More info:
No prizes for guessing which national park this stash is in.
This stash is not buried. The vegetation in this area takes many
decades to recover from damage, please do not dig holes here.
This stash can (only) be reached on foot. Climbing gear is not
required. Vehicular access is not possible.
It is unlikely that this stash can be accessed during winter,
unless you're willing to dig a lot of snow.
For the rest of the year, normal safety considerations
definitely apply: Wear good boots, carry food and water. Weather
conditions change abruptly so - no matter how good the weather is
when you set off - be prepared for everything from sunburn and rain
to sleet, snow and hypothermia. Take someone with you, tell someone
else where you're going and when you'll be back, remember to
contact them when you do return, carry a mobile phone with a
charged battery, carry a compass and map and know how to use them,
carry spare GPS batteries (they go flat faster than usual in low
temperatures) etc. etc.
This is definitely a whole day outing. Ideally you should have
parked as close as possible and started your hike by about 10am.
This is easiest if you are staying somewhere in the mountains, but
Jindabyne will do if you get an early start. Unless you approach
via Blue Lake, most of the walking will be nowhere near any road or
trail, so you'll need to be able to navigate across open, hilly
terrain; the map and compass are utterly essential and having you
or someone in your party with previous experience in the area is
desirable.
As of January 2007, the logbook is plastic. This will
hopefully provide a logbook that is useful when wet, which seems to
have been its usual state since installation. I have placed some
felt-tip permanent markers (a CD marker, a "garden pen") in the
cache, but suggest that anyone planning to visit it take their own
marker with them.
Note that a colony of mildly aggressive ants appears to have
located itself near the cache in 2008-2009. Once you've located the
cache it would be smart to pick it up and carry it 10-20m away
before opening it in order to avoid these guys. (Please note its
exact location carefully before carrying it away so you can put it
back afterwards.)
A note on the difficulty rating:
- This cache will require significant time to prepare for and to
seek, and the final ~90 minutes of the hike in is very strenuous
for most people (me included!). On this basis, it rates about a 4
for overall difficulty.
- On the other hand, the recommended scale at ClayJar seperates
difficulty in reaching the site (terrain) from the subsequent
difficulty in getting at the cache (difficulty). Once you've
arrived at the site, depending upon the time of year you could spot
the cache in seconds, or you could spend hours digging snow. On
this basis it rates a 1-3 for difficulty. As only one team has ever
searched while there was snow cover, I've set the difficulty to
1.
Enjoy the walk. This is my favourite part of the world.
