Hello Molly Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located a short distance from the summit of the Abbey Pond Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest near Middlebury VT.
PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE SETTING OUT TO FIND THE CACHE.
Abbey Pond Trail is a nice hiking trail located in the Green Mountain Forest near Middlebury Vermont. The main trail up the mountain is easy to follow, well marked and fairly wide although the terrain is somewhat rocky. The first half is fairly steep, the second half levels off a good deal.
The hardest part of this cache is the hike itself. It's a challenging but enjoyable 1.75 hour hike in each direction. There's a good sized rock at the edge of the pond where you can sit and enjoy the view. We recommend you bring plenty of water and snacks for the hike as you will burn calories on the way up. Our GPS noted a change of 1100 feet in elevation from bottom to top. Because of the length of the trail and the incline, it's probably not suited for children under 10 (a guess).
To get to the Abbey Pond Trail, take route 7 to New Haven Junction. At the junction, turn onto Route 17 East. Follow that for 4.3 miles then take a right onto Route 116 South. Continue on 116 South 7.1 miles. Just after passing a gravel pit on the left, you'll see a brightly painted house on the right, and the enterance to the park on the left. The enterance is a "V", stay to the right. Follow for a short distance until you reach Abbey Pond Trail parking and the trail head - located at N44 01.849 W73 05.285.
We HIGHLY RECOMMEND you follow the main trail all the way to the top. The trail is well marked with blue trail markers. It crosses the water three times during the hike. The first part is crossed via a wooden bridge. The second two crossings have rocks you need to step across. See the pictures to get an idea of the crossings. These can be challenging (there was plenty of water because of the melting snow). We used walking sticks which helped a good deal with keeping our balance. Use caution. At the top of the trail, you'll find Abbey Pond. It's a nice pond, although there's not much else to do up there, so we've given you a cache to hunt. The summit is N44 02.066 W73 03.642, get there by following the trail. From parking to summit, it's about 1.85 miles along the path.
Once you get to the summit, THEN set your coordinates for the cache site N44 02.119 W73 03.583. If you go in this order (parking to summit to cache), you'll find the cache easily. If not, you'll be bushwacking for some time!
The cache is a small ammo can located a short distance from the summit. We've loaded it with goodies so the can is fairly full to start. If you'd like to take and leave stuff, please plan on leaving something fairly small rather than filling the can. We've included a ziploc for the log, and one for the goodies. Please keep the items in their respective bags to keep them from damage from weather and condensation. Initial contents include Coleman emergency poucho, Quicken Business Law CD, toy scope, several pencil sharpeners, mini puzzle, mini flashlight with batteries, rabbits foot, porcupine critter, glow stick, Bud keychain / bottle opener, metal whistle, flag pin, and a compass keychain.
We've included some photos which show the main trail entrance, a typical view along the trail, the two water crossings, and a shot of the pond at the top.
This is our third cache. We hope you enjoy the hike.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur pnpur vf ybpngrq haqre n ynetr ovepu gerr jvgu rkcbfrq ebbgf.