The Galway Nature Preserve, formerly known as the Desroches Wildlife Sanctuary, contains 49 acres of land in the Town of Galway. It was donated as a bequest from Marshall Desroches in 2005. It was formerly a Christmas tree farm with three small ponds created by an earthen dam. The former landowner created the existing trails. There are still some structures on the property, some of which will be removed.

Currently, it has the look of a work-in-progress and not the typical look of a nature preserve. When the Highland Ranger and I visited the property to do a walk-through and place some caches, we were not sure what we would find. If you enter the way that we did, going past the still-standing garage and the remains of a demolished house, you will find that once you are in the woods that it is set up very much like many preserves that you have already visited. Since they are still working on it, you will find that there are no trail markers and that you will have to acclimate yourselves to the area just as we did: by trial and error! Once complete, it should be a really nice area. On our way out, the Ranger pointed out a Green Heron, which was down by one of the ponds. Enjoy! Come and find this one and Highland Ranger’s geocache, Up or Down.

Disclaimer: You, and all members of your party must read and agree to the www.geocaching.com disclaimer. In addition, you all must agree to hold the cache owner, www.geocaching.com, and the land owners harmless from any and all causes for action. You and all other members of your party must individually and collectively determine your/their physical fitness and outdoors/hiking skill levels, decide whether or not to visit the various cache locations, and whether or not it is safe and prudent to do so under the conditions that will be encountered. Cache seekers assume all risks involved in seeking these cache locations.