Quiescent Crescent Traditional Cache
btrueblood: Yup, it's gone. After several years of replacing containers after floods, and fixing things when muggles got to it, I'm done with this one.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A hike along the shore of Crescent Lake.
This is another wildlife area hike. There is a parking area (see the "user website")(or just head for "Just Another Nano"), but it requires a permit to use it. You can purchase a permit at any sporting goods store, and get access to a lot of other neat wildlife areas around the state. Hunting of birds occurs here every fall and winter, roughly Sept. to Jan. But you shouldn't have any trouble as long as you wear bright colors and don't flap your wings too much. Try not to quack either.
When Matt and I found spot this last winter, we were looking for ducks, amidst a large number of orange-clad people and some dogs, all of whom were looking for pheasants. Joel had told us not to bother trying for pheasants, as we don't own a hunting dog. But we found two pheasants near this spot, on a log in the lake, trying REAL HARD to look like ducks.
The path starts out as a road along a sharecropped corn field. Stay along the upper cornfield, and follow the fisherman's/game trail that leads off the end of the field. Somewhat muddy, some downed trees from time to time, can get completely flooded depending on the weather, and plan on some thorns (but no blackberries, just the salmon berry variety)(oh, and nettles. I always forget about nettles, they don't bother me - Matt says rubbing the underside of a sword fern across the sting helps). The container was a camo-painted PVC pipe, but it floated away during the big flood of January '09, one that set a new record. The replacement cache was a smaller container, hidden a bit higher up than the last one and anchored to its hiding spot. That container was replaced again, with a more waterproof container, after the #2 container had a seal leak on the lid, and replaced a fourth time when somebody took the last one, and now a fifth time for reasons best left undiscussed. Please return the container to the spot you found it, and re-anchor it (yes, the more-or-less annual flood waters can come up that high!)
This is not a quiet spot, or at least not usually with all the nearby roads and boat traffic on the river, thus the name does not connote "quietude". But the lake itself has little traffic, and the banks are protected by large blackberry thickets that provide cover for wildlife. Its stillness is only broken by fish jumping, or waterfowl landing/taking off, or frogs or beavers slipping into the water as you approach through the numerous openings in the thickets. Bring a camera.
Note added 5/17/2010: about 6 months or so ago, I was walking back to my truck along the opposite side of the lake. A head kept popping up and disappearing in the water. At first, I thought a beaver was sneaking away from me - but this critter kept pace with me and sneaking peeks. A very large river otter was "stalking" me. We played hide and seek, all the way back to my vehicle. Grabbed my camera, and ran back to the bank...and my batteries were dead. Sigh! Don't let this happen to you - make sure you have fresh batteries in all your devices before you go!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ynetr nyqre gerr arne ynxr onax
Treasures
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