Thurston-Griggs Trail Redux Traditional Cache

As noted at the trailhead,Thurston Griggs has been a father, teacher, inventor and environmentalist during his lifetime. Mr. Griggs was very involved in the protection of the AT and other hiking trails in the Mid-Atlantic in the late 20th Century, at a time when land protection efforts were crucial. One of his more ambitious projects involved the protection of the Bagtown Road access west from Pogo Campsite in the 1990’s. For this, Bagtown Road was renamed in is honor on his 86th birthday. Mr. Griggs continues to be a living legend in AT history.

"One Man's Window on the Twentieth-Century" is Griggs autobiography. It describes periods and events in his life, including 3 months spent in Germany when the Nazi party was gaining popularity, and several years spent in China before and after World War II. Graduate education at Harvard and his experiences as a Conscientious Objector during World War II are the subject of several chapters. There is discussion of his musical and play-writing pursuits, his ground-breaking invention of a speech-transcription process for voice recognition in the 1960's, and his work on behalf of the Appalachian Trail and the hiking community in the Potomac Appalachian region.

The Cache Owner has read extensive portions of “One Man’s Window on the Twentieth-Century.” These Memoirs can be viewed and read in their entirety online. A gifted writer of vast real-life experience, Griggs knowledge of the times, science, culture and human nature are shared with insight, humor and at times brutal honesty. The follow except is from Chapter 3: The 30’s.

“During the summers of l935 and 1936 I worked in Mt. Olympus National Monument (soon it became a national park) at a fire lookout and then on a trail crew that camped out. We had two horses to carry our tools and supplies; and we built several miles of trails - the four of us - blasting cliffs and building bridges, as needed. I handled the horses and did the cooking also. Each night the horses were turned loose to graze, to be rounded up on foot the next morning. One time it snowed in August and one of the horses broke its leg on a rockslide. We had no gun; so we blew its head off with two sticks of dynamite.”

The Thurston Griggs Trail is a relatively new access trail to the Appalachian Trail. The original access trail from White Oak Road was blocked several years ago by a local land baron, necessitating an alternate traverse. That traverse was made possible through the efforts of Thurston Griggs. Coordinates for this cache, parking and trailhead are the same. The original Thurston-Griggs Trail cache had to be archived due to demolition and construction near the site. Horses were not involved.

Other nearby caches that can be accessed from this trail include Centennial Road Overlook, Pogo & Paula, Black Rock Supply Cache, A Triangle is A Perfect Square and most recently, Snurt With a Little Hickory.

This is a small cache, but the container (its’ host) could be described as somewhat larger than small. Heh! We invite all those who found the original to have a go-at this one as well.