5 Days of Great Falls Traditional Cache
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(regular)
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White Mountain National Forest, Sandwich, NH Bennett Street Trail. It gets tricky nearer the cache as the trail hugs the river bank with a bit of a drop down to the river. NOTE: As of October, 2015, there is a bit of a washout on the trail as you near the falls. Though still passable, very young children should avoid this hike for now. The view and the swimming hole are well worth the otherwise easy, nearly level, hike.
This cache was planted with the assistance of the "5 Days of Sandwich" day campers. This camp is sponsored by the Sandwich Conservation Commission and is charged with sharing with the youth of Sandwich, locations in the hundred square mile town that illustrate the human and natural history of this unique town and to learn about the need and importance of environmental stewardship.
This cache is located along the very scenic Bennett Street Trail and leads you to "Great Falls", a beautiful waterfall that crashes through a gash in the rocks of a short cliff. There is ample river to explore with many boulders to scramble on or have a picnic on. Afterwards, treat yourself to a very refreshing dip in the swimming hole or put your head into the falls!
The campers had been caching all week, as the town is full of caches along many of our trails. They wanted very much to plant their own cache. When I asked the campers to brainstorm a clever name for the site, it didn't take long before Leah, one of our campers, piped up "We should call it the "5 Days of Great Falls", to commemorate the many stumbles taken by the campers during our almost 20 miles of hiking in our week together.
Parking for the Bennett Street Trail: Take rout 113 from Center Sandwich, NH to route 113A. Take a left onto Whiteface Intervale Road. Take first left onto Bennett Street. Take this road to its end. This means staying on the road - even after it turns into nothing more than a dirt track - until you come to a National Forest gate with an adjacent parking lot. You will need to pay a $3 daily parking fee at the lot, or get a seasonal pass from the National Forest, but it is well worth it. In snow, the road is not plowed all the way to the parking lot, but you can find parking along the road where the plowing ends. Add about a 1/2 a mile of extra hiking, each way, in snow.
You'll want to set aside at least a half a day to enjoy the hike, the scenery and the cache. Be cautious after a good rain or as the snow melts. There are several small streams that need to be forded as you get nearer to the falls.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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