Whispering Pines

Once again, geocaching takes me to a place I have been many times, never realizing the nearby trails were so beautiful.

I've seen this quiet place from the road many times, never knowing what lies beyond...

Skirting the tip of the park lake, one embarks on a moderately challenging network of trails. Challenging, but rewarding!

One soon comes upon a field of pines which, looking from one angle, appear to be naturally distributed...l

...but from another, as regimented as a battalion of British Red Coats!

Indeed, the pines are the theme of this cache, and one well chosen.

On reaching the top, near where the cache is located, one is drawn to go just a bit further, for surely there is something worthwhile beyond the crest of the hill, just beyond the trees.

Yes! There is a view of the Wyoming Valley which I have never seen before - Bunker Hill on the left, Larksville Mountain to the right - looking through the rock cut to the VA Hospital and the mall. I'm glad I'm here instead of there on this Saturday after Thanksgiving!

But back to business. The cache was a fairly easy find, partly because it was pretty clear that I had been preceded off the beaten path by a fellow cachier, whose tracks were quite evident in the snow. ("Oh Pooh," said Piglet, "You are such a smart bear.") It was well hidden and full of really neat stuff.

That thing on the ground is my very high tech walking stick. I think it's titanium or something, and it has a thing I can put my camera on and use it as a monopod. What it needs is a an alarm that tells you when you get more than thirty feet away from it, because I left it lying there and realized it about a quarter mile down the trail and had to go back for it. Somebody invent that, ok?

There's nothing quite like a nice stone fence that follows a trail through the woods...

...many trails, in fact. Including the one not taken.

If I were a creature that lived out here, I think I'd live in there. Nice and sheltered, but good frontage on the trail, convenient to shopping, and not a bad view.

Looking closely (as always) reveals the usual wonders and curiosities, and proves that winter is not without its colors.

Why would someone put those rock just that way?

Next to stone fences, I think I like birches almost as much.

And with that, I leave you. Thanks to IMLost, who prepared this marvellous cache in a wonderful place. You can read about it on the cache page, if you like.

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