Worth Its Salt

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Hidden On: 04 Jun 2004
Waypoint (Landmark): N022C3
Open Cache:  Non-commercial use only
Cache type:  Normal
Cache size:   Normal

Difficulty:  (easy)
Terrain:  (easy)

Misc:

Comments:

Clues:    decode

• Clue 1 
  ebpxcvyr

Pictures:

 Westmoreland Heritage Trail

I actually found this cache about 3 1/2 years ago, but I figured it was moved, so it's new to me...Besides, it gave me an incentive to go on a nice walk on a beautiful day.
I recall that this was the first cache I ever did by myself, using my brand new Garmin etrex, and I was all excited & nervous. I also had my dog along for company & support. I still have the ol' yeller etrex, and the ol' brown dog, but he's too ol' to hike now. So today I had the younger dog with me. We enjoyed our walk on the WHT very much. It was a refreshing change of pace to walk the opposite direction from where we usually go. At GZ I actually forgot about signal bounce for a second and muttered a brief curse, before I came to my senses and looked for the cache elsewhere. I found it tucked away nice & snug. I took some TB's and left an assortment of stuff. Thanks!

I came up this way today to check out the new trail. Awesome! The cache was lost during construction but this matters not because I came prepared with a new one. Please note that the coordinates and hint have been changed. Cache on! Johnny.

I decided to check on this cache since it hadn't been found since February and I'm glad that I did because it was found to be in poor condition. The pseudo ammo can with a homemade seal failed and moisture was getting in. I replaced the container with an emergency spare and transferred the salvageable items. The logbook was soaked but it's drying out nicely and I will be returning it to the cache ASAP. Be advised that construction on this section of the WHT is in progress. They're expected to have it finished from Saltsburg to Slickville in the spring.

The odometer on my bicycle is getting close to 2,500 miles for the year. It's not about the numbers in and of themselves, mind you, but I got up early to hit the trail, take advantage of the terrific weather and perhaps roll the odometer over.

Last night I loaded up my GPS but I must have made a mistake because none of the caches in the area showed up. I flubbed the center point, I suppose. No matter. It was about the ride. I started at Saltsburg and headed east on the West Penn Trail to scout out the new section connecting the trail through State Games Lands 328 to the Conemaugh Dam. 6 miles each way. Then I headed west as they completed building the bridge over Blacklegs Creek, opening up a whole new section of trail to Avonmore. About 5 miles each way. Then it was south along the Westmoreland Heritage Trail and back. 2.5 miles each way.

On the way back, I saw someone sitting on a log, writing in a notebook with an ammo can at his feet. Had to be a geocacher. I stopped and talked with Chumpwagon for a while. Sure, I didn't actually find the cache on my own but it seemed a little foolish to turn my back while he re-hid it and then get the coordinates from him and re-find it.

As we got back to Saltsburg, I met a family on the bridge who asked me about how long the trail was. It was an easy question to answer as I had just ridden it all. They were from Georgia in the area visiting family and said that next time they would bring their bikes to ride more of the trail. I gave them my map of the trail.

I was able to do everything before the rain came in the afternoon. My total mileage for the year: 2,494 miles.

But it's not about the numbers. If it was, I would have gone back out on the trail and racked up another 6 miles.

Made the trip to Saltsburg to pick up "To Grandfather's House we Go" TB. Got it and a very nice surprise with this cache. The walk up this section of the Westmoreland Heritage Trail was just beautiful. The view from the bridges up and down the river rivals the ones at Ohiopyle for shear beauty. Got to hand it to QM he has done it again by making a hunt for a cache really worthwhile. In fact he even had two water hazards as is his tradition but this time he made sure that navigating these water hazards was a snap. Thank QM. The walk up the trail seemed to send me back into the early 2oth century when the railroad ran along this trail. I could imagine what it was like to be driving a train along those tracks on a cool fall evening, smoke coming out of the engine boiler and rising above the walls of the trail. As you can tell MrsPossum48 and I really enjoyed this afternoon in the woods hunting for "treasure". Thanks Johnny for another great hide.

TN L Go fish card deck. SL CITO

Nice cache. It was mild out today, so I took my daughter out geocaching. We had a nice walk to the cache site. We'll have to come back bicycling in the summer. Took bear puzzle and 2 small rocks. Forgot to bring item to leave.

I can barely begin to explain the "adventure" we had today.

We started out from the parking coordinates down what we thought was the trail. Actually, what we thought was the trail actually ended up being water street. And so we followed it thinking that the rest of the trail was on the other side of town. So we just rode into Canal Days and actually talked with the Rails Trails Conservancy people for quite some time. We then attempted to go back to where we parked along Water Street, but two very uncourteous borough policemen now manning the barricade said we couldn't and that no bikes were allowed in the area during the carnival. (Which I couldn't understand because it was a public street we were riding on) Plus they actually watched us ride around the barricade coming in. So who knows. Anyway, they weren't very nice...

But thankfully, a nice man who I believe was part of the road dept or something understood that we got confused and missed the trail and he allowed us to walk our bikes through town with a personal escort by him. He then gave us good directions to the trail and we got on it without injury.

We then rode on to the cache and found it after going about 100 feet past it. We left a TeamK-9 magnet, a pair of camoflage work gloves, and a cool little LED flashlight keychain (great for stealthy night caching, it allows a good bit of light, but doesn't really hurt your night vision *or so I'm told*)

And I took a headlamp.

Afterwards we decided to ride the trail a bit towards slickville. We got about a quarter mile passed the cache before I heard dirt bikes. I know we should have turned back then but we didn't. I won't tell you any more but I will say that we were practically in the middle of a state police standoff. To read the rest of the story, check out my live journal: http://villageidiot120.livejournal.com/

With Nellsnake #2 out of town this weekend attending her 20th college reunion, Nellsnake members #1, 3, and 4 were getting a bit stir-crazy on this rainy Saturday. Then in the early evening, the sun started to break through the clouds, and coincidentally a new QM cache popped up. So, after dinner the kids and I were stoked to go after this new one. We parked near the trailhead in Saltsburg at 7:40 p.m. and leisurely made our way toward this cache along the old railway bed. We really enjoyed this twilight hike and the sites along the way, including two neat bridges, one tunnel, and a nice swinging vine (see photos). Alex also enjoyed the many honeysuckles along the trail. After a pleasant hike suitable for all ages, we arrived at the coordinates and found the cache very quickly at 8:15 p.m. after the GPSr settled. We signed the logbook, made a trade, and returned along the trail. On the way back we were startled at one point by an explosion nearby, followed periodically by others, which turned out to be fireworks being set off by the locals as part of the Canal Days celebration. We stopped briefly to check out the carnival in town, which was well attended by the locals. Thanks again for another neat hike and cache, QM! I'll need to return again sometime soon with the new bike to explore more of this area.