Stud Mill Road

Recently a friend invited me for a power caching adventure on the Stud Mill Road, but he asked me to figure out the logistics of the run for him. In doing some research, I find that there is only about 160 caches on the run these days. I have compared this with former finder's maps and numbers and I think the run has shrunk.

Now I know many are not into power runs but they have become popular as a way to beat you up and completely exhaust you by the end of the day, signing logs and driving. LOL It also seems places get put on the map because of their power runs (ie. Nevada, Delaware, So Cal). Bangor area was like this, however, I just don't hear about it anymore until my friend mentioned it. At 160 caches spread out of 75 miles, I think I know why it's no longer a popular destination. Because of this, I suggested hitting the Montpelier, St Johnsbury, Bradford, Vermont triangle. 150 cache power trail in much less miles.

First off, am I crazy or has it really shrunk in size?
Any reason for that?
If it has, are there any plans for revitalizing the trail and adding caches in the near future and regaining that popular caching destination designation?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Team Bullis

First off, am I crazy or has it really shrunk in size?
Any reason for that?

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If you're asking for the reason you're crazy, I don't know how to answer that one.....unless you know Mike then the answer becomes obvious. If you don't know Mike and you want to know the reason it's shrunk in size then the biggest reason is that Mike (Ekidokai) is unable to do maintenance on the SMR for now. There was a thread on here a while back that someone said they found a stretch that the paper company has used machinery to cut back the brush on the side of the road and some of the caches became victims of the machine.

Mike might be able to get back to maintaining the SMR once he figures out how to escape the straightjacket.

And if that doesn't get him to comment, nothing will.

From what I can see, about 12 of the original caches Mike put out were archived. IIRC a few others in the area were as well when property owners complained. So, if it's max numbers you want, the SMR is probably not worth it any more. If you could lower your goals just slightly and be happy with only 100 or so, the Stud Mill road is a nice drive down a nice logging road. It is a worthy area to visit.

I AM NOT CRAZY! The doctor said I was all better.

This series was not intended to be a power run. Didn't even know anything about them. I just wanted to bring people on an adventure through the woods and pay tribute to the great people that made this great adventure called caching. I am not a numbers guy. Biggest day has been 12.

This is 126 miles long. There are 145 caches in my series with many more must do's that are just a little off the trail.

I thought these might get found 5 or 6 times a year just like the others out there. I had to make some changes from the start because of the huge amount of interest and demand on doing them all in one day. There will be more changes to the containers, names and route coming up. Even though I was told that this was the first legal run like this, that was not my intention.

I put caches out for the enjoyment of the searchers. The accolades from all over the world, the stories of the adventures and about the tributees is more than I would have expected and therefore I consider it a success.

Don't worry Brdad, I have no intention on filling in the 1/2 to 3/4 mile spaces with more caches.