Yesterday was an “off” day for me, which was a welcome change. I was planning to do a little tool shopping to prepare for our trip to Holbrook, but never managed to gather sufficient momentum to make that happen. Instead, Beth and I did a little geocaching.
After we hid our two caches in the beginning of this month, another cacher came and found one of them, and decided she would hide a few more (where “a few” equals “four”). So Beth and I decided to go and collect them – they are in our neighborhood (where “our neighborhood” equals “within five miles of our house”).
When we got to Battis Crossing, which is the road where two of the caches were located, the GPS still had not locked onto the satellites. So we drove past that to the next cache, which is near a fantastic little spring in Canterbury. I stop there a couple of times per month to refill the water bottles I keep in my car. It is some very good water. About half the time I drive by it, there are one or more cars stopped there filling jugs, and that was true this time too. So we passed that cache as well, and made our way to the fourth one (which I had already found the week before).
I pointed Beth to Ground Zero and she found the cache and signed the log. Then we hopped back in the car, turned around, and went back from whence we had come. There was still a car parked at the spring, so we kept going until we got to Battis Crossing. By then, the GPS had locked onto the satellite, so we were ready to look for some caches.
We found the first one with little difficulty, and then set out for the second one. That’s when I stepped on a very slippery patch of ice, lost my footing, and fell. Based on Beth’s reaction, I must have done some extremely amusing acrobatics in my bid to regain my balance. Luckily, I was not hurt (other than that I have had a sore knee ever since). I quickly recovered, and we found this trail leading to the cache:
Battis Crossing
This trail is a continuation of Battis Crossing Road, which the GPS insisted went further than it did. I assume it used to follow this trail. The GPS also said we were near Sawyer’s Ferry Road, which I have seen on old maps before. The old maps (including Tomtom’s) indicate that Battis Crossing used to connect to Sawyer’s Ferry Road. Both of those roads are only narrow tracks now. I would imagine that they used to meet near a homestead, but I didn’t see one anywhere (and this cache was pretty close to where the map says the used to meet). It would probably not be difficult to find an old foundation near there though.
From the name, I think we can probably assume that Sawyer’s Ferry was located at the other end of Sawyer’s Ferry road… on the Merrimack River. That would be pretty interesting to explore as well, but it’s on private property. I am not one to go knocking on the strangers’ doors and ask if I can explore their property. I might find the ferry by canoe someday though.
We found the second cache and hiked back to the car without any further incident. Then we went back to the spring to look for the final cache of the day. We arrived, and there were no cars parked there. We got out and hunted around for the cache. I found it in a place that Beth had already looked (much to her chagrin). We emptied the container out on the concrete wall above the spring and Beth went through it trying to decide what to trade.
Beth at the spring in Canterbury
We could have gone looking for four more caches (one of which I already have, but Beth does not), but by then, she was ready to go home. We’ll save those for another day.
Jomegat's Weblog 
February 20, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Odd that you would fall on ice just as we were talking about Yaktrax. When I do what you describe my back usually goes out for a week because I’ve strained it by flailing around so much-good thing it’s just your knee.
February 20, 2012 at 9:26 pm
I stopped by Bryant’s Hardware tonight thinking I would buy some Stabilicers (and some tools for our trip). But he was closed for President’s Day. 😦
February 20, 2012 at 10:13 pm
There is a spring like that not far from here too. Excellent water, and there is always someone there filling up water jugs. Even long-haul truckers stop there to replenish their supply.
February 20, 2012 at 10:39 pm
The thing that surprises me is that I have never seen the flow of water out of this one vary. Whether it is flooding or hasn’t rained in a month, whether it is 90 degrees or -10, the flow is always the same.
I drove past one like it in Maine last month. There were cars filling up there too. I can’t vouch for its steadiness though, having seen it only once.
February 20, 2012 at 10:53 pm
The one here flows a very high volume of water and it too flows all seasons. It’s on land that’s part of a ranch and the owners keep a wooden frame around it always in good condition. There are some folks here that use that water for nearly all of their drinking water.
February 20, 2012 at 11:03 pm
If you look closely, you can see a concrete tank in the shadows behind Beth. I suppose that serves the same function as the wooden frame in yours. I also suspect that there are a lot of people around here who use this spring for all their drinking water.