Mystic River Letterbox Hybrid
Cyclops: The area of the final looks as if it was cleaned up. Bottom line the final and the cache's stamp are gone so I'm just going to archive this one.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A single stage cache in a beautiful nature center. Hopefully
everyone will enjoy my story. Above waypoint is not the location of
the cache but the starting point for the story. Despite the
reference to a canoe in the story a real canoe is not needed but
instead an imaginary one.
I’ve known this place has existed for years but I have never gone
in. Once I started to geocache, and wanted to place some caches I
figured that, being a nature center, they wouldn’t allow
geocaching. However, after talking with the director of the
Friendship Woods Nature Center, he was willing to allow geocaching
in the nature center as long as cachers do not do any trail
blazing.
The city of Madison Heights has a real gem here. The building has
animals on display, workshops and a reasonably priced gift shop.
You can find out more about this wonderful place at
The Nature Center at Friendship Woods.
I am very impressed with this nature center. That fact that it is
surrounded by suburbia is amazing to me. The nature center’s
building is a real gem. It blends well with it’s surroundings. The
paved trails are wide and have benches for sitting along it’s
winding path.
Of the two caches that I have placed in this area, one of them can
be found by taking one or two steps off of the paved path. The
second is off the trail but has the approval of the director. This
is the only area that you can get off of the pathway. The area will
be obvious when you see it.
Hours for the park are 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM (these hour change per
the season).
Hours for the nature center building:
|
| Mon |
Closed |
| Tues |
10 - 6 |
| Wed |
12 - 8 |
| Thurs |
10 - 6 |
| Fri |
10 - 5 |
| Sat |
12 - 5 |
| Sun |
12 - 5 |
I heard of a magical place that had hidden treasure. I was
concerned about the magic as I didn't know if it was good or evil
magic. I made my decision to look for it. The old man that told me
the story of the hidden treasure also warned me to not leave the
water ways as a great penalty could be imposed upon anyone who did.
What follows is the story of my quest for the treasure.
Once I arrived at the starting location I saw that I was in a lake
with four rivers running in to or out of the lake. As I sat there
bobbing in my canoe I wondered which river to try. The southern one
on the west shore was flowing in to the lake. The rivers on the
north and south shores seemed strange as their waters appeared to
flow in both directions. I decided that those two were not a good
choice so I choose the only other one.
As I paddled down the river, I soon came upon an intersection of
another river. The flow was to the south so I went that way.
Standing to the south west I observed a remarkable sight. Wood land
creatures had become part of a tree. They seemed so peaceful there,
watching all of the passersbys. Here there is a split in the river
and my sixth sense told me which branch to go on.
As the river was winding through the forest, tall brown cliffs
appeared to the north. Then the river started to make some sharp
turns. The river then made a split around an island that was lower
then the river. This place must be magical because the river does
not flood it. I remember being told not to leave the river. Perhaps
it's because of areas like that. I choose the north branch, which
quickly took me to a place where a brown stained creek joined the
river. Since this is still part of the river system, I decided to
check it out. It turned out to be a rather short creek that led to
a very strange log jam. I explored the jam as it overlooked another
lake that would disappear and reappear. This is more of the magic
of this area. I hopped back into my canoe and headed back the way I
came in. I was back on the Lazy River and heading west.
Once I passed the sunken island, the river merged together again.
There was another hard turn and the river split again. The south
branch's current was stronger so I paddled that way. Looking down
stream, I could see a few bends, and then the river straightened
out.
Along the way, I saw plaques that spoke of the tall and mighty
giants that live in this place. The giants were everywhere, but
they just stood there, not even acknowledging that I was looking at
them. Perhaps they were asleep or considered me to be a pest and
best to ignore me. Whichever the case, I still admired their
stature. The first that I passed by was called Sycamore. Then, as
the river straightened out, was Redmaple. I then came across a pair
of Buroaks that I where listening to me. Then I observed a Redoak
and Whiteash across from each other. The river curved to the east
and I came upon a smaller giant named Sassafras Albidum, which is
hard to discern from it's surroundings. This one could give us a
favored drink.
Now the river was about to test my skills as a canoeist with a
hard hairpin turn. Right in the middle of the hairpin, a split in
the river again. I could see that this river was no longer active
as it's end was at the edge of the woods. I fought the river
through the hairpin turn, only to be tossed out of the river and on
to a bench made of logs. As I sat there drying out and getting back
my strength, I heard a little squeaky voice that said, “If you seek
a treasure, it's to the south”. I walked to the south on what once
may have been the river, but a large log jam had blocked the flow,
forcing the river to form the hairpin turn. After some searching, I
found the treasure. I took one piece out, and replaced it with a
piece of treasure that I had with me. I then left my mark for
others to see. I re-hide the treasure as I had found it thus giving
the next treasure seeker a good challenge.
I hopped back into my canoe and continued on my journey. It was
then I decided to write this story so others could find the
treasure.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Or fher gb ybt lbhe svaq.
Vs lbh arrq be jnag gb svaq guvf ol genqvgvbany jnl urer lbh tb, abegu sbheglgjb guveglqbgfrirafriraglsvir jrfg rvtuglguerr svirqbgsvirfvkglavar.
Treasures
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