Cathedral In The Pines Traditional Geocache
GeoCrater: Archiving this cache as the cache owner has not replaced the disabled cache.
GeoCrater
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Located in the Saugatuck Falls Natural Area, this cache is about 100 feet off the white trail.
UPDATE 1/13/12: A new footbridge has been installed over the river. Trails are easily accessed again!
Bridge dedication: http://vimeo.com/m/44080753
This area has a trail map posted at the parking area which is on Route 53 across from the John Read Middle School. On weekends and in off school hours you may park at the school. Otherwise there is room for 3-4 cars in the parking area. The natural area is open from one half hour after sunrise to one half hour before sunset. The cache is almost 1/2 mile in on the white trail about 100 feet off the trail. I strongly recommend that if you bring small children you hold onto them. People do bring their children here, but the trail along the river is up and down around roots and rocks. There is a higher trail over the top you can take. This is a well used trail system that will take you through a meadow reclamation area, into the Hemlock Forest in an area that inspired the name of this cache. It runs along the river up to the water fall area. This is the area you should watch your footing. It was placed on a cold wintry day with some ice and snow and it can be tricky. This area makes a nice afternoon hike if you want to really explore the trails. You can park at the Firehouse on Umpawaug Road and take the longer way in from there if you want a longer hike. They stock the river with trout, but if the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company has signs posted near, you will need a permit along with a fishing license. These can be bought at the Town Hall up on Route 107 (Lonetown Rd.) and they issue them for the season, or I think they may still issue day passes too.
From the Trail website:
Saugatuck Falls Natural Area
Redding, CT
Probably no scenic spot in Redding is so widely known as Falls Hole, the huge woodland pool in the Saugatuck River with the overhanging cliff on one side and hemlock woods on the other. This is the heart of the Saugatuck Falls area. Generations of young people once came from miles around to plunge into its cool depths, sun themselves on the high rock, and wander in the surrounding woods. Swimming, however, is no longer permitted in the great pool, which drains into Bridgeport’s water supply.
The Saugatuck Falls area was the town’s second, and remains the largest, purchase of open space. In March of 1968, with the aid of federal and state funds, the town bought the property, which otherwise would have been sold for development, at a net cost of Redding taxpayers of $82,037 or $263 an acre. The vote to buy the property with or without government aid had been virtually unanimous at a town meeting the previous October.
A hundred and fifty years ago the trail now called Knapp Way was the Jonathan Knapp Highway, a thoroughfare running from Diamond Hill to what is now Route 53. It crossed the Saugatuck River over a bridge, of which the stone abutments still remain.
Link for a trail map: (visit link)
You will see on the edge of the trail map where it points to Stormfield, this is where Mark Twain once lived. It is private property. Private property is marked, do not trespass.
The cache container is a large Rubbermaid jar with a white lid that I have camouflaged.
Original Contents:
Camera, take a photo, leave the camera.
Wrist Wallet
2 Hand Warmers
A Blaze Orange Safety Vest
Mosquito Head Net
Bottle opener Key Ring
Mini Doodle Toy
Handmade Egg Ornament in a Rubbermaid container
1981 Mardi Gras Dubloon
Log book, pencil, and sharpener in a baggie (leave these items in cache, thanks!)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sebz hc - ybbx qbja, frr gur snyyf, qba'g snyy. Svaq gur ebpx gung ybbxf yvxr n zbff pbirerq sebt arkg gur sbexrq urzybpx. Nobir ner gjb ovt obhyqref, orybj - gur mnt va gur mvt mnt mvt bs gur snyyf vf nvzvat ng lbh (gung'f gur vzcbegnag cneg bs guvf pyhr!). Va orgjrra gurfr ebpxf naq snyyf lbh svaq gur pnpur haqre gur sebt.