The Fill and The Mill
Boston has the Boston Commons, New York City has Central Park, and Ligonier even has “The Diamond”, but this is about as close to a centrally located city park that we have around here. The only difference is ours is not located on flat land in the middle of town, but in a hidden little valley. Although it is one of our city’s oldest gathering places and landmarks, a lot of people are oblivious to its existence because of its location. I’ve heard that it has even been referred to as “the underground playground” by small children. It boasts two waterfalls and a variety of greenery enhance the stonework throughout the site, but unfortunately it seems to be visited more by vandals and litterbugs than by families enjoying a picnic in the park! That wasn’t always the case. This place used to be the site of many, many events. The city residents used to have band concerts in the park’s band shell, dances, pep rallies, fireworks and movie nights. In the summer there were Girl Scout picnics and gym classes were held here for the nearby school students. There was also a “spray pool” to cool off in. In the winter the residents used to bring down their old Christmas trees to have a big bonfire. The area in front of the “stage” used to be flooded and frozen for ice skating when the temperature dropped. Unfortunately, not too many people visit the park today and that was the main reason that I wanted to place a cache here.
I hope this cache can be enjoyed by the entire family. Feel free to bring along the makings of a picnic and spend some time relaxing in the park. There are benches, picnic tables, pavilions, and charcoal grills located here. There is a baseball/softball field, tennis court, basketball court, and some playground equipment. There is a public restroom that is usually unlocked during daylight hours and two drinking fountains available, although I think they turn the water off to them for the winter (sometime after Labor Day). I believe the park closes at 9 p.m. Oh, yeah, it’s also a great place for a little CITO!
OK, now, my suggested parking coordinates are: N 40°00.845 -W 079°35.185. If you find this parking area, you may have to share it because some locals have decided to use it for their own personal use and park one or two of their semi tractors there often. This shouldn’t be an issue though; there should still be plenty of room to park. There is a reason that I want you to park here even though there are a few other parking areas for the park. The other lots may be easier to find, but not as “cool”! You have to do a little running around and drive down a one way street to get to this lot, but it’s worth it. There is no sign for the park at this lot, follow your GPSr! You may want to bring a flashlight for the short trek to the first stage, especially if it’s not a bright sunny day! This isn’t absolutely necessary, but makes it safer and easier. Small children will need supervision on their way to stage one from listed parking coordinates. Oh, yeah, I should also mention that you will probably lose satellite reception on your way, so you may have to wait a few seconds, once “you’re in the clear”, to regain reception!
For stage one as well as stage two, please try and remember that there is no need to scale any hillsides or wade through any water hazards! It is always best to stay on the path for a while, then back track a little to the caches. As mentioned before, this multi cache is located in a small valley and it may take a while for that GPSr needle to come around to the correct direction, please be patient. My coordinates seem to be pretty good and I actually gave them to a fellow cacher to try and he was able to find the hides. If a few people seem to have trouble, I’ll try and recheck my coordinates. Let me know via email or in your log entries.
There is quite a bit of history right here in this area and I have tried to include some of it in each stage of this cache. Please take the time to read the info and look at the photos included on the sheet in each stage. It should help you understand the name of this cache!
PLEASE Be careful in the area of the final, especially on wet, rainy days, because there are a few places that get extremely slippery!!!
Stage 1 is a small plastic container with a small wire hanger attached to it. It has its own secret hiding spot.
Stage 2 is a 50 cal. Ammo box.
As always, PLEASE rehide each stage EXACTLY as you found it!
Thank You!
I retrieved the first cache camera, had it processed, and have posted the pictures on January 5, 2007. See my note for that day to view the pics! Thanks to everyone who used the camera to take your pics!
I retrieved the second cache camera and have posted the pictures on August 23rd, 2008. See my note for that day to view the pics! Thanks again to everyone who used the camera to take your pics!
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