Leatherman's Circuit - The Clinton Cave Traditional Cache
Leatherman's Circuit - The Clinton Cave
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This journey is part of a cache series commemorating the travels of
Leatherman in the late 1800s.
Leatherman once roamed SW Connecticut and SE New York from 1858 to 1889. He traveled a 365-mile loop between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. Approximately every month he would repeat his journey. The man spoke primarily with grunts or gestures and dressed in crudely stitched leather from his hat to his shoes. The suit was made of soft-tanned calfskin leather and weighed about sixty pounds. He would sleep outside year-round mostly in caves around Connecticut and New York. More information on Leatherman can be found at (visit link)
This cave is on the west end of Clinton. It is off of Nod Place to the south and it's just north of the railroad tracks. Be careful in your travel planning as there are several "Nod" roads in Clinton. The cave was rediscovered in 1979 according to the book "History Repeated" by Beatram Smith.
This small cave is about 4 feet wide at the mouth, 8 feet deep and unless you are very tall, you can stand up in it at the back end. There is a cleft at the ceiling that would allow smoke from a fire to escape. There is a big beech tree just in front of the entrance that has many initials carved in it. Bring a flashlight to get a good look inside the cave.
The "hike" to the cave will not be the most pristine on the loop, as the cave is only about 500 feet from the road. The cave is in a wooded section bounded by Nod Place, Nod Road and the railroad tracks.
Possible Places to Park:
1. find a spot on Nod Place (there is a vacant lot that you can pull into that will bring you very close to the cache) and walk in to the right of the building lot next door.
2. park on Nod Road just south of the Nod Place intersection. There is a small pulloff area with large boulders. Then hike behind the storage facility and down to the cave.
The cache is a small tupperware holding just a logbook and pen. It can accommodate very small trade items or travel bugs. The joy is the finding and viewing of the cave with the knowledge that the Leatherman spent one of every 34 nights sleeping totally exposed in there.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur pnpur vf ABG vafvqr gur pnir, guvax guerr qvzrafvbanyyl.
Treasures
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