-- October 22 2002, Looking for Tuckahoe by Sea --

I started out better prepared this time. I remember last time I ran out of water in the forest looking for the cache. This time though I was ready for it. This time I would find it...or so I thought.

I started out as usual on my bike around 3.5 miles to the lake area in Tuckahoe, decided to stop off at HU0821 and snap a pic.

I stopped at the lake area to rest and put some bug spray on and then proceded onward to the cornfield area. The fields were being harvested that day and I stopped to ask if I could cross. Their reply was it is state land and they are just renting it so it's OK to cross to the creek there. There is a old road that goes for about half the length of the field and then after that you can follow the corn into the forest.

My last approach was way to south and moving north in the forest is slow: ducking vines/fallen trees, skirting marshlands/impasses. So this time I when farther north along the cornfields and entered there.

I got closer and closer, close enough to recognize signs of geothrashing and small foot trails in this rarely visited area. I continued on following the decreasing distance my gps told me. I took several bearings with my compass to stay on track. Then, going around a small stream, I reached the Tuckahoe Creek. It's nice back here. Only the sound of the trees, the birds, and the combine... yeah, they were still harvesting the corn and you could hear that machine all the way back here about a quarter of a mile into the forest. It was a bit noisy.

I followed the creek until I got within 73 feet of the cache, or so my gps told me. I took a bearing reading and set it on my compass. I tried going that way and could not because of the marshlands. So I tried going another way, and no luck this time either. It seemed a dead end in that direction.

I noticed the small trails next so I decided to follow one of them in hopes that they would lead to the cache. But they did not and I was right back where I started.

I looked in several likey places where the cache could be (by decoding the clues in the field because I knew I was close) and didn't find it, even though I was sure that those places I checked could have been great cache hiding spots!

I turned back for the day figuring it would be another time when I find this well hidden one. The way out was surprisingly much easier than the way in, so I marked the spot where I came out. Next time, it will be just a short walk into the area was I was last time.

To be continued in a future story...