ABOUT THE GEOTRAIL:
“Montiy’s Fifty” is a geotrail of 50 caches, placed in Brady’s Run Park. To complete the entire geotrail, you will hike trails on both sides of the main road through the park. Caches #1-25 are placed on one side of the road, and the following parking coordinates (“Near End Parking” – nearest to the main park entrance) to begin your trek to that part of the trail are:
N 40 43.879, W 80 20.189
Caches #26-49 are on the other side of the road, and (if you are planning your hike to those on a separate day) the suggested parking coordinates (“Far End Parking” – farthest from the main park entrance) for that side of the trail are:
N 40 43.457, W 80 21.813
Cache #50, the final cache, is back across on the other side of the road.
ABOUT THE TRAILS:
These trails through Brady’s Run Park are very hilly, and you’ll get a serious workout as you hike them and seek the caches. Prepare yourself for that, and decide how much hiking you want to attempt in one day. If you are experienced and in good shape and want to attempt all 50 caches in one day, it’s possible – but you’d better start early, bring plenty of food and water, and prepare for a day of dashing from cache to cache. If you do this, you can park at the Near End Parking (see above), do both sections of the trail, and wind up back near your vehicle.
If you’d like to break the experience into two days (a good suggestion to make it less of a challenge), you could bring a friend (and two vehicles) to the park – and park one vehicle at “Far End Parking” (see above), then drive the other to “Near End Parking” (see above) and begin your hike there. Then you can end near your Far End vehicle, drive back to the other, and end your day of caching. You could then return another time and do the opposite to seek the caches on the other section of trail.
However you choose to attack the trails, here are a couple of suggestions to help you enjoy your time:
** These trails can be very muddy at times, especially after recent rain. Wear shoes that are capable of handling mud and slippery conditions.
** There are many weeds around the trails, and many of the caches are hidden back off of the trails. I’d suggest that you wear long pants (and maybe even long sleeves) during your hike, so that you won’t have to worry about prickly bushes and poison ivy and the such.
We tried to place the caches so that you don’t have to do ridiculous bushwhacking to get to them, but you are in the woods (and will encounter mud and weeds), so prepare accordingly.
** As I mentioned previously, bring plenty of water and some food with you, as you could be out in the woods for quite a while. Make sure you’ve got enough fluids and fuel to keep you going.