GOING FOR A DRIVE ON A SNOWY DAY

I had been wanting to check on conditions on (or near) the Scenic Highway ever since we placed the multi-stage cache a few weeks ago (see post below). We have been having some frequent snow and the cache is located more than 2000 ft higher than here at home. I knew that the Scenic Highway can really get snowed in and this seemed like the time to go see what was what.

So off we went, over Droop Mountain and up into Pocahontas County and nary a snow plow to be seen. Droop was pretty much what we had expected, about 10-12 inches of snow on the ground as compared with the measly 4-6 here. A lot (well some actually) drifting over the road but nothing to cause concern unless you were a skier from North Carolina or some other point further south. Snowshoe Resort is open and things are going full blast there--but I digress.

When we turned west on Rt 39 things began to change in a hurry, and not for the better. By the time we were at the first cache (again, see below) change was clearly evident. Look at the Mon Forest sign in the below posting. Notice the base of the sign and the sprinkling of snow on the ground. Today the snow was level with the upper edge of the base-at least 12 or more inches deep. The little parking area was unusable!! And we still had a lot of altitude to gain before we reached the turn off to the Scenic Highway, and after that, even more altitude to gain.

Soon enough it was clear that we would not be driving out on the Scenic Highway at all. We reached the turn off to find at least 18 inches of snow on the ground and the highway impassible to all but the most dedicated high wheel 4X4 driver.

Our--my--goal had been reached though. With yet another 800ft or so of altitude to gain before reaching the hike to the cache, the cache was well and truly totally cut off from the rest of the world, and safely asleep until spring.

PLACING THE MULTI

I'd been working on a multi-stage cache the past couple of weeks and yesterday we got to finally put it in place, and it was probably our last chance to do so until next spring.

If you will scroll down to the previous post you will be able to see a couple of photos taken only a week ago and a very few miles from the cache location. Note that although it might be a little cool (35* or so) there is no snow cover. By yesterday things had changed.

First some clarification. A multi-stage cache is one that requires more than one find to complete. In it's simplest form, you need to find the first stage in order to be given the location coordinates of the final find. This is one of those. Multis can go on for several stages.

Yeah, the first stage is right over there. It's hidden just...well you know. Right here we're at about 3500ft, and we have more than another 500ft of climbing to go in order to reach the final cache resting spot.

On the way to the main hide. We're at 4100ft or so, there's 2" of snow on the ground and it's snowing lightly. Oh yes, it's 18*.

The main cache just minutes prior to being hidden. It will rest over there, you know where. The formidable container shown is a genuine military surplus ammo can, and it's the container of choice for those "serious" caches. It's really tough--heavy steel--probably totally bear proof and if not 100% water proof, it's highly water resistant--there's a heavy rubber gasket the top seals against. It's interesting too that this container is no more expensive than most Tupperware containers.


We (Joyce was there too) placed the container and got out of the forest. This weekend it will probably put down some serious snow in the area of the cache. I don't expect the first find until sometime next spring.