Mapsurfer's Evil Woods

About a year ago, a group of us were on a quest for Mapsurfer boxes when we were rewarded with a cuckoo clue in one of them. The clues looked harmless enough, the actual location of the box was clearly noted on the clue sheet and a Mapsurfer rating of one and a half stars made it look as though this was one box that even I could easily obtain. The clues actually sat forgotten in my file until a few weeks ago when Hikers 'n Hounds began to ask for people to get together to search for this box as a team. OK, I thought, I remember those clues, I can do this box, and I signed up to accompany Irene and Gerania on a search. Imagine if you can, three middle aged, mostly out of shape broads searching in the wilds for a Mapsurfer box, totally oblivious (well, not all of us were oblivious...Irene had actually attempted this last summer and gave up because it was too late in the day and she and Sheba were losing daylight) to the dangers that could befall us. I cringe when I look back at my naivete'.

I guess I should have read the body of the clues a little better before starting and also realized that the one and a half star rating was for the clues and not the hike. And maybe I shouldn't have taken the two mile hike to find a box which turned out to be missing before I met my hiking partners. And maybe I should have read the trail notes a little more thoroughly and noticed that Randy mentioned "this trail is not for everyone...if you are not a seasoned hiker, don't waste your time." And I didn't even bat an eyelash when the park ranger who was giving me a trail map indicated that the trail that we would be taking was unattended because it didn't really belong to anyone and that we were in for a challenge. But no, I just merrily went on my way to the meeting point and sat comfortably waiting in a parking space beside the evil woods without knowing the adventure that would be ahead of us.

This box was planted in December, 2002. Mapsurfer mentions in the trail notes that there is not a trail and that it would feel like off trail walking. Well, keep in mind that he wrote this before Hurricane Ivan made his appearance and toppled tons of trees that contained the blazes that we needed to follow. He recommends not moving from one blaze until you knew where the next blaze was which was very good advice. Fortunately, Irene had brought along a roll of flourescent pink marking tape because we were going to need it.

We started off easily enough going a fairly short distance before we reached the first of several areas of downed trees. The root ball in the picture was just one of many that were in this grouping. It looks pleasant enough and not that difficult to get around but keep in mind that the downed trees also contained the blazes that we were seeking. And the many branches of these trees spread many feet wide and we had to climb over, under and through them to get to the other side. We got into a routine where I was the lead person, scouting out the next blaze, Gerania was the middle person standing between me and Irene, keeping us both in sight and Irene and Dude brought up the rear, not leaving one blaze until we found the next, just as Mapsurfer recommended. I would then wait for them to catch up to me with Irene marking the trail with pretty pink ribbons wherever there was more than about 50 feet between blazes. We encountered at least four areas of downed trees and had to work our way around each of them very carefully. The tangles were so bad that we would often lose sight of each other and till the end of the day, my voice was hoarse from hollering so the others could locate me.

The clues were really good at pinpointing landmarks along the walk and we breathed a sigh of relief as we could chalk each one off. And when we found the area described as containing "serendipitous daffodils" we were almost giddy with relief. But what we didn't know was that to make it to the final area, we would have to climb through a painful path full of jaggers. Irene very graciously allowed me to be the first one through to make sure that it was our final destination before she and Gerania would follow. Although I was rather hesitant to really believe that being first through was a reward for a job well done, I made it and really was rewarded with a very pretty sight. Out in the middle of nowhere was a clearing at the top of a hill with an old stone foundation and signs of people had lived there at one time. There were tons of daffodils, although the flowers are now gone, vinca curled around the edge of the opening, wild roses were preparing to blossom. It really was beautiful and so easy to just lay down and rest after our two hour battle through the woods. Randy claims that the walk is 1.5 miles but I think he definitely has underestimated! Add to it the extra mile that we probably put on going around the uprooted trees and it had to be at least 3 miles and maybe more, but it truly felt like 10 miles.

We collapsed and rested for a little while, all of us fretting that we had not brought nearly enough water along to be able to hydrate ourselves fully. I think the relaxing lasted a little longer than it should have because we were all wondering just where to go to search for the box. You know how people will say, "I walked ten miles to find the box and it was missing but the hike was so beautiful that it was ok." Well, let me tell you....they are liars! I wanted that box and I was not leaving without it because I was NEVER going to do that walk again. And since I HAD done that walk, I wanted that box! But where to begin to look for it? We all know Mapsurfer doesn't make anything easy, it had to be hidden some place really clever. We each headed to a different corner of the clearing and began poking around looking for the perfect Mapsurfer hiding spot. We stuck our walking sticks into every nook and cranny trying to figure out where our treasure was. After about a half hour of this, I decided to take a drink of my diminishing water supply and Irene came over and made a really innocent comment "I wonder why Randy mentioned a jar of pennies". So I pulled the clues out and reread them and had an AHA moment....well, it was really more like a "boy, are you really stupid" moment. The answer had been in front of us all along and we just hadn't seen it. What a relief it was to be able to uncover this precious little box from its hidey hole, we cherished each moment of stamping in and reading the log and discovering who had made this same trip before us. We made quite a production of it but in retrospect, I think that we were just delaying the beginning of our journey back through the wilderness.

Eventually, though, we knew that we needed to head back and kept telling ourselves that "the way back is always shorter". Well, thanks to Irene's lovely pink bows, we only got totally lost once, and although it took us at least an hour and a half to get back, we did make it back faster than we had made it into the woods. Poor Dude looked as though he was sorry that he had ever accompanied us and was ready to curl up in the back seat. Actually, I was also ready to curl up in the back seat but I had a 68 mile drive before I would be home. Do you know how long 68 miles is when you are bone tired and driving through Amish country on a Sunday evening when the Amish and their buggies are out in full force? And on a road with a 35 mph speed limit? Let me tell you, it is long, very, very long.........