Stowe was chartered on June 8, 1763, when governor Benning
Wentworth of New Hampshire designated 64 men as proprietors. It was
believed that the town was named after Stow, Massachusetts, since
three of the town’s grantees came from there. The first settler,
Oliver Luce, arrived in March 1793, bringing much of his belonging
to his one-room cabin by sled.
Stowe lies in Lamoille County, at an altitude of 723 feet,
between Mount Mansfield on the west and the Worcester Range on the
east. With an area of 73 square miles, it is the second largest
town in Vermont.
Stowe’s economy is primarily based on tourism. Mt. Mansfield,
Vermont’s highest peak at 4,393 feet, is home to the Stowe Mountain
Resort. The legendary “Front Four” expert trails, as well as the
Nose Dive, cut by the CCC for ski racing in 1933, have always
challenged the best skiers. Both Mt. Mansfield and neighboring
Spruce Peak have many other trails which offer fine skiing for
every level of skier, earning Stowe the nickname “Ski Capital of
the East”.
One of Stowe’s best-known past residents was Maria von Trapp, of
“Sound of Music” fame, who came with her family to Stowe shortly
after fleeing the Nazis. The Trapp Family Lodge welcomed its first
guests in 1950. And in 1968, Johannes von Trapp opened the first
cross-country ski area in the United States at the lodge. Today,
Trapps has one of the most extensive ski trail systems in the
state, including about 50 km of groomed trails, connecting with
many more backcountry trails for those who want a real
challenge.
In summer, tourists come for golf, hiking, and cultural
activities such as the Vermont Mozart Festival. The Stowe
Recreation Path, completed in 1989, runs 5.3 miles from the center
of town behind the Community Church to the Topnotch Resort, cost
$680,000 to build, and has won several national award, including
that of the 786th National Recreation Trail.
Now to find the cache:
Begin your journey in downtown Stowe. Park where you can find a
space, and walk to the town hall at the coords listed on the web
page . Here you can pay your taxes, or occasionally attend a
community theater production. Find the date on the lower left of
the building. From this date, subtract 1356. This gives you
A, the 3-digit number for your North decimals.
Your experience in Stowe won’t be complete until you drive up
Mountain Road (VT 108) to get a good look at the mountain. Head to
Stage 2 at N 44° 31.996 W 72° 47.195 and find a plaque. Note the
year that Vermont 108 was officially dedicated as the 10th Mountain
Division World War II Memorial Highway. From this year, subtract
1654 to get B, the 3-digit number for your West
decimals.
Now you can head back towards town to find the cache at N 44°
28.A W 72° 43.B. You can park at a big
trailhead for the Rec Path and enjoy a short walk, bike, or
cross-country ski to the cache. When there’s no snow on the path, a
wheelchair could get to five feet of the cache. It should be
findable in up to moderate amounts of snow.
FTF prize is a biking & trail map of the Stowe area. It is
wrapped up in plastic with the cache, since it was a little too
large to fit in the container.