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| Don’t do it. |
Geocaching has led me to a number of signs like this over the years. They're kind of disappointing because, sometimes, you just need to dispose of someon—er, something—quickly.
The weekend was busy, productive, mostly enjoyable. Friday evening, Brugger
and I went to Martinsville and had friends Stephen &
Samaire over for dinner and drinks. Given the agreeably mild
weather, we were able to socially distance ourselves on the front porch at
Pleasant Hill. We picked up dinner from
Third Bay Cafe, which was, as always, first-rate. Yesterday, upon our return to Greensboro (by way of
Danville for a couple of geocaches), Ms. B. and I spent the better part
of the day working on our kitchen renovation. Tiring, of course, but highly
satisfying.
This morning, Mr. Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I got
together to check out the trails and a number of caches at the
Spruce Pine Lodge, along Flat River, just north of Durham. The weather was perfectly splendid for hitting the woods — clear skies and temperatures in the
high 50s/low 60s. Prior to coming out here for geocaching, I knew nothing of
this lodge, which dates back to the 1940s. It is available for meetings,
events, and gatherings of all sorts. The nature trails offer scenic views and
easy hiking, although most of the caches ended up taking us pretty far
off-trail.
We found some good ones this trip. We discovered one container in the hands of
a hopelessly malnourished fellow; a couple of well-stocked ammo cans; and a
couple of smaller caches up in trees. Sadly — for me, at least — these did not
require climbing but specific tools of the geocaching trade.
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| Scott appears bemused by this chap suffering from extreme malnourishment. |
My favorite cache of the day, “Waterfall Overlook” (GCQE55), took us out to some high ground above one of the rocky, rushing creeks
that flow into Flat River. Outbound, we found a narrow stretch with plenty of
stepping stones to facilitate our crossing. After claiming the cache, we
returned by a different route, which put us high above the stream, at a wide,
rocky, and far more treacherous point. However, being the spirited, foolish
daredevils we (sometimes) are, rather than detour, we decided to soldier on.
Not far downstream, we found a big fallen tree above the deepest, rockiest
part of the creek, so one of us (raises hand) unilaterally decided to use it
as a handy-dandy footbridge. As we soon discovered, the log had a
wee wobble, but neither Scott nor I fell off of it. Well,
I didn’t. And it wasn’t so much a fall as a slide, which culminated in
a relatively small splash. Not very spectacular, Scott.
On our way home, we stopped for a handful of other caches, including one at a
very old church graveyard, where we discovered the sign in the image at the
top of the page. Graveyard caches almost always elicit a smile.
Just don’t bury any bodies there without permission. Don’t do it.
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| The Spruce Pine Lodge in Bahama, NC, just north of Durham |
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| View of Flat River from the nature trail at Spruce Pine Lodge |
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| Outdoor amphitheater near the nature trail |
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| One of the scenic little waterfalls we discovered on our hike |
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Our makeshift bridge across the stream. So it was a little wobbly. Scott
and I both survived, though one of us might have ended up a bit wetter than the other. |