I had been wanting to go hiking about in the Flint Ridge area so was happy to learn that there was a cache we could search for there. My husband, the physicist, spent more than thirty minutes trying to enter the co-ordinates on the wrong screen on the GPS unit and then we were off.
The Flint Ridge area is the name given to the twenty or so mile ridge of Applachain foothills that run between Zanesville and Newark Ohio. This is where Ohio ancients mined for the prized flint used for tools, weapons and trade. The Ohio Historical marker at the Flint Ridge park says this
"For more than 10,000 years, Flint Ridge was one of the most important flint quarries in North America." and
"Hundreds of quarry workshops and pits are scattered for miles along this ridge. The beautiful rainbow colored flint was especially prized by the Hopewell Culture that built the nearby Newark Earthworks."
We saw a lot of water on the ground but remained undaunted.
This beautiful carving stands guard at one of the trails. The words of the artist,William T. Shippen, are on the nearby plague.
"I created this sculpture as the keeper of the trail so that visitors would respect the park and take pride in the history of those that have lived before us."
Off we go
My hiking shoes and pant legs are going to get a whole lot muddier than this before I find what I came for.
There sure is a lot of flint around here.
It's not going up a narrow, slippery muddy trail that is so difficult. It's the coming back down that gets you.
When our little GPS gizmo said that we were just a few feet away, I spotted the cache. Eureka! I am a geocacher.
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Comments: 20
Boy you are right about the down hill getting you and it's killer on the knees
So glad you joined the ranks. You had a nice scenic place for your first find. Congrats and welcome to the madness!!!
Thanks so much for posting this to
my group
Congrats on your first cache. What a beautiful spot for it!
I would love to see the Flint Ridge. Your pictures are wonderful.