Sleight Cache, Once Removed Traditional Geocache
Team Smokey: Stopped by today to administer some TLC and have decided to archive this one. A special thanks to Hummy585 for picking everything up a couple weeks ago as well as the others who have helped this one along the way.
Sleight Cache, Once Removed
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A small parking area can be found at
N 41° 42.513
W 073° 51.217
This is a replacement cache for
Sleight Cache which has been muggled. Since it is in a
different spot, we're posting a new cache so everyone may find it
again.
Located along the Wappinger Creek Greenway, the trail is quite
flat, but can be muddy at times. Much of the trail is on town
property, but the trail does wander along private property. Please
stay on the trail and respect other people's property. There is NO
NEED to bushwhack. If you feel you need to, you're coming about it
the wrong way. The cache is within 15' of the trail so please use
stealth if necessary.
This is a very kid-friendly trail.
Man's commitment to project makes trail a
reality
By Dan Shapley
As taken from the Poughkeepsie Journal 11/14/2005
Visitors to the Wappinger Creek Greenway Trail in LaGrange have
Rolf Nijhuis to thank for a pleasant trail that's open year-round
to the public at no charge.
The late Jack Rosenmeier started the project about 1990, and
Nijhuis started helping in 1992 when he joined the town's
Conservation Advisory Commission. The first section of trail was
built in 1997 and the latest about two years ago.
A small parking area is located on Sleight Plass Road, about 7/10
of a mile from the intersection of Overlook Road. A small brown
sign and a split rail fence mark the spot. Fishing is allowed and
at least one property owner allows hunting on his land, so walkers
should be wary until hunting season expires.
Nijhuis has, for some time, orchestrated the trail's ongoing
lengthening and maintenance. It now stands at about 1 1/4 miles
along a beautiful stretch of Wappinger Creek, as it winds under a
canopy of sycamore, oak, maple and other trees.
"When the leaves are up, you can't see a house," he said Friday as
he cleared downed branches and tacked up a few more yellow
diamond-shaped blazes to mark the trail. "There are very few places
like that in Dutchess County, where you can wander without impeding
on anyone's property."
The creek is broad, clear as tap water and shallow except for a
couple of swimming holes. Nijhuis knows better than to expect the
creek always to flow placidly as it did on that quiet November
day.
During last summer's drought, the creek dried to a trickle —
enough that unwelcome ATV drivers forded the creek from the
Poughkeepsie side. Then, the record October rains made the creek
rise more than six feet within hours, swamping the trail and
sweeping off some bank with it.
That's nothing new for the Wappinger, which winds through sandy
glacial till that is easily scoured by the current.
Erosion in nature
Upstream development, Nijhuis said, has increased erosion by paving
over more land. Rain water flows so quickly over pavement that it
fills streams with explosive force. He has watched several feet of
bank disappear, and tall trees topple into the creek, in the few
years he has walked and worked on the trail.
"Those beautiful big trees are going to go over," he said, pointing
to cliff-like banks held in place by precariously leaning
trees.
Last summer, he worked with the town, Trout Unlimited, the Dutchess
County Environmental Management Council and Boy Scout Troop 50 to
repair a section of the bank. The channel, at a sharp bend, was
fast eating into the land and might have soon consumed the
trail.
Volunteers and a town highway crew transformed an undermined bank
into a grassy slope that survived the October flood. Next year,
they will plant native bushes and trees with gripping roots to hold
the bank firm.
"The projects would not have been completed without Rolf's
persistence and leadership," said Dave Burns, former watershed
coordinator for the Environmental Management Council. "He also did
an excellent job of recruiting and organizing volunteers to help
bring the projects to successful completion."
Additional Hints
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