didn't bother to log my adventure online...which in turn meant that I had no clue when I actually had found this cache.  I could have made an educated guess (and probably would have been right on in hindsight), but instead decided to revisit the final to find out when I had originally logged in, so that I could log online since at this brief point in my life I've decided I'm happy doing that again.  My life is one big whim people, it's horrible! 

The section of WyCo forest is actually split into two parts by Hobday Road in the hamlet of Hermitage which is located in the Town of Wethersfield (I think...haha).  The side of the woods that Tranquil Trickle of Trout Brook is located on is not developed.  Of course that will change soon, as the County has decided to forest this side of the road...which is understandable, but also pretty lame.  But hey, in like 2 or 3 years there will be an access trail for people to place millions and millions of caches along (eye roll).  Anyway...to do anything over there requires your big boy pants and a pair of good muck boots.  It's swampy, and with all the rain we've gotten the will certainly come in uber handy.  I headed into the woods, and after crossing Trout Creek I made quick work of the cache.  I checked the log book...and well...you get the idea...

Clearly I was enamored with this one...haha.

With that stage of my trek under wraps, I began the second portion of my journey.  This would be to cross Hobday Road into the other side of WyCo woods.  Here there is a dandy trail - and along this trail is a three-part cache called Szuchie's Sense of Serenity by every one's favorite cache blogger - Me!  Since I hadn't paid a visit here in a little while, I deduced that it would be the perfect opportunity to enjoy this 2-mile round trip hike and in doing so run through part of this cache.  I wasn't 500 feet into my hike before I was greeted by the beautiful colors of spring.

Aww...pretty right?  Not long after this blossoming babe, I arrived at the first stage of my cache.  This was a letterbox stage that required you to follow a couple clues to find the first leg.  What I love about this spot, was that at some point in history someone planted a ton of spruce all lined in rows.  So you enter this patch of woods and it's very dark and spooky.  Really cool stuff though as you can see how all the trees line up almost perfectly with one another.  So of course it needed to be shown off - and hence the first stage of my hike.  From there it was a gradual uphill hike where this trail "T"'d with the snowmobile trail that ran west to east.  Just a short jaunt west and you'd arrive at a really unique spot, that if you weren't pay attention you'd probably not notice.

While it's hard to tell from just this picture...that is the foundation to an old log cabin structure.  I don't imagine that they ever built a house, however it's a really neat thing to find in the middle of the woods.  The second leg was within 10 feet of the "front door" as I couldn't help but show this strange phenomenon off to geo-visitors.  From there, I headed east to the last stage of my cache.  This was the longest portion of the hike - and the closer you got to the final, the more beautiful and open these woods became. 

I arrived near the final and made an unfortunate discovery.  Since the County plans on harvesting timber on the other side of the forest, they must have hired some surveyors or something to mark the boundaries of these woods.  When I first placed this cache, I believed the final was just on the right side of the boundary line...sadly I was off by about 75 feet or so...which meant that my final cache had to be moved.  It was a tough decision, because the final cache was in an awesome spot, and that particular section of open hardwoods and nearby creeks was stellar.  Plus, the hiding spot for the cache was an awesome old cherry tree - check this out!

Sigh...so after a few minutes of deliberation, I decided that instead of trying to make this work, I would just archive the cache.  The cache sort of came together and to modify it would just take away totally from what I was trying to accomplish - so it made sense to me.  It'd be like taking the Mona Lisa and removing her famous the smile.  Sure it would still be a good painting, but it just wouldn't be the same.  Now imagine that in the form of a crappy cache that da Vinci wouldn't touch with a 20 foot pole.  Haha.  With the cache dangling in my hand, I began the slow, somber hike back out.  One of the last picture I took before I left, was this...which I'm pretty sure is one of the reasons I always try and place caches like this.

I was grateful to have placed this cache, and moreso for the people who took the time to find it.  While I'm sad to see it go, maybe someone will place something that once again shows off this exceptional section of hardwoods.  What a wild and weird Friday night!

