On January 9th, 2017, Hannah Collman asked Ben Ferguson to marry her on the top of Mt Avalon. He said yes. This cache recreates the treasure hunt she made him along the trail to the summit of the mountain.
Know before you go:
1. This is a 4-stage multi cache. It leads to the summit of Mt Avalon and is a challenging and steep 3.6-mile round trip hike. Before attempting this cache be sure you are ready for such a trip.
2. Requirements for logging this cache: when Hannah asked Ben to marry her, she presented him with their "Adventure Book", a scrapbook filled with stories and art of their adventures throughout the years. In the final container, we ask that you contribute to the cache's own Adventure Book with your own stories, pictures, drawings, art, etc. about your own lives, experiences finding this cache, or anything else you want. The cache contains colored pens, pencils, and crayons, which are for this purpose and not tradeable.
The night before our engagement, Hannah presented me with a piece of paper which read "OPEN TO EXPLORE: Happy Anniversary! You have been gifted one complimentary scavenger quest to a brand-new, one-time only geocache. Pack a lunch, water, warm hiking clothes, a sled, and a travel companion, and arrive at these coordinates: N 44 13.045, W 071 24.922 by 9:09 AM on Monday to begin your quest. Follow the roses to your end goal!" The following morning I arrived as instructed and at the coordinates found a pink silk rose and a clue. I followed this clue (and Hannah followed me) up the trail to another, and another, and another, until finally we arrived at the summit of Mt Avalon. There under a tree I found a box labeled "Open for Adventure". It contained our Adventure Book. We sat in the snow looking at our adventures together and crying. When I got to the end of the book there was a final note and a series of blank pages. "To be continued..." Hannah pulled out a ring and asked me to marry her.
...I said yes!!!
One year and two months later we returned to Mt Avalon to turn the one-time only geocache into something permanent. We hope you have as much fun on this journey as we did. All stages are within 100 feet of the trail. If attempting the cache in the winter, be sure to bring a sled for the return trip (and snowshoes as well- even though the trail is almost always packed down, you will want them when walking off trail to find the caches)!
Stage 1: Stage 1 is a small Tupperware container. Due to spacing restrictions between caches, it is not where the engagement hunt began, but further up the trail from the trail-head.
Stage 2: Also a very small container.
Stage 3: A large spice container; the sand in the jar was taken from the beach in Maine where we had our wedding; the shells are from a beach in Florida where we had our honeymoon.
Stage 4: A large pretzel tub, big enough for trackables and trading. While the proposal took place on Mt Avalon, we had to hide the final stage further down the trail because a cache already existed on the summit. Be sure to visit the summit anyway while you're up here for some of the best views in the White Mountains!