Spring Awakening

Caches on the Finger Lakes Trail near Cortland, New York don't get visited often.  Two of the caches I found were 2007 hides so they have been in place for a long time.  The four caches have averaged  6.5 finds per year.  Besides being mostly in state forests with terrible roads, extreme snow, low temperatures, and short days in the winter make caching in for four to six months really challenging unless caching with snowshoes and a shovel.

This week I was in James Kennedy State Forest after work and stopped for four finds along the Finger Lakes Trail.  It was a spring awakening for the caches since half hadn't been found since July 2018 while the others had been last found in October.  The roads were as awful as ever since the state does near zero maintenance.  One was nearly impassable as someone was in the process of doing a lousy timber cut (good forest management practices actually promote forest health - this cut did not).  Still, it was an evening out hiking a section of the North Country Trail, known as the Finger Lakes Trail in New York.  It was mentally rewarding.

There was no smiley for the last log to sign. I always stop to sign trail registers.

So leave those parking lots behind and head out for a look in the woods.  Awaken an ammo can.  The pill bottles and key holders will wait.