Half hour?..Two hour hike

We decided today to climb to the Pisgah Fire Tower to retrieve Katie's TB before it got snowed in for the winter. Now I know that the description says its half an hour hike, I know that Team 2 Hunt made it sound easy, even in the dark and both he and Tat said, yup, half an hour. We arrived at the parking coordinated just before sunset. The hike, argh, was a bit longer and difficult with a couple inches of snow, and kids all dressed in their snow clothes. When we got to the tower there were a couple of people in it. I swear, we swear, that they had a rifle hanging over the edge up there. Were they using the scope as binoculars? The sun was about down now and we had to find that cache quick. Nope, that great new GPSr kept the signal great but the cache wasn't placed with my great and accurate coordinates. That would have been fine without snow but we had no clue where to look. After finding out the batteries were dead in the flashlight, we pulled the new ones out of the camera. Eventually our youngest slipped and fell into the cache. Its pitch black, a small mini mag light, and footprints to follow, we headed back. We contimplated climbing the tower but decided against it. The hike down was creepy, quiet, and no moon. I had to remind the girls that we had a gps and couldn't get lost. Two hours after we started, we arrived back at the car, feeling like we really accomplished something. Next thing we knew a car pulled in, head light and dog to go for a hike. Thanks for bursting our bubble. So that was our first night cache and first snow cache. We had a great time and it was our favorite yet although it would have been nice to watch the sun set up in that tower. Looking foward to our next adventure.

Theres also a service road that goes up to the tower (much easier, probably faster than the trail) Brdad and I mapped out the property and the trails for the Kennebec Land Trust Last month, (we had to climb that stupid Mt about 3 or 4 times!) Too bad people were in the tower, it's really quite a veiw from up there! (also no need to worry because as long as you can walk in a straight line, you'll eventually hit a road.) Sounds like you had a fun adventure! (and one that the kids will go to school and talk about) :D :D

That is that route I take. The old firewardens road it a direct route straight to the top.

In actual distance, the trail is .86 miles long, while the road is .96 miles, so the foot trail is actually shorter. As Hiram said, we went up and down and all around that dang mountian, so I can't really remember which route was easier. I can tell you, walking the property lines is not to easy!

If anyone wants to see a sample of what we did, check this out:
http://www.bytethebullet.com/geocach...es/pisgah1.jpg

Speaking of which, did you get the files I emailed, Aaron?

I know you use USA photomaps Dave and was curious as to how you transcribe the tracks onto the map? Also did you walk the whole perimeter of the land trusts land and what did you use for reference points to do that? Looks like quite the project when you think about it. I would be interested in helping out with something like that in the future if you need another body. Looks like it would be fun.

USAPhotomaps will download waypoints as well as tracks from a GPS. But, that is limited so I use another program called OziExplorer, with which you can load any image file and calibrate coordinates to it. I used an aerial image from USAPhotomaps in this case. This is the same program I used to make the Delorme maps for you and others.

Yes, we did walk the entire perimiter with a man from the land trust who knew where the corner posts were. There are still more trails and lines to be plotted, so I am quite sure your help could be utilized in the future, Aaron would know more about that. We had a great time doing what we did, you don't always need to log a find to have a good time!

Wow! Time sure does fly when you are having a good time. Maybe the trip was longer. By the way, the sun will set again tomorrow, at around 4PM. Why not head back up to the tower and see the sunset. :cool: Glad you found the cache. See you on the trails soon. There are plenty more fire towers to find.

More fire towers? I'm sure they are somewhere and I do think we'll have to look up a few. I think we'll do them in the summer though, climbing hills like that in the snow wasn't to great for my knees. I'll be asking in the future more more "local" caches with a few.:)

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Originally Posted by FuddsGirls

More fire towers? I'm sure they are somewhere and I do think we'll have to look up a few. I think we'll do them in the summer though, climbing hills like that in the snow wasn't to great for my knees. I'll be asking in the future more more "local" caches with a few.:)

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I'm going to create a bookmark listing for the fire towers. We have been to alot of them, and they are fun, espicially if you can climb to the top of them. This should help you plan the trips. Don't you feel spoiled again? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Team2hunt

I'm going to create a bookmark listing for the fire towers. We have been to alot of them, and they are fun, espicially if you can climb to the top of them. This should help you plan the trips. Don't you feel spoiled again? :rolleyes:

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There "WAS" one on Harris Mt. ...... :rolleyes: