Stonehouse Pond Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Stonehouse Pond in Barrington has a public boat launch for fishing and while the pond is really nice, when you look across it, you will immediately see where you have to go to find the cache about 0.25 mile away. These cliffs are popular with skilled roped technical rock climbers but the average hiker or cacher should not attempt to climb the exposed steep rock ledges. Fortunately, there are easier ways to the top as well.
Note that the short access road to the pond isn’t maintained in winter and the cache would probably be impossible to get to after there is any snow on the ground and the ground freezes.
Starting from the parking lot area you must go right around the pond to get to the cache. Don't walk left around the pond because that way has been posted with "no trespassing" signs. A canoe or kayak is an option as well. If you take the water route, aim to the shore just to the left of the cliff base where you will find a very short, steep trail to the top. Neither way takes you onto the cliffs and you do not want to try scaling the rocky ledges which can be very dangerous. On 6-6-12 two hikers were injured and carried out by EMTs after slipping and falling off these wet slippery ledges.
Standing at the information kiosk and facing the opposite side of the parking area, you will see a 12 foot high 'cliff' in the woods. There is a trail that starts steeply around the left side of this little cliff then levels off after 100 feet and goes around the right side of the pond. This trail hits a smooth, wide, and very gradual ATV trail that you can follow 0.6 mile to the summit. This ATV trail curves left as it goes around the pond and comes in from the back side of the cliff you see from the parking area. Bushwhacking to the top once you've crossed the brook at the right end of the pond isn't a good idea as there are some steeper sections than you'll find on the ATV trail and you could wander onto the open precipitous ledges.
You do not have to get close to any of the sheer drops near the cache but there are no fences to keep you from the edge so use common sense about who you bring with you or where you wander up top. The cache is located in a large flat open area and at least 20 feet away from any precipitous drop. The cache is at ground level but it isn’t obvious. If there are non-geocachers around, wait until they leave before retrieving the cache. The cache coordinates should be within 10 feet if you let your GPS average.
NOTE: DO NOT dig and DO NOT destroy any trees or plants in this area. Also make sure that you re-hide the cache exactly as you found it. On 07/10/2005 I did cache maintenance because the cache area had been partially destroyed and the cache container was in the open. Re-hide it well! On 09/03/2009 the cache was moved 15' to a better location.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Do not bring children up here-there are no fences.
Do not go close to the edge of the cliffs or attempt to climb them.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ba gur snveyl yriry gbc bs gur yrqtr, ybbx oruvaq gur sentvyr ervaqrre zbff qbbe ng gur onfr bs n snveyl ynetr fcernqvat gerr gung sbexf sbhe jnlf.
Treasures
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