814. Nashua/Manchester, Hillsborough County (NH01)

Oh, New Hampshire! 

The courthouse in Nashua was nothing special, but after the abominations of Connecticut, I was happy to lay eyes upon it. Since Hillsborough County is another one of those counties with two county seats, it’s more than possible that the really cool or historic courthouse is in Manchester, which I didn’t make it to. I’ll have to document that when I return to the state. I knew starting out that I would be coming back because (a) we weren’t even thinking about doing the entire state on this journey, and (b) New Hampshire’s county challenge is one of the rougher ones I’ve seen, tougher even than New Jersey’s. New Hampshire only has ten counties, but to qualify for the county challenge, you have to find a Traditional, a Multi, and a Mystery in each county. Thirty caches? Ain’t nobody got time for that! Not while on the road, that is. If I were entirely alone, maybe I might be able to get it all done in a couple of days, but that’s a difficult thing to do when there are so many more counties I could pick up in that time. And yes, I often spend time considering the time-to-county ratio while traveling. This day, though, my first cache for the county was already decided.

Every day, the car occupants cycled, so this morning, I was back in my starting position, rolling with Razorbackgirl and Godot. Early on a Saturday morning, we parked behind a high school near a path that followed what was once a mining transport canal. Walkers and the school track team passed us as we began our walk. We walked beside the old canal as the colorful leaves fell in the crisp morning air. It was a beautiful morning for a hike, one that whispered “New Hampshire” into my ear. Because of the nature of our quarry, I expected it to be one of those old T1.5 caches that, in reality, requires climbing gear or some crap, but after a short walk and some lovely foliage, we turned off the trail and found our cache in a broken tree.

Ladies and gentlemen (or however you identify—I don’t mean to be gender assumptive), I give you NH #1 – Mines Follies, the oldest cache in New Hampshire! 

Though it has a long and storied tradition among geocachers, I am normally against having signs at caches, whether heralding my own accomplishments or to designate special caches.  However, the cache owner had offered a plethora of preprinted sign options in the can, so my travel companions happily mugged for the camera and insisted I make it an “ussie.”  Being susceptible to peer pressure, I acquiesced.  More importantly, another old cache had bitten the proverbial dust!  We returned it to its resting place and went back to the car.  We gassed up and then got on the road heading west.  Another important cache awaited us near the scenic town of…