Return to Tradition #5: Otter Slide Traditional Cache
geos of the jungle: Sounds like the cache has been compromised. I will go pick up the trash when I have some free time (which is quite rare these days).
Return to Tradition #5: Otter Slide
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A nice waterside walk south of the
Carlisle Cranberry Bog. Round trip from suggested parking is
about a half mile.
We're relatively new to geocaching (1.5 years) so our definition of
"tradition" may be a bit different than that of the local veterans.
When we were introduced to geocaching we got hooked right away. The
part that intrigued us the most (and still does) is learning about,
and exploring, beautiful areas we never knew existed or had never
taken the opportunity to explore. Finding a well stocked cache
container has always been a nice bonus to the experience. With this
in mind we give you our contribution to the "Return to Tradition"
series, the Otter Slide trail. Here is an exerpt from the "Trails
in Carlisle" booklet:
Native Americans harvested wild
Massachusetts cranberries for hundreds of years. Recorded
cultivation began around 1816 in natural bogs near Cape Cod. With
bog building, cranberry growing was widespread by the late 1840s
and early 1850s. In 1903, James and W. Clifford Nickles bought the
bog land and water to grow cranberries. By the 1980s, this
property, half of which lies in Carlisle and half in Chelmsford,
belonged to Lowell Cranberry Company. In 1986, the towns purchased
their sections of the bog for open space, conservation, and
recreation. The Carlisle section along Curve Street includes 40
acres of working cranberry bog and has a grid of packed dirt
roads.
Agricultural rights are leased to a local farmer,
and the barn, which is part of the lease, houses vintage cranberry
farming equipment. The land consists of many acres of wooded
uplands and wetland with several large ponds that serve as
reservoirs for irrigation and flooding. The wet harvest each fall,
with the flooded beds covered with bright red floating berries is
one of the most striking sights you'll see as you travel this area
enjoying the fall colors.
The area is rich in birds and wildlife, with
frequent signs of beaver, fox, muskrat, mink, and otter activity.
Swallows, Bobolinks, Herons, and Spotted Sandpipers visit each
season as well as other birds. The wide-open vistas make this a
good place to watch migrating hawks in the fall. When snow falls,
cross Curve Street and follow Otter Brook Trail alongside Great
Brook and look for otter slides. Otter Brook Trail meets Old Morse
Road, which continues south via the Transfer Station and Conant
Land all the way to city hall.
The walk is quite serene, especially when there's snow on the
ground. We hope you have time to continue along the trail and
explore more of the area.
We've seeded the ammo can with small plastic animals, toy cars,
play dough, dice, marbles, word search book, million dollar bills,
bison tubes, nano magnets, micro containers, geocaching post
cards/stickers, and a "found it" magnet. In addition to that
there's a FTF prize and some info in the back of the log book that
should help you find our "Rhubarb Pie" micro.
7/22/07 update: We replaced the ammo can with a lock-n-lock
style container. Happy caching!
Thanks to Bubba & Jonathan for passing along the idea for this
(see
GCT9RK - Return To Tradition #1: Burnt Out).
Please be careful to replace the
container exactly as you found it.
Happy
caching!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[To avoid having to cross the brook enter the trail at the side of the brook with the Otter Slide sign.]