PLEASE NOTE: This is a LETTERBOX HYBRID geocache. The logbook, inkpad, and stamp should remain there for the next person. Letterboxing is a precursor of geocaching, using compass bearings and other clues to lead the seeker to the letterbox. Typically a letterbox contains a logbook and a stamp. If you wish, you may stamp your personal journal with the rubber stamp in the letterbox (cache); then you may stamp the logbook with your personal stamp if you have one - if you don't have a stamp, just sign the logbook. But be sure to leave the stamp, logbook, and inkpad in the container.
In addition to your GPS, you will need a compass to find this letterbox hybrid geocache. You will also need to bring your own pencil and if you have a small rubber stamp and a journal, bring those along, too. Finally, be sure that you know how to reset the odometer on your GPS. This will be very important in finding the cache.
Park in the public parking lot at N 36° 09.365 W 80° 17.863. Locate the pallisade fort across the street and head to its entrance.
Enter the fort and head straight through toward the back. One of the back openings is by the flour bin. Leave the fort by this opening and head roughly southwest following a grassy trail. Cross the paved trail and then cross a wooden plank bridge. Stop at this point to reset your GPS's odometer.
Turn left at a bearing of roughly 120° and follow the sandy trail. When you see a sign for God's Acre pointing right, ignore it, and continue on the path along Mill Creek.
When your odometer reads .06 miles, you will notice a tree crossing your path which has been cut in twain for your convenience. Shortly thereafter, you will reach a trailhead at N 36° 09.211, W 80 17.845. Shoot a bearing of 240° and take the trail uphill. Take the first spur trail to the left on a bearing of 140°. At this point your odometer will read .10 miles.
Auntie is a maiden lady gnome, unmarried with no children. Yet she is everyone's favorite aunt and her bright smile and rosie cheeks are well known among the gnomes. She wears the traditional pointed gnome hat and an embroidered gown to her ankles. She is a gifted cook and gardener and many say she speaks the high horse language known to the faeries, but not often understood well by gnomefolk. Auntie is also a great favorite among many Feathered Friends as her pockets are always full of thistle seed for a hungry finch. There is something mysterious about Auntie, but you would do well not to pry. Enjoy her hospitality and mind your manners.
Continue on the trail uphill to the top of the ridge. When you reach a fork with another trail coming in from the right, bear left toward the creek and continuing climbing. You will find yourself on a ridgetop trail with the creek to the left, far below. When you odometer reads .15 miles, you will see another tree spanning the trail, but, again, cut in two so you will have no difficulty getting by.
At about .18 on your odometer, you will reach a "toothpick farm" which is on both sides of the trail. Of course for the gnomes, maybe walking sticks are being manufactured here. Continue through the toothpick farm on the trail uphill and nearly due south at this point. When your odometer reaches .20, stop and look around. Look to the right, off the trail, for a large downed tree. Near the root of the tree on the backside of the trunk, you will find Auntie's Place.
Auntie is very aged, but like most gnomes, extremely industrious. Her little home is actually a stable for faerie horses, a tiny miniature breed which the gnomes and other woodland creatures tame and make use of. For your labor in seeking out the cache, you are invited to take one of these miniature beauties. Of course, in your human hands, they will not neigh and chew grass; instead they will be frozen in a crystalline form. But you mustn't be surprised if you hear the whinny of a tiny horse on nights when the moon is full and the faery sidhe roam the lands of men.
When you have found Auntie's Place, Gnome Home II, and "stamped up" and/or signed the logbook, please replace the cache very carefully for the next finder. Be sure to leave the logbook, stamp, and inkpad for the next finders. Don't forget to take one of the cards with the clue for the final cache in the Feathered Friends 2K series (Bird Watching - Feathered Friends 2K Series). You will need it to locate this bonus cache.
The roundtrip mileage for Auntie's Place, Gnome Home II, is a little over half a mile. Terrain is varied: paved trail, hard-packed trail, sandy trail, leafy trail, with some up and down. A tiny bit of bushwhacking is necessary for the final stage, but no more than 50' or so off the trail. Watch your footing since the area might be damp and leaves are slippery. And keep an eye out for Gnomes.
NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: Because of recent flooding, the most direct route to the cache is blocked. This cache is hidden in the great outdoors. Welcome to the South! We've got skeeters; we've got chiggers; we've got ticks; we've got ants; we've got snakes and other critters; we've got poison ivy, oak, and sumac; we've got mold and allergens; we've got kudzu and other pesky vines; and boy, have we got briars, brambles, and stickers! Depending on the place you elect to enter the off-trail portion of the hunt, you may very well find these and other denizens of our environment. Please dress accordingly and take adequate precautions whenever you interact with nature. Don't forget to cache in, trash out.