October 2022 Update
Increased the difficulty level to 4 to reflect current hide location.
March 2022 Update
Investigation of the area reveals that the 5'-high circular raised garden beds surrounding the flag poles have been removed, revealing circular stepped cement foundations. Who knew? The original location of the hide is now no more. What was meant to be a temporary new location will persist. Unfortunately the hide was missing from that location too! Perhaps it was due to an especially thorough maintenance of the area (seems much tidier than I remember), but who knows? Replaced with a new container. Coordinates refer to original location by the flagpole so as to make it somewhat challenging to find the new location.
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August 2021 Update
One year later the inevitable happened when the Parks Dept cleared the area where the cache was, along with the cache itself. I replaced the container in a new location. I'm keeping the title/hint, but I increased the difficulty from 2 to 3 reflecting the need to explore a wider circumference from the original location. On the plus side, the new container is larger.
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Our youth bicycling group (Cyclopedia) has enjoyed finding caches on Randall's and Wards Islands (don't ask me why one is possessive and the other isn't, or why there seems to be variation in usage) for years. However, as of this writing in 2020, there are no remaining traditional caches left. We remember finding one shredded by a mower, one that was in a tree now bulldozed, one that was in a tree that was toppled by a storm, one that was apparently muggled before we ever found it...
This unique city space should have at least one cache. This is our team's first hide, which we placed during our end-of-program family fiesta on Aug 13, 2020. Some short-statured people (especially kids) may have an extra challenge finding it.
Big enough for a few small items. I put the terrain at a 2 instead of a 1 only to reflect your method of reaching the spot. Our group typically bikes or walks over the pedestrian bridge or the Triboro. It's enjoyable but longer than you might think depending on your starting point, and whether you've been here before. Technically there is public transit, but the M35 bus stop is probably a 15-20 minute walk.
Enjoy it while it lasts.