Oliver's Cave Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Other access points may get you in closer to start with. We chose to park on TWP HWY 17 off Royalton TPK.
No doubt, there is more than one way to get there.
When the Civil War broke out, Oliver Plaisted of East Barnard decided he did not want to fight. So he left home moved to a cave high on nearby Ellis Mountain. Later he got a railroad jack in Woodstock, hauled it to the hills, and erected a stone shelter topped by a massive single slab. Plaisted spent the war in hiding, then returned to East Barnard to live a hermit’s life in a shack along Broad Brook Road, until he died at age 58, 15 years after the war ended.
The people in Royalton and Barnard know this place as “Oliver’s Cave”. Close beside one another, are Oliver’s little cave and the stone structure that replaced it as his hidden home.
(Reference: Full Duty, by Howard Coffin, The Countryman Press, 1993, page 272. Mr. Coffin is a Vermont Civil War Historian.)
This is a great day hike, or overnight camp spot if you like.
There are a series of VAST trails in this area, giving you cachers no reason to bush whack. However, the way we approached it and the way you go may be very different.
VAST trails are winter snowmobiling trails, and some are through farmers fields which are only open to travel in the winter.
This cache is accessible all year round, but please start on a marked trail and not in someones hay field (unless you ask permission of course.)
From where we parked, it is 1.79 miles in as the crow flies. The actual hiking distance is more like 3 miles one way. I did the hike with a 2 year old geomonkey on my back, and the 9 year old made it just fine.
The trails are wide and clearly marked as VAST trails. You may see some town signs pointing to Oliver's cave, but don't depend on them solely. Red markers did well by us for a good portion of the way in.
These trails are very Mountain bikeable, ATV-able, and snowmobile-able. However, in the winter the cache will be buried in snow.
Don't let this stop you, though! Go find it, and email me with a description of the cave or the shelter, and we'll call it good as a find.
The cache is a tupperware container containing lots of tradables.
There is some signal wander up there because of tree coverage, so take the hint along just in case.
Also, if it is hunting season, please wear Orange, and put some flair on your geo-dogs!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur ebpx yrqtr 100 srrg sebz gur furygre. Abgr: gur ebpx jnyy lbh jvyy svaq vf va gur bccbfvgr qverpgvba bs gur pnpur.
[parking hint] 43.45.685A 072.35.204J
Treasures
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