Do You Know What’s in the Woods?

I was sitting on the edge of Grassy Pond waiting once again for the heron to strike the perfect pose when I heard a mother and three daughters walking along the path.  I turned to look back and saw the mother looking intently at her smartphone and stating “I think it is no longer there.” 

“I know where it is.” I piped in.

“The geocache?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes!  It’s still there but it moved back about 10 feet.”

I felt like an expert. I had been geocaching a total of once in my life.  It was the weekend before and I went with a friend to Edward’s Parcel to learn about his hobby. He showed me how you go to certain locations using a handheld GPS or smartphone app which will place you in the vicinity of a hidden treasure.  The treasure could be a tiny tube hanging in a tree or a large box hidden in a hollow trunk.   A clue is provided that hints to the specific location and you search until you find it.  The larger geocaches have toys and trinkets in them.  If you bring your own set of trinkets, you can swap one of yours for one in the box.  When you go to the next one you may trade in the one you just found or another one from your own set. I had a great time, and although I did not find the first five, I did find the last two.

When I got home from our trip, I raced over to Grassy Pond. My dog had found a box once and I wanted to find it again. I looked and looked, but it was gone.  Thanks to modern devices, I texted my geocache buddy and asked him what happened.  He promised me it was there and made the effort to go straight to Grassy Pond to check.  And that, dear reader, is how I found out it had moved about 10 feet away and I was able to appear as though I was “in the know”.

I knew the girls had finally found the geocache when I heard the clunk of a metal container being opened.  As I wandered past the girls, they were going thought the toys and trinkets and showing each other what they found.  It was a lot of fun for me to see them discovering all of the items in the box and trying to pick “the best one”.   It was nice to see a family on an afternoon adventure at Grassy Pond doing something together.

It is interesting what each individual looks for in the woods. When I go to Grassy Pond in the spring, I look for the heron, the Hooded Merganser ducks, my little spotted sandpiper, and the dozen turtles sunning themselves on the rocks in the middle of the pond.  In the fall, I watch for spiderwort to bloom and the foliage to turn brilliant colors. In the winter, I watch people skate and play hockey on the pond.  We bring our dogs for a walk there almost daily and they have their dog friends who also walk there. What I am starting to realize, is that there is more in the woods. That delights me!

But it does not end with geocaches…there are Letterboxes, too.  This is a whole separate sport from geocaching. I learned about letterboxing when I found a tiny birdhouse on the edge of the pond. It had a plastic baggie inside and I was afraid to open it.  I was sure it was drugs. How could it be anything to the contrary?  I went home and made my husband come back with me so I could be “on the lookout” while he opened the little house.  It held a stamp and a tiny book for visitors to stamp their own mark in the booklet.  Who knew? It was a week later when I mentioned this to a fellow dog walker and she told me about letterboxing.  She had been doing it for years. They had been under my nose all this time and I never knew it.

If you are interested in learning more about Geocaches or Letterboxes in our area check out, http://www.letterboxing.org/BoxFind.php and http://www.geocaching.com/ where you can type in our zip code and see how many treasures have been hiding in our town.  To find out more about Westford’s conservation lands, visit http://www.westfordconservationtrust.org/wct/trails/trails.html.