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Located West of Mirror Lake in Coggshall Park in Fitchburg, MA. Terrain is wooded and hilly and has a pond in the middle. Observe park hours. Enter park through Electric Avenue gate. Cache is a green ammo box.
This cache is one of three located in Coggshall Park, Fitchburg, MA. Vida's Mire is named after the lair of a dragon that appeared in a story I wrote once. Her name was "Vida the Spew" and she was a devious green dragon that lived in a swamp not far from a lake called "Lauleek" in a forest called "Lauleek Wode". All that passed through her swamp feared her treacherous ways and her poisonous breath. Fortunately, her reign of terror was pretty much confined to her swamp, because her arch-enemy, a good dragon named "Abacquer" who lived on the opposite side of Lauleek Wode, kept her in check.
I chose to name this cache after Vida's home because in my story there were three dragons who all lived on three different sides of Lauleek, and the terrain of Coggshall Park reminds me of Lauleek, a low lake with forest and mountains around it.
Coggshall is a beautiful park on 250 acres of wooded land and has much to offer. There are picnic tables, a small playground for kids, benches, restrooms, hiking trails with many rocky outcrops, a giant glacial boulder, a lovely pond called Mirror Lake with waterfowl, turtles, and other wildlife, and an attractive gazebo at the water's edge. This gazebo is often used as a site for wedding pictures, and it is easy to see why.
Mirror Lake is a man-made lake in a natural furrow between three small hills. The terrain of Coggshall Park is very hilly in fact, and you should expect some serious uphill hikes if you walk the trails. My eight-year-old can handle the trails with some groaning, but if you have very small children with you (under 6) you may want to consider having one parent supervise them at the playground while the others go caching.
If you come on a summer weekend there will usually be a hotdog and/or ice cream vendor at the park, and occasional outdoor concerts and other events. Fitchburg residents love their park, and therefore the place will be full of muggles--especially on weekends. Keep this in mind when you go caching!
The park has four entrances, but the primary entrance, and the one you should use is at 42° 34.080N 071° 48.008W. This entrance is located on Electric Avenue. (The entrance on South Street is gated and locked all the time, please do not use that entrance.) There are paved roads in the park, and a number of parking areas inside, so I suggest you drive in.
Please note the park hours at the main gate when you enter, if you are inside Coggshall Park at closing time, this gate will be closed and locked and the police will need to be summoned to unlock the gate for your car. This is a daylight only cache. The park hours are generally from 8:00 AM to dusk, so they change with the seasons. The gates are closed and locked during the winter, but I believe you can hike into the park on foot during wintertime.
The main parking area for Coggshall Park is at 42° 33.657N 071° 48.098W. Vida's Mire is in a swampy bit of the forest west of Mirror Lake. The best way to get to it for both ease of access, and less visibility to muggles is to head south from the main parking area, up the paved road. This will take you away from the cache at first. This road will loop around the section of woods containing Vida's Mire and head north up the other side toward one of the rear entrances to the park. This wooded back road doesn't see much traffic, and you should have no trouble walking it as long as you keep your eyes open for cars.
At its closest point, the road will get you to about 250 feet from the cache, at that point you will need to bushwhack. Watch your step! The forest floor here can get very mucky, particularly after rain, and due to the groundcover of brown leaves, the muddy spots may not be obvious.
Be sure to check out the giant glacial boulder at 42° 33.578N 071° 48.089W (about 600 feet from Vida's Mire!)
This cache was placed with the permission of the Fitchburg Park Board, and they welcome geocachers to Coggshall Park, asking only that all visitors respect the property and the operating hours thereof. Note, there are powerlines running through the Coggshall Park far to the south of this cache, if you decide to go hiking in that direction, please do not stray south beyond the powerlines, there is a section of land there reserved for paintball activities.
See you on the trails! :-)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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