The post below is from August 2005 when I placed a geocache not far off a trail near the Ridgefield, Connecticut “rails to trails” hiking path. Placement of the cache was approved by the Town of Ridgefield. Since then, geocaching.com shows that 89 people have had the pleasure of finding “Nutmeg and Laurel”, the name we gave to the cache. Yesterday, I received an email from a fellow geocacher in Stamford, Connecticut telling me about the possibility of Nutmeg and Laurel being missing. I took a look earlier this evening and, sure enough, it was gone. I don’t know why someone would steal it but I guess that is how it goes. I hvae marked the listing as temporarily disabled until I get a chance to place a new cache. When I placed the ammunition case cache in a rock crevice back in 2005, I used a Garmin GPS to establish the latitude and longitude. Today I used the iPhone 5 to find the location where the cash should have been. I wonder what kind of device I will be using seven years from now. Aside from the disappointment of the stolen geocache, it was a delightful afternoon to ride the trike. The odometer showed 20,001 miles as I arrived back home.
August 2005: One accomplishment for the summer has been to place a new geocache in Ridgefield, Connecticut. We named it Nutmeg and Laurel (after the state nickname and state flower) and it is hidden not far off of a trail which is near the Ridgefield “rails to trails” hiking pathThe Ridgefield “rails to trails” hiking path was constructed on an abandoned railroad bed along the old Branchville line. The path is well maintained along the entire 2.4 miles along what is today a Connecticut Light & Power right of way for their high voltage transmission line. The path runs from the Quail Ridge area near the center of town to Florida Road which is near Branchville. Branchville is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 7 and State Highway 102. The path offers a pleasant walk through some of Ridgefield’s most beautiful wooded and wetland areas. There are a handful of houses, mostly along Cooper Road on the eastern end of the trail, so to avoid trespassing, do not enter the woods until your GPS indicates that you are roughly perpendicular to the cache. You can park at either end of the trail or at a couple of places in between where local streets intersect the path. If you want a nice hike, it is recommended to park at either Quail Ridge or at Florida Road. If you want the shortest possible hike (less than a mile roundtrip) park at Cooper Hill Road. The parking area at Florida Road is very small. Just right for a motorcycle or Jeep. If you are in a large SUV, park at one of the other locations.
