The Old Willow and Royal Fern Traditional Cache

A cache to bring you to the secluded Woodland walk at the Cornell Arboretum and to focus on age in nature. Please do walk the short and easy trail to see the Old Willow and the Royal Fern.

Half a century ago the Old Willow was already kneeling. I remember picnicking in its ample shade, while kids climbed and played hide and seek around it. A generation later the tree was fragile, starting to fall apart and there was a plaque warning you to stay off it. Now you can see where the big old trunks were cut off, but it is still alive!

The Royal Fern is along the board walk, behind you if you are facing the Old Willow. It reminds me of a Royal Fern in Sweden, near where I grew up. It's a Natural Historical Monument. It was mentioned in a book in 1749, by Linnaeus, the father of the Latin names of plants. (BTW He graduated from the same High School I did, a bit before me.) The same plant that Linnaes discribed is still there! Recently they found a Royal Fern fossil in the same area, that is 180 million years old. It was buried in ash from a volcano. Volcanos in Sweden? Makes me realize there's something to continental drift and the stuff at the Museum of the Earth.

It's a very short walk from the nearest parking and the cache is near the trail. It is a pill bottle, the puch and turn to open kind (sorry I couldn't make it bigger). Please make sure all of it goes back as you found it, including the rubber band and especially the plastic bag. Without the rubber band, to keep the log rolled, it gets very difficult to get it out of the plastic bag and the bottle. BYOP.