Quiet Lynden is situated
in the center of Whatcom County's coastal plain and serves as the
hub of local agriculture. Lynden has been graced with a distinctive
Dutch ethnic presence for over a hundred years; we see the effects
of that presence on local dairy farms (most cattle are Holstein
Frisian, a breed developed in Holland), in land features
(lowlands protected by an extensive diking system, a re-routed
Nooksack River), and in commercial architecture (including several
windmills); not to mention the walking/biking paths along and
across local watercourses (our functional equivalent of canals).
Lynden is bisected by Fishtrap Creek, so named for a Native
American salmon harvesting installation once located near the site
of the present Lynden City Park, and it naturally garners no little
local attention, as evidenced by some eight pedestrian
bruggen found as it wends its way through town. This cache
is the fourth in a series of six designed to acquaint you just a
bit with Lynden and its bruggen -- followed by a seventh
final cache found using the decimal coordinates of all six of the
series, so keep track of them.
Don't just hop right into
your cachemobile, the posted coordinates are NOT the cache location
(they'll only take you to a parking area in Lynden City Park from
which you can jump onto the Jim Kaemingk Trail; a 1.5 mile
out-and-back hike on that trail (or a spur) will take you to the
remainder of the de Lynden Bruggen cache series), and
a bit of research is in order. Lynden was incorporated on
mm/dd/1891. The cache coordinates are:
N48º 57.LATDEC W122º 26.LONGDEC
LATDEC = Lynden's incorporation mm4, double that, then add 12.
LONGDEC = Lynden's incorporation dd2, triple that, then less
55.
The quaint nearby cottage
hearkens to the owners' low country heritage, all the way down
(up?) to the genuine thatched roof, which was crafted by visiting
guild artisans. It looks across to the athletic fields and
facilities of Lynden Christian Schools (grades P-12), founded in
1910 from the same heritage and whose salmon-raising facility is
hidden in the nearby trees.
No need to tear up the
landscape, your feet need not leave the footpath/deck to retrieve
the cache. Moderate to severe muggle factor, so some stealth
required. Micro. Bring your own pen/pencil.
You can check your
coordinates at
Geochecker.com.
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I (Teese) am a member of the Washington State
Geocaching Association. If you are a geocacher in this state,
please consider joining the WSGA . . . it's a great way to meet
other cachers, access caching resources, and improve the
sport.
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