The posted coordinates will bring you to the start of your journey. From there, you will follow a series of reflective firetacks to find your way to the cache. This is a night cache, meant to be done at night, so be sure to bring a good flashlight and sense of adventure!
It begins close by to another nearby night cache (GC8THVD "Look Ahead: A Night Cache") where both sets of firetacks run together for a brief time during the first two tenths of a mile; WHITE tacks for THIS CACHE, and orange for the other. They will go their separate ways upon reaching the first intersection. So to be clear - please continue following the WHITE tacks for this cache.
NOTE - If you decide to do both night caches in one evening, I recommend doing THIS ONE FIRST as I have added orange tacks at the end of it to lead you to re-joining a later section of 'Look Ahead'. More on that in a mo.
Terrain:
Aside from a small hill right at posted coords, the terrain for the first half will be easy-peasy as you follow nice and wide, well manicured trails. The second half however, gets tougher, using only narrow deer trails to navigate and care must be taken with what may be hidden underfoot for much of the rest of it. Depending on the time of year, it may be harder to detect them, but you should be able to remain on deer trails all the way to the final.
General Directions & other important info:
The firetacks are placed a good 8 - 10 feet up with the next one not always visible right away. However, once departing from the main trail you should always be able to spot the next one from the last. Also once off the trail, the reflective tacks will have a change in style (still white though) to help them be seen easier from various angles, which are placed on the sides of the tree you should pass them on.
One tack means continue forward on the obvious path. Two diagonally-placed tacks indicates a turn is necessary, with the top one leaning towards the direction in which to do so. Three tacks means you have reached the vicinity of the final, which can be found within 15 feet.
NOTE - If one of the reflective markers looks a little bit different than the others, perhap's it's a bonus cache placed along the way as a fun bonus! :)
Upon leaving the final, you should see orange tacks to help guide your way out to the nearest trail. From there you have the option to find your own way back to your vehicle (since you are on a main trail, you can handle it from there) or you can follow the orange tacks to re-join the other night cache already in progress.
General Warnings:
As the name hints at, I would highly recommend wearing long pants, not only for the thorns you may (aka will) encounter but is also just a smart idea for the ticks you may encounter as well. Also, if it has recently rained or is otherwise dewy out, you may very likely get pretty wet from the knees down. This won't be as much of a problem in the wintertime though, once the vegetation dies down.
Conclusionary comments:
As this is a letterbox, there is a handmade stamp inside the cache for those who enjoy that aspect of it. PLEASE leave the stamp with the cache, as it is NOT a trade item. I look forward to occasionally seeing all the different stamps that will be added to the logbook, so remember to bring yours along for the journey!
If you do both night caches together, in the order recommended, it entails approx. 1.63 miles through the Southern Meadow, round trip. If just doing this one alone, it'll be around 1.21 miles (and roughly 1.35 miles for Look Ahead).
Plenty of room for trackables and trade items here!