The Bird House Traditional Cache
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ALWAYS FOLLOW THE BLUE MARKERS Bonshaw B/Hicking Series “The Bird House”
The Bonshaw Trail series is my contribution to keep Island and visiting geocachers fit. This is no park and grab! Since you will be walking for about 6 k (one way), I made sure that the six caches are all easy to find and winter friendly. You should be able to log them all with little difficulty. The gps signal might be a little challenging at times so you also need to use all your geocaching skills and trust the hints.
I biked the trail on a wet morning and it was a challenge. I pushed my bike about 40% of the time. Next time I will keep my bike at home and walk it. The trail is in great shape but good walking shoes are a must. The trail is marked by blue and yellow markers just follow them and you will end up where you suppose to. Bring some water, snacks or a lunch and make it an afternoon. There is a multitude of other caches nearby that could be turned into smiley’s during this outing.
The Bird House is the first cache you encounter when entering the trail of the St.Catherines Rd. in Bonshaw
Following is the trail info from
www.trailpeak.com/trail-Bonshaw-trail-St-Catherine-s-trail-near-Charlottetown-PE-1228
Bonshaw Trail System
The Bonshaw trails were first constructed back in 1974 by the Red Cross as a hiking / running trail spanning both sides of the Trans Canada Highway. The water-side of the trail is 6.5K, while the inland side is between 7-10 K depending on the spur trails you cover. Of all the hikes I know of in PEI, this is the most back country in nature, and has camping potential. No guarantee for a water supply however.
The trail serves as frequent haunts for informal groups of mtn. bikers called the Twisted Shifters and Rigid Riders who conduct frequent trail maintenance and course re-routing when hurricanes cause havoc, or private landowners take issue.
The system cuts through land that is entirely privately owned. Consequently it is essential to stay on the trail to keep land owners happy. On one occasion, one landowner did the generous act of creating new trail to keep cyclists from rutting one of his logging roads. Thus the range of enthusiasm is teeteringly varied. Please, no ATV's.
The trail serves hikers and cyclists by warmer seasons, and xc skiers and snowshoe enthusiasts by winter. I am especially enthusiastic to finally have the GPS data because with downed leaves in the autumn, and snow cover in winter, the trail is difficult to track.
The nature of the trail is such that it passes through some of the hilliest terrain of the island. It spans gorges and edges along the occasional clearing. An added bonus is that the trail's original route (not including recent detours) was such that it went through a variety of flora. Because of the trees close to the trail, the roots and surface undulations, the Bonshaw trail is one of the most technical the island has to offer.
Directions:
(Thank your GPS!)
From Charlottetown, you can access the water side of the Bonshaw trail (also known as the St. Cat's trail) by reaching the small community of Bonshaw, and after crossing the West River bridge, turn left onto the St. Catherine's road. Drive for about a minute or two and look for a small "trail" sign posted near a stick bridge crossing the ditch on the right.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx sbe gur oveq ubhfr nsgre lbh pebff n yvggyr oebbx!
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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