Callahan Cache North The Mark of the Purple Sun takes you into the less frequently used northern part of Callahan Park. The park offers hundreds of acres of public space in the northwest corner of Framingham and part of Marlboro. People who think of Framingham as Route 9 and shopping malls will be surprised to find this very rural corner of town.
Because the park is so large it didn't seem fair to have seekers just take a quick hike in and out, so this was made a 3 part multi-cache that will allow you to see more of the park. It should not be overly difficult but you should plan about an hour (assuming you don't get seriously lost!) and plan for trails that have leaves, embedded rock and roots and in some places are somewhat steep.
The first of the three parts is done backwards...you find the spot and then determine the coordinates. Here's how: First, find the rock cairn located at 42° 20.552 N, 71° 29.677 W. Behind the cairn is a single trail leading west and then north. It's not on the maps and is little used. The trail goes only one way (except for one brief detour that branches left), so follow it for about 1/8th of a mile past the cairn and find the mysterious Purple Sun rock, as shown on my cache page. Note that the Purple Sun has become quite faded and has recently been defaced with some green grafitti. Still, the rock it is on stands out by itself so after seeing the photos you should recognize it.
Take your coordinates at the Purple Sun rock. To find the next cache subtract as follows (notice I kept the subtraction very simple!):
42° xx.xxx North
- 00.300 (subtract)
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42° xx.yyy North: coordinates for cache #2
71° xx.xxx West
- 00.300 (subtract)
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71° xx.yyy West: coordinates for cache #2
Now, go to cache #2. Find a film can which contains the coordinates for the third and final cache. I had originally planned an easier spot for this, but another cache was planted in almost the same spot. Here's a clue to finding it: the cache is in a pine grove, in the crook of a tree with two dead branches leaning on it, about 4 feet off the ground and no more than 100 feet from the trail. The final cache is a standard plastic container.
The main parking lot for this part of the park is off Broad Meadow Road in Marlboro, just south of Route 20. The coordinates are 42° 20.326 North, 71° 29.970 West. There is also room for 3 or 4 cars to park on the side of Edmands Road in Framingham at 42° 19.830 North, 71° 29.122 West. The length of your hike will be about the same for either parking lot.
Team Periwinkle has created some KMZ maps of the area that might be useful to Garmin owners:
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/byuser/13384/