New Find, Familiar Place

Every stop in Chatham must come with at least a drive by the light house.  Every trip we must look at the way the break in the barrier beach has changed here at the "elbow" of the Cape.

This time we were delighted to have something to find in addition to looking at the beautiful view.

Stage Harbor is also a lovely spot.  We were not in a position to search but I hopped out thinking I knew right where it was but I was wrong.  I'll have to come back next time.

Safe at Sandy Pond

After being unusually hunted we scrambled over to Sandy Pond.  The kids loved it because there was a playground they could romp on and a field they could tackle on while the Rewstah (with his newly carved stamp), Hydeez Mom, and I set out to retrieve by request and a fascinating and amazing namesake.

Hunting in an Unusual Place

I was looking soooo forward to getting out on Thanksgiving day for a wonderful hike with the bonus of discovering the unusual Cape characters. I had been speculating about what some of them might be for days.  We packed up the extended group, dogs and all, while the turkey was roasting.

The large pickups with gun racks and NRA stickers parked by the entrance was our first indication.  We were a big and not quiet group so even when we saw the hunting sign for coyote, small game, and deer archery we thought we were too obvious to be mistaken.  Not to mention that we figured the hunters wouldn't be so close to the trail.

We made it with no problem to the first box and just as we were retrieving it we heard gunshots very loud and very close.

That was it.  We had to call it a day. We did find a nice HH as a consolation prize. ...sigh...  It looked like such a nice trail and what a beautiful day.  Alas, we'll be back.  When hunting season is over.

A long drive to Osterville

We left south-central Pennsylvania at O dark 30 and arrived in Osterville just after lunchtime.  We had a car full of tired travelers including two doggies who were not welcome here.  But I was successful finding the Winged Deaths Head.

The others will have to wait for another day since I had trouble finding the dirt road past Whitehead.  I didn't have time to search too hard and unfortunately, the two possible nearby paths I took quickly ended up in dead (pun intended) ends.

Neat place.  Thanks MM for recommending it.

The Rebel Base

The Caped Coder, Mip, Zip, Hot Lava, and I went to find the Rebel Base at our favorite place, Nixon Park.  We found Luke Skywalker but Darth Vader had apparently been abducted.

I was lucky enough to find a Woozy, though.  Beware!

Great Island

The cali cousins wanted a nice long hike so we chose Great Island as our destination.  We had never been before.  The letterbox had a high diamond rating so I was anxious to check it out.

We headed out and passed some cool stuff.   Sea pickles were abundant in the beginning of the trek. 

We also came across some tiny crabs and some strange holes that perhaps these crabs had dug and thrown some sandy pellet stuff out.  

As we hiked along the sand got  sandier and the sky got darker.  It is amazing how much longer the hike seems when you're not walking on firm sand.  We passed a number of dead birds and came across two larger decomposing critters.  I saw that the Cape had a bunch of dolphins stranding themselves in the Feb-March timeframe near Herring River which is very close to this area.  That must be what they are.  Such a shame.

We had some trouble with the map.  We probably would have done better without it.  We struggled to find the old Tavern site.  But finally we did stumble across it and the view was breathtaking.  We found the treasure with no problem once we found the Tavern site.  

The hike back was faster since now we knew where we were going.  Although still slower than firm ground.  The darkening sky gave way to rain right as we reached our last half mile or so.  It is definitely a hike I will remember for a long time.  Sometimes those challenging ones are the ones you remember better than the simpler ones.  

Larry Lobster

Cubed and I found ourselves with a couple of free moments so we decided it was time to meet Larry  Lobster.  Looks like we were the first to meet him.  Got to check out Captain Elmer too.  Looks like a nice "ship" he's got.  Outside dining is always nice.