This cache is just around the corner from a rest stop named
"Farley's Outlook" on the Cooking Lake - Blackfoot Recreational Area
map. When I first came upon the area, I wondered what the
name meant because, in fact, while the hut in the area may be on
high ground, it only "looks out" about 100 ft toward a young
poplar grove. I also wondered out loud at the last GCE Monthly
meeting just who Farley might have been. The next day Viajero
Perdido (VP) very kindly sent some background
he'd eked out from the net. It's well worth repeating here:
John Farley was a quiet, shy man who loved the outdoors and was
never happier than when he was heading off to the mountains on a
back-packing trip, canoeing a wilderness river, or cross-country
skiing in winter. But he also did an incredible amount of volunteer
work, particularly for the Birkebeiner Association, helping with
trail maintenance at the Blackfoot Recreation Area and Strathcona
Wilderness Centre, near Edmonton. He was killed tragically in a
hit-and-run accident on 23 June 2003. (Wild Lands Advocate,
August 2003, Vol. 11, No. 4, page 21)
So now I see the rest stop has just the right
name. Sure, on one level, it's a rest stop on high ground named
after a person who contributed significantly to the recreation
areas in the region. But on another level, now that I know a little
more about the rest stop's namesake, I can see the name can remind
us of John Farley's outlook on life, an outlook
that I'd like to think many geocachers share.