What a Fool Believes Letterbox Hybrid
flyfishNS: The area is under development from a private developer.
The cache has been removed.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache/letterbox is located near the shores of False Harbour,
on West Cape Forchu, 3 miles from Yarmouth. There is an excellent
view of the Yarmouth Lighthouse from here, and a wonderful beach to
watch the birds play and the Cat come and go.
“But what a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power to reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
Theres nothing at all
But what a fool believes he sees...”
Michael Mcdonald/Kenny Loggins-The Doobie Brothers
What a Fool Believes - 1978: Album “Minute by Minute”
False Harbour is the site of many false beliefs. False Harbour was
first settled by the Mi'kmaq who referred to the Cape and area as
"Kespoogwit', meaning "the end of the earth". The Mi’kmaq were
excellent sailors and would run their canoes along the coast and
out into the ocean regularly. It was once thought that the Mi’kmaq
did not settle along this coast, but that was false.
In 1812, a four-pound stone was discovered near here with chiseled
marks which were believed to translate to " Leif to Eric Raises ".
This has been used as evidence of a “runic stone”, and would have
put Leif Ericson here in 1007. It is now thought that these beliefs
were false, and the stone is now thought not to be a runic stone,
but there is some debate about whether or not the Norse ever
settled in the Yarmouth County area.
Samuel de Champlain landed on this most southern tip of Nova
Scotia in late May of 1604 and named the site "Cap Forchu" -- Cap
meaning 'cape' and Forchu relating to 'fork'. Champlain asked for
and received a grant of the land in the area, thinking it would be
a good spot to have a fort and trade for furs, he was proven wrong,
and in any case the French were removed from the area as part of
the expulsion in 1755.
There have been many ships who falsely believed they were entering
Yarmouth Harbour here, which caused the government to construct a
lighthouse (you get a gorgeous view of it on a clear day), the
first day of operation of the Yarmouth Lighthouse was January 15,
1840. Despite the lighthouse, many ships still ended up on the sand
bar and beach near where the cache is located on the shores of
False Harbour or on the sand bar where the parking is. Examples of
the unfortunate ships who ended up here include those such as the
William Henry in 1844, the Lamartine in 1872, the Lizzie Maud in
1904 and the Linton in 1930 - the latter a ship from Yarmouth which
left the port on December 2, 1930 bound for St.John New Brunswick.
There was a heavy sea running and the wind was blowing a gale. The
Linton apparently decided to return to Yarmouth and instead of
going around Cape Forchu and into Yarmouth Harbour, it went toward
the entrance of False Harbour (called locally West Cape) where it
went onto the rocks very near where the cache is. No one on board
survived; the following morning the Linton's mast could be seen
above the surf, but by evening it was totally submerged.
The cache is located at the base of Hotel Hill, so called because
a hotel, the Markland, was built here in the belief that tourists
would support the businesses. The Markland was built in the late
1880’s and was closed before the depression in the 1930’s..
The Cache is a Geocache/Letterbox. The Letterbox is a smaller
container inside the main cache. Please leave the contents of the
Letterbox intact, they are not for trading, see Letterboxing.org for more
information. The cache is in an ammo can, and contained at
placement the Letterbox and stamp, a pen, pencil and log book for
you to record your visit, and trade items including among other
things a CITO bag, a Muddler Minnow trout fly, some kiddie swag and
the “Signal - June 2006 GeoCoin”.
There are two routes to the cache, an easy one, and a tougher one,
but of course the hard way is shorter, about 1/3 of a km, the
longer way is a very easy 1/2 km walk (or driving if you get lucky
and the gate is open - then it's a 50m park and grab!). The short,
but tough route is to park at the beach access point at 43 48.295
and 66 09.451 and walk the beach rocks to the cache. It is a tough
walk, though, as the rocks are smooth and will roll - be careful.
If you go this route, look for the spruce tree at the South edge of
the clearing, go up the bank there... The longer, but much easier,
walk is to park at the end of the Gerry Road at the Markland
Estates gate at 43 48.261 and 66 09.957 and walk the 1/2 km on the
dirt road staying to the left on all roads - this will lead you to
a bluff overlooking the shore, and to your North at the end is the
single spruce in the clearing below you - be careful walking over
the newly cleared chopping.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx sbe Qevsgjbbq arne na nccyr gerr.
Treasures
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