On Sunday, John, Katherine, Rowan and I went to Harbour Grace – Carbonear – Freshwater for a geocaching adventure. There were two events on (one in the morning and the other at suppertime), with 50 squeaky new caches released. We found 31 of them (which is a record for us in one day) and none were of the powertrail* sort. Most were interesting, some were challenging and all were fun.

The most spectacular one was called The Fairy Ring (archived). We were prepared for the usual little clearing in the forest. We were not prepared for absolute magnificence of the sort that drops your jaw and makes you realize how small, young and insignificant you are. We found a piece of Rivendell in Harbour Grace, a ring of dancing beech trees….The approach was quaint and attractive.  An old house in a field with a very old hipped-roof cottage nearby attached to a barn with a stone foundation that looked easily a hundred years of age. We wandered in…..And in…… and saw the dancers caught in mid-bow:

These beech trees were ancient in a way that living things seldom are on this island. Three of us encircled one tree with our arm-spans. That tree was 14.5 feet in circumference. Unheard of in these parts. It must have been easily three hundred years old.

They had twisted and twirled over the years:

The ring itself appears to be the suckers of one tree, possibly the even more ancient one which we encircled. Whatever the case, it was awe-inspiring.

This is why we geocache….

*powertrail – a series of geocaches placed in very close proximity (every 185m or so) allowing the cacher to find a large number in a short time. The bad powertrails have easily-found containers that are all the same along a highway or in some equally dismal area. The good ones have varied containers and take you somewhere interesting or beautiful.