Old Man of the Genesee Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A nice hike in the little visited East side of Letchworth State
Park. Access is along River Road. Look for Trail #22, the Sycamore
Trail, or by the Finger Lakes Trail. Cache is a 30 cal ammo
can.
NOTE: If you get bored reading about the tree, MAKE SURE YOU SKIP TOWARD THE BOTTOM OF THE DESCRIPTION, for IMPORTANT TRAIL INFO.
The trail name says it all. This cache will take you down along a couple of beautiful ravines, to see, what else, but the largest tree in Letchworth, a huge sycamore.
From what Paleoman tells me, I guess there is some speculation on whether the "Old Man" was there or not when Mary Jemison lived almost directly across the river from it. Whether it was or not, it IS definately old. We can only imagine how many other trees of this size there were along the river flat, before all the farming and logging that the pioneers did in the gorge...Not to mention before the building of the Mt Morris dam.
The "Old Man" was almost cut down after the flood of '72, but someone decided there was just enough life left in it to
leave it and see if it would make it. Unfortunately, the tree is at the top edge of a creek, where the bank is quickly eroding. This tree probably only has just a handful of years left before it will probably topple over. What a shame, as it has MANY more years of life left in it. So see it while you can!
We didn't measure it, but if I had to guess, I would say it has a diameter of around 5ft or better. It would probably take at least 4 grown men to completely reach around it. I think its around 120ft tall. The bark on the upper part of the tree is almost white. Between this and its incredible height and girth, it makes it very easy to pick out. It
also stands in a clearing all by itself. So, there is no trying to figure out which tree it is, especially if you don't know your trees. You don't even have to figure out whether its a pine or a spruce, count needles, or examine the leaf shape to figure it out.
You don't even need a Tree Expert along with you (cough, cough..Nature Noggins). Paleoman actually got this one right, this time. (Because, the Park Naturalist TOLD him exactly what it was...) Since I doubt there are any Pencil trees around, we were kind enough to leave pens in the cache...Of course, we'll have to see if the local Pencil tree expert discovers any on his race for FTF.
And before another dispute comes up, the tree stands about 400ft on the Livingston side of the Wyoming-Livingston county border. So I guess you Wyomingites JUST barely miss out on another geocachical oddity...Sorry! NOTE that this tree is about 300 ft out in the flood plain. During the spring, the bottom 2/3rds of it is usually submerged when the river is held back by the Mt Morris dam.
You wont be able to go out to it then. You would be able to see the top 50-75ft of it above water, out in the middle of the "lake", though. During summer, the flood plain is covered with high grass, and there is poison ivy near the tree. Otherwise, there's not much brush, and its very easy to get to. Its kind of weird to be down on the dry floodplain, and to look up into all the treetops and see odd objects stuck high in the branches from the flooding.
The cache itself is located on a ridge about 300ft just east of the tree, only 30-40ft above flood level. You can see the sycamore from the cache. You can actually see the tree VERY well in the orthoimages (aerial) photos of the area.
You should be able to use any website
that shows aerial photos. I prefer to use maps.live.com
(visit link) , which is part of VirtualEarth, as you can use the Bird's Eye view to see the tree and river in its low, dry stage. The aerial photos show the tree flooded.
Birds Eye
(visit link)
Aerial
(visit link)
Interestingly, the tree is located almost directly across the river from Brogan's Topo Lesson cache, and just downriver from Paleoman's Gardeau cache. Smokey Hollow Wallow cache is just north of here, also.
IMPORTANT TRAIL INFO:
OK, based on experiences of the hardy cachers who attempted this one on its 1st day, (and my own little confusion on the way back to the cache), I'm adding some info for the best route, here.
There are several spurs of the FLT that crisscross not far from the trail head, and its easy to take the wrong trail (as I found out today, myself).
Park at the trail head on River Rd, and take the lower trail in, right along the creek. ALWAYS keep the creek/ravine in sight, on your immediate right. DO NOT cross the creek at any time.
After a short time, the trail will take a hard 90° turn to the left, AWAY from the cache....From this point, this will be one instance where beelining to the cache might be a good idea. This is also a nicer scenic walk through open woods.
This route should keep you heading mostly due west, and take you right to the cache.
On the way back, if you head 150ft S-SW from the cache, you will find an old, cleared road, which is the official Trail #22. That will take you right back to the parking, and is less confusing on the way out for some reason.
Letchworth State Park Permit #26
Congrats to Jan of howieandjan for FTF! What dedication to do this hike a second time in the same day!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvagf ner sbe nzngrhef!!...(Naq Oyhr_Fgbar, bs pbhefr.)
Treasures
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