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| Map of Mine Falls Park |
06 June 2007 Update:
IMPORTANT: Note coordinate change! Rather than meeting at the
Whipple Street entrance (N 42° 45.621 W 071° 29.450), the
geocachers/paddlers will be split into two groups, one meeting at
the east end of the park at the Nashua Millyard (N 42° 45.483 W
071° 28.421) and one at the west end of the park at the Conway Ice
Arena (N 42° 44.900 W 071° 30.062). Mr. Seeker will be at the east
end and Mrs. Seeker at the west end to greet cachers and give you
last minute instructions. The Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee
(MFPAC) has asked us to focus on the canal, Mill Pond, and Cove
(not the Nashua River).
Due to the large group of geocachers attending with boats, we
plan to have four boating work crews:
#1 - The Cove
#2 - East End of Canal to Whipple St. Bridge (this is believed to
be the worst section of the canal for trash)
#3 - West End of Canal to Whipple St. Bridge
#4 - Mill Pond and inlet
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| The Canal in Mine Falls
Park |
Work Crews # 1 and # 2 will meet at the Nashua Millyard parking
listed above.
Work Crews # 3 and # 4 will meet at the Conway Ice Arena parking
listed above.
We would like to have at least one canoe in each work crew.
If you have a strong preference about which work crew you are
assigned to, please post a note on the cache page or email us
directly. Generally, we would suggest that the west end of the park
is better suited to geocaching teams which include children. On
Friday, we will post the assignment for each work crew so that you
know whether to report to the east parking or the west parking.
Warning: This waterway cleanup could be rough on your watercraft
in that it could get scratched and will certainly get messy.
Those in canoes and kayaks should not put themselves at risk
trying to remove debris. The MFPAC boat will be at the east end to
remove larger debris. Large debris in other areas can wait for the
MFPAC boat to be available for removal.
If at all possible, please arrive at 8:30 a.m. so that we can
have boats in the water and working by 9:00 a.m. We will have
coffee, juice, and donuts available at both parking areas starting
at 8:30 a.m.
Others in attendance at the MFP Trail Day will be MFPAC members,
Park & Rec personnel, high school student volunteers, Gate City
Striders members, etc. These volunteers will primarily be
maintaining trails and removing trash that us boaters place along
the trails by the waterways.
Gate City Striders are the sponsors of this Trail Day. They will
have about 30 t-shirts to give away as well as raffle prizes (gift
certificates to a shoe store). Getting a t-shirt might be difficult
as they will likely be handed out at Lincoln Park where most of the
trail workers will be meeting. However, some of the shirts may be
brought to our two meeting areas at the ends of the park. In order
to be entered in the raffle, you will need to sign up on a paper
that should be available at both of our meeting areas. Look for a
MFPAC member to sign up for the raffle sponsored by Gate City
Striders.
Although running water is not available at either boat launch
area, we recommend that you wash off your boat at home following
the event to remove any invasive plant species, thereby preventing
their spread to other waterways.
Things to bring:
* Canoe/kayak, paddles, PFDs for yourselves
* Extra PFDs that you would be willing to loan to cachers coming
without a boat
* Long pants and sleeves to help protect against poison ivy and
biting insects
* Protective eye glasses
* Insect repellent
* Sunscreen, hat
* Durable shoes or boots that might get wet or muddy
Things MFPAC / Parks and Rec will provide, but which you could
also bring your own in case the materials are late arriving to our
meeting areas or in case the turnout is so great that there are not
enough:
* Trash bags
* Medical gloves
* Bottled water
* Grappling hooks
* Old lacrosse sticks (MFPAC found these are the best tool for
removing debris while on the water.)
* Pool skimmers or fish nets
Safety reminders:
* Be careful working on and near the water
* Avoid poison ivy
* Don't swing tools over your head
* If you have allergies, bring epi-pen and/or take necessary
precautions
* Wear gloves when removing trash
* Afterwards do a thorough check for ticks
Remember to look back at the cache page on Friday mid-day to
check your work crew assignment. Thanks!
Original Cache Description:
Mine Falls Park in Nashua is a special place for geocaching in
New Hampshire, containing the first NH cache, more caches than any other
park in the state, one of NH's two earthcaches, and lots of
winding waterways to make getting from cache to cache a real
adventure! If you have enjoyed caching in Mine Falls Park and
would like an opportunity to help maintain it, we, in
collaboration with the Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee
(MFPAC) and Nashua Park and Recreation Department, would like to
invite you to join the first CITO event for geocachers at Mine
Falls Park! We're sure that many of you would really like to be
able to help out in this way, as the MFPAC has been very
friendly to geocaching and we'd like to be able to demonstrate
the appreciation of the geocaching community for their support
of our hobby.
A special need for this CITO event is waterway cleanup. Due to
the heavy use of the park, there is a fair bit of trash that has
accumulated along the canal and other waterways in the park. The
Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee could really use some help in
getting the waterways cleaned up -- we know that there are many
cachers in the area with a canoe or kayak given how many folks have
found the paddling caches here in Southern New Hampshire!
If you can attend the event, please let us know by posting a
"will attend" log on this event page. Please also include the
information of whether or not you'll be bringing a boat, so that we
can plan the scope of the trail and waterway cleanup accordingly.
Everyone is welcome and no experience is required. Just wear
appropriate work clothes (long pants, long sleeves, and work gloves
are recommended, particularly for non-paddlers), and durable shoes
or boots that might get wet or muddy. You'll probably want to bring
along drinking water, bug spray, and sunscreen as needed. (Don't
forget to also bring your GPS to find a cache or two after the
cleanup!)
The specific details of our meeting place within the park for
starting the morning's activities are still being determined, but
we wanted to get this announcement on the geocaching.com website as
soon as possible so that you can mark this date and time on your
calendars! We'll add more information regarding the specific
meeting place and other planned events to the cache page as it
becomes available.
Thanks, we look forward to seeing you at the CITO event!