Serenity in Beaver Meadow

Even though I had logged beaucoup miles yesterday in Allegany State Park, I really wanted to get outside today and hike a few more.  I figured it would be good to stretch my tired legs, and if I could find the right spot, I could minimize the climbing of any mountains!

One of the nearby multi caches that caught my eye was Serenity at Beaver Meadow by Nature Noggins.  Normally a cache like this wouldn't remain unfound for very long, but the truth of the matter was that I had actually found it already.  It was originally placed on an alternative geocaching website called Terracaching.com.  There are a few other "alternative" caching websites outside of Geocaching.com which is far and away the most popular and mainstream source for caching goodness.

Anyway, after it was removed from Terracaching, it found a new home (and a much larger audience) on Geocaching.com.  Since that transition, I just haven't found it officially so that I could finally log it properly.  So, knowing the layout of the cache, I figured I would enjoy this long hiking cache, check on all the legs and enjoy the beautiful scenery at Beaver Meadow Audubon Center.  Beaver Meadow is operated by the Buffalo Audubon Society - which is a non-for-profit organization that according to their website promotes appreciation and enjoyment of the natural world through education and stewardship.  They have a number of nature preserves and centers throughout the Western New York.  They do some pretty cool stuff there too - as I've been involved with bird banding, nature hikes, festivals, geocaching activities and the Enchanted Forest (which is a magnificent event).

Long story short - Beaver Meadow is 384 acres of diverse and extraordinary landscape that encompasses hardwood forests, conifer lots, swamps, kettle ponds and much more.  Oh yeah, and it ain't that hilly!  So this was the perfect spot to take a long hike without abusing my body any more than I already have.  :-)  I made a call out to Chicky to see if she would like to accompany me, and soon we were heading towards our destination.  Since we knew the direction this cache was taking us, we parked "in the middle" and hiked out to leg one.  Here you'll find an long winding boardwalk that gets you up close and personal with one of the swampy areas in the Meadow.

We found the first leg after a little searching.  Honestly I had to brush the dust off the brain a little, so I can imagine the added challenge for people who haven't found this before.  But after a little head scratching, I some looking, we found what we needed and started our way towards leg two.  One of the things I love about Beaver Meadow is all the little kettle ponds in the woods, and the second leg took us a pretty remote one actually.  There we found the second leg and enjoyed ourselves a little R&R as we soaked in the sights.

From there we continued on our merry way, exploring more spots in Beaver Meadow that we hadn't visited in quite some time.  Even though the skies were overcast and it was a little chilly out, the hiking was pretty good as the trails weren't too sloppy.  With the exception of one 2-minute moment, the rain was nonexistant.  It was a good morning to hike!  Leg 3 gave us our biggest wildlife sighting for the day - a bunny!

What a cute little bugger right?  We would see a baltimore oriole later in the day, but that was driving home and not on this hike (but it was still pretty damn cool!)  From leg 3 to 4 was the longest hike between legs for the day.  It also provided us with my favorite portion of this cache - the open hardwood forest!  Here we made a ton of wonderful discoveries including wild flowers, leaks, skunk cabbage, mayapples and Chicky's favorite - trilliums!  So needless to say, the hiking was slow as we endeavored to capture every morsel we could get our hands on. 

All in all, hiking in Beaver Meadow was fantastic.  Interestingly enough, before finding the final, we noticed a small sapling had very recently been cut down along the trail and someone took the lower trunk but left the rest.  It was perfect for a hiking stick...so now I have it sitting in my apartment drying. While I don't condone cutting down stuff in a nature preserve, I do subscribe to mindset that "no good hiking stick goes to waste!"  In total, Chicky and I probably hiked around two miles and a little change.  While my knees were noticeably sore on some of the inclines, it was a great adventure and I'm so totally glad we hit the trail today...because within an hour or two after it started to pour...which sucked.  The rain has to stop eventually right!?!