UPDATE: New container, a camoed plastic fruit jar with a green cover. The container is large enough to hold the log, a few items and a package of silica gel (our second untested attempt to keep this thing dry). Bring your own writing stick. Do your best to replace the container so that it remains as protected and hidden as possible.
The original Hole in the Ground cache was Grand Manan's first, placed way back in 2002 in a large rock crevice very near here (N 44° 46.027 W 066° 44.189). Its proximity to the ocean made keeping it high and dry difficult so I relocated it a couple times, giving rise to versions 2 and 3. Many people visited the site and thanked me for sharing such a neat place. By 2006 my young family combined with a scaled back single visit to the island each year made it difficult to maintain. The cache limped along, semi-neglected, for six more years before it was archived.
This spring our kids reached an age where we figured they were both old enough to appreciate geocaching. We thought it would be nice to resurrect Hole in the Ground as an introduction to giving back to the geocaching community. Hole in the Ground 4.0 is located a little to the west of the original in an area known as the barite mine. The neat thing about this area is the pinkish vein of mineral exposed near the top of the cliff that can be followed down to the water, where it disappears beneath the Bay of Fundy. Barite is an odd mineral because of its high specific gravity (4 or higher) yet low Mohs hardness of 2.5 to 3.5. I'm no geologist but what that means is that the rock is quite heavy when compared to other similar non-metalic minerals. At the same time it is rather easy to flake, break and grind into small pieces.
WARNING: Getting down to the barite mine involves an easy climb over rock. Finding the cache requires a bit of climbing up rocks. If the rocks are wet assume they are slippery. Slippery or not, they are jagged and even a modest fall could result in signifigant scrapes or cuts, so please be careful. My kids love this place but supervision of children/pets is highly advised.
Finally, please respect the area as it is on private property and leave it in better condition than you found it so that others may enjoy this cool geological formation.