accomplishedGot up at 5am again this morning. A bit of a dilemma. Did I want to go down the Turnpike side (Philly) of Jersey or did I want to go down the Parkway side? (Shore) I picked the Turnpike side, which was probably a good decision because I managed to get 7 caches, more than were available on the Parkway side.
The first three (1, 2, 3) were in Palmyra Nature Park. Another bunch from tneigel, of course. The park itself was a bit hard to find. Had to bear to the right at the end of Route 73 quickly before crossing the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and all I had to go on was a tiny brown park sign pointing the way. This park is still under development. The nature center is under construction and this morning, a lone landscaper was working on the small garden next to the nascent nature center. The second part was an actual cache and a bit of a puzzler until I reread the description and figured out just what that "wee bit of climbing" meant. Egads!
The next one was in Moorestown, just past the Moorsetown Mud Field, apparently, and into the thorn bushes. Actually, I think I did that the hard way but I thought it made more sense at first because I came from the official parking area. Goes to show how sometimes you really are expected to park on a street somewhere and dash through a construction site. Got all muddy in the foot-sucking mud field. These days when I do the laundry, I start by separating my clothes into muddy and not so muddy. :)
Then I went for this cache in Smithville. (Mount Holly area) Another interesting spot overlooking a dam and a stream down in the gorge. I could see the ducks swimming below. It didn't take too long to find although I really don't know if hiding a micro cache (small pill bottle in this case) in the woods is a good thing or if it is just making things unnecessarily difficult.
The next one was in Princeton along the Delaware/Raritan Canal. Easy, although it was just starting to rain a little.
The last one of the day was in Hopewell at the cache-filled Baldpate Mountain. I don't know about the mountain part but maybe it is a bigger ascent on the other side. From Pleasant Valley Road, it looks more like Baldpate Slightly-higher-land. Anyway, this cache was further down Baldpate near the lake. The rain was definitely coming down as I backed my car into the one parking space at the trailhead but it got lighter as I started walking and stopped altogether when I arrived at the cache, which was good because the rain would make the log book soggy.
Last weekend, I had a bit of a leg cramp at about 4 caches into the day. It could have been the cold. I found an old pair of cotton/lycra runner's tights so I tried wearing that under my regular jeans. Well, so far so good this week, even yesterday when it was freezing and snowing. I was thinking perhaps I should get a pair of those convertible (or whatever those are called) pants so I can vary between 1, 1.5 and 2 layers as the weather changes during the day.
Then again, why was I even going to upstate NY on a day like that? :)