This is the sixth of ten in the Boxborough-Centric geocache series. The publication of this geocache and the simultaneous publication of BC#9 Helen's Favorite (Half Moon Meadow) GC2DRRB complete the series.
This is a traditional geocache located at the southeast corner of Boxborough, where it abuts Stow and Acton. The container is a six inch plastic cylinder covered with camo tape with a log and a requisite clue for the tenth cache in the series, BC#10 Boxborough Centroid GC2DDCR.
The cache can be approached two ways from within Boxborough, and several more from the Acton and Stow sides. I have provided parking WPs for the two Boxborough approaches. The shortest route is in from PKG1, which is at the top of Windemere Dr. 60’ diagonally across the road and due south of that WP is the WP for a trailhead, TRAIL1, which is not marked. It is less than 0.1 mile, mostly south, to GZ from there. A very nice but much longer hike comes in from PKG2 on Windemere Dr. at the bottom of the hill. This is about 0.8 miles from GZ. From PK2 take the red trail south. In 0.3 miles you will cross into Stow. Continue on the red trail to the intersection with the white and green trails. Turn left (northeast) on the green trail. It makes a big loop around the top of the hill, right past GZ, and comes back on itself. It’s a pretty hike.
The cache is in the wall on its Boxborough side. The cache is hidden from view by a flat stone placed at the base of the wall to get at it and rehide as found. Please do not disturb the walls. Cache may be friendly under light snow conditions.
A trail map for both routes can be downloaded in a Word document from the Stow Conservation Trust’s website here. You can download a trail map for the Boxborough side of the Flagg Hill Conservation Area from the Town's website here. (I have KMZ files of both for loading on your GPSr, if you want them. They are really helpful.)
At 466 ft. above mean sea level, Flagg Hill is the highest point in Boxborough. It used to have a ski slope on its north side. You can still see some of the poles and other hardware for the rope tow. Later, a tennis club was built on its top. The clubhouse is now a beautiful home with quite a view. Please respect its privacy.
A tall stone claims to mark the town corners, but its location seems to be inaccurate when compared to the state’s listed coordinates for the corner (I have provided a reference WP with those coordinates). I was not able to find another monument marking the corner. East of the corner is a big concrete covered water tank that serves much of Acton.
The Acton-Boxborough-Stow corner marker, from the Stow side
The Boxborough-Centric series is a collection of nine individual caches, each with a clue to the tenth. All are located in Boxborough, Mass. They will take you to some of the more interesting places in the town. Several of these caches will rely on information that can be found in a book called Boxborough: Portrait of a Town, published by a group of Town residents in 1983. A special copy of this book, reserved just for this cache series, can be found in Boxborough's Sargent Memorial Library. The librarians will show you where it is. Please do not mark it up. Bring a pen and paper with which to make notes because you cannot take this copy out. Or, for a cost, you may make copies of a few pages at a time in the library if you prefer. The library’s hours can be found on its website here. You need to find ALL the first nine caches with their respective clues to find BC#10 Boxborough Centroid GC2DDCR. You do not need to find them in order.
G-o-cashers was the First-To-Find on the BC#10 Boxborough Centroid geocache (he did it the hard way, without waiting for the full series to be published, which some others have now also done). He is making the copy of Boxborough: Portrait of a Town he won for the FTF prize in that cache available to anyone who wants to borrow it for this series by placing it in his The Other Boxborough Library (GC2GJ21) geocache.