Most every day I walk, run or cycle through this
park. I’ve often thought others should enjoy this place too. While
surrounded by suburbia, Thornwald Park has a beautiful wide open
lawn, flower beds, a serene little forest with a nature/fitness
trail running through it, an amphitheatre, a cool old mansion and a
couple of other beautiful homes along the park road. Those things
aren’t so secret, but other things remain tucked away nicely and
aren’t as obvious. Deer are common in this tiny woods and can be
seen casually crossing the lawn near Walnut Bottom Road or bedded
down in the forest vegetation. The forest, strewn with limestone
boulders typical of the Cumberland Valley, is home to numerous
beautiful old trees and many are marked with plaques to identify
them. The established trail is clear and easy to navigate, but the
woods are also entwined with less obvious foot paths. It can be fun
to just wander around through the trees and rocks knowing you
really can’t get lost in this little woodland get away. You've
probably figured out that this isn't the typical 1/4 acre
neighborhood park hide with the typical magnetic key holder under
the typical bench by the typical swing set. There is no stinking
swing set!
While the cool old trees are my favorite
attribute, the real secrets at Thornwald Park are the things that
the public most likely doesn’t know are there at all. Thornwald
Park has another geocache, a letterbox and three benchmarks in the
southeast portion of the park and there’s where you’ll find this
ammo can – the newest of the secrets.
So here’s my recommendation, go find ‘em all:
- GC166F3 - GC: A Rose Between Thorns
- LbNA #: 26678 - Squirrel’s Stash
- KW2112 N 40° 11.294 W 077° 11.971
- KW2113 N 40° 11.350 W 077° 11.933
- KW2114 N 40° 11.350 W 077° 11.933 (I know, I know those
coordinates are identical…just read the logs & look around –
you’ll find ‘em – they’re benchmarks for goodness sakes…)
Have fun while searching, it’s a nice place! If
you’re there around 7:00am or 5:30pm on a week day, I may be
strolling or cycling through and if it’s lunch time, I might be the
guy running by – say hello!
To claim this hide:
- Find the cache
- Sign the log
- Post a photo of yourself with one of the green tree
markers(there's one right near GZ) - this is not an additional
logging requirement, it's just for fun!
GUIDANCE:
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ACCESS
THIS CACHE FROM RT 81
PARK ONLY ALONG WALNUT BOTTOM RD OR THE PARK PARKING LOT
THE PARK OPENS AT DAWN AND CLOSES AT DUSK
BEWARE OF MUGGLES, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE – LOOK AROUND
YOU!
This is part of our
Perryzip Crew Geocache Trail (PZC-GT). In an attempt to share neat
places and things, we’ve come up with this trail around the PA
capital region. Please be sure to make note of the single digit
number written on the log. When you've completed the trail and
combine the numbers in cache numerical order, you'll have the
coordinates to the Unknown Cache 'City of Harrisburg - PZC-GT #16
(THE FINAL)'. Have fun!