This Cache is placed as part of the New York State Park Saratoga/Capital District Regional Geocache Challenge. There are 52 geocaches hidden within 16 state parks and historic sites in this parks region, and geocachers finding 35 or more will be eligible to enter their names in a drawing for valuable prizes. The first 75 people to find 35 or more caches will receive a special geocache challenge coin. If you are interested in taking up the challenge, you can pick up a geocache passport at any of the participating parks and sites or download it at www.nysparks.com
This cache contains a unique stamp which must stay with the cache. Use this stamp to stamp your passport. This stamp is NOT a trade item. Some of the items in the cache are park souvenirs and do not need to be replaced with a trade item.
Parking is available for free in the Victoria Pool/Catherine’s parking lot or in the Ferndell Pavilion parking lot for an entrance fee of $8 per vehicle. When Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has concerts the parking lots can become extremely congested. To check on concert dates please see their calendar http://www.spac.org/calendar.php.
Parking Coordinates (Vic Pool): N 43 03.221 W 073 47.987
Parking Coordinates (Ferndell Pavilion): N 43 03.099 W 073 48.040
This cache is located along the newly restored Ferndell Spring Trail. The presence of the mineral waters is a unique feature that sets Saratoga Spa State Park apart from all others. The naturally carbonated waters are rare, and Saratoga Springs is one of the only places they are found east of the Rockies. The mineral waters were discovered by the Iroquois as early as the 14th century. They believed that the waters had healing powers, and they introduced the early settlers to them in the late 1700s.
Drinking the waters was what first brought people to the springs, but by the mid—1800s bathing in the mineral waters had become a popular health treatment. There were several bathhouses in operation in Saratoga Springs around this time, and it became known as “The Queen of the Spas”. By 1880 private industry had also discovered a use for the springs and several wells were drilled to extract carbon-dioxide gas from the waters. At one point, there were over 200 mineral water wells in the area. This became a concern when the waters started to become depleted.
In 1909 the State of New York stepped in and passed anti-pumping legislation, followed by the formation of a state reservation with acquisition of all the major springs, with the goal of preserving the springs and developing them for public benefit. Today there are eight springs still running in Saratoga Spa State Park.