Hidden in the High Ridge Wildlife Management Area. Bring your own pencil, there is only room in the cache for a log.
High Ridge WMA is 2,018 acres of land open to the general public and is a popular area for hikers, walkers and naturalists. This area is open to hunting and it's run by the Mass. Fisheries and Game division (wear blaze orange from October to January). It is my favorite place to take my dog Cody off-leash (no motorized vehicles allowed on trails). There are several caches in this area (8 that I have hidden as of the date of this entry, as well as several others hidden by other geocachers). Keep reading if you’d like advice on the best route to take to find my eight caches. Stop reading here if you’d prefer to figure that out on your own!
To find all 8 caches you will be covering about 3.5 miles. Most of the walk is paved and relatively flat but one section does go through a wooded downhill trail and there are a couple steep paved hills. It’s a beautiful area and well worth the trek! The closest parking location to the beginning of this adventure is N 42°34.579’ W 071°56.152’ (the first cache will be “High Ridge Wooded Trail 2”). Directions: Head towards the North County Correctional Institute in Gardner (enter off of Rte 140 – there will be a sign for the North Central Correctional Center). This is a short road and at the end you will be facing a self-storage business. Turn left and follow the road through the Correctional Center, up a hill passing the parking lots (you will feel strange driving past the prison your first time, but it is perfectly fine). There is a sign saying no cars beyond this point, just keep going until you see the sign for High Ridge (the sign says MASS Wildlife High Ridge Wildlife Management Area). There will likely be an orange barricade as well. Park anywhere on the side before the barricade.
Walk through the barricade and walk down the paved road a bit until you see a path on the left hand side. Follow the path into the wooded area, turn right and follow the trail through the woods (find “High Ridge Wooded Trail 2”). At the end of the trail you will come to a paved road. Turn right and follow paved road to find “Bakugan Brawlers Beware” (this is a premium member cache – so if you are not a premium member, skip this one). After finding “Bakugan Brawlers Beware”, continue down the paved road and find “Cody’s Watering Hole”. Continue down the paved road to find “Hit Rock Bottom”. Continue down the road until you see a grass path off to the left (follow that to find “Bug Off”). Backtrack to the paved road - you will come to an area where the road turns right and you will walk up a steep hill. Continue following road and find “Knock on Wood”. Backtrack to the paved road and continue down to find “Ace in the hole”. Follow the paved road until it takes a turn up a paved hill. Head up this way to find the last of my caches (“Sticky Situation”). Continue up the hill and follow the road until you see your car. You’ve now completed the loop. Enjoy!!