GC12FV7 The Cottonwood
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: stanmilo @ | Hide Date: 27/04/2007 | Status: Archived
Country: Canada | State: Manitoba
Coordinates: N49° 57.605 W97° 14.532 | Last updated: 10/06/2026 | Fav points: 0
           

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This is an easy find.
Camoed tupperware container 7" x 5" x 1".
This is my first cache.
Close to the road. This is a dog park so there will be dogs around.

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Contains:
Log book
Pencil
FTF certificate
FTF pin
Rubber Bracelet
Cacher glass cleaner
Cacher button
Canadian tire money

More than 100 years ago this park was home to the village of Mount Royal and a stone crushing operation which was the first limestone quarry of Winnipeg. At its height over 160 families lived here and were employed by the quarry. The village was fully functional with two blacksmiths, a pool hall, and a bootlegger. In 1905 it became too expensive to mine the area and the operation was closed. Most of the equpment was then moved to the quarry in Stoney Mountain. The large and majestic Cottonwood is the last remaining planted tree of the lost village of Mount Royal. According to legend this tree has a branch that sticks out from the rest, where three marks can be located, which is believed to have been left behind by a rope used in hanging criminals.

16/07/2008 By Kabutroid
After a successful find at the nearby 'Red Rover' cache, I decided to pick one more up before heading over to Red River College to get my wife.

Pulling up to the area, I noticed a fair number of cars parked nearby. And then I saw why. Well... several reasons, really. On one hand, several people were walking their dog. Ok, fine, whatever. And THEN I saw the gorgeous sight of the stream (or pond? Not sure... I saw water, anyway) lined with rocks, and just the awesome scenery in general. After parking, I stood outside the car for a bit and just... admired.

The sights... the smells... the sounds... it was all very camping-y. At the moment, there were no dogs or people in sight, and I couldn't hear anything other than the wind rustling through the trees and over the open grasses. Truly a mezmerizing moment. Several minutes of enjoying that scene, I started off towards the coordinates. Circling around several outcroppings of trees, I found a picnic bench and fire pit nearby. Mental note... awesome place for a picnic. Do they let people camp here in tents overnight at all? Actually is it SAFE to camp there overnight? I'm completely, 100% unfamiliar with the area in general, and don't know if it's a 'good' place to be after dark and whatnot.

But getting away from that... I absorbed every second of the atmosphere in the area. A nice, slow sauntering over towards the coordinates while enjoying everything around me. When I got about 40 feet from the cache, I saw a location and thought to myself 'that pretty much HAS to be the spot'. Several seconds later... I turned out correct. Although the camouflage is starting to peel off of the container a bit. lacking in any suitable tape at the moment, someone may want to take some camouflage hockey tape to that sometime just to secure it better.

A quick poke around in the cache (dang... no TB's. I've been wanting to pick up one or two for a while now), and I dropped in ye olde chainmail ball. Closing it back up, I sauntered around a bit more enjoying the... well... EVERYTHING .

Slowly meandering back towards the car, I came across the apparently-somewhat-famous cottonwood tree. I didn't actually know it was a cottonwood at the time, nor did I even know that's what the cache was named. On my GPS, it only has X amount of room, so the name of the cache on it is cut down to 7 characters I think... so all I saw was "TheCott" for the name (I kill the spaces to save room). I figured it had to do with a cottage or something .

But yeah... the cottonwood caught my attention. Very majestic, and definitely stands out from everything nearby. I admired it for a few seconds before moving onwards. Another few minutes standing by the car admiring the area, and off I went. Of course, I couldn't just drive out of there like... instantly. I idled away nice and slowly, absorbing more of the scenery of the rock-lined water pond/stream as I left. In retrospect, I REALLY should have pulled out my camera... but I was so awed by the beauty of the area that all other thoughts simply didn't enter my mind. A more serene cache in (or at least extremely close to being 'in') the city I have not yet seen. of the 'Winnipeg and immediate area', this has gotta be by FAR the most relaxing .

Thanks again for the truly amazing scenery. Had this cache not been here, I would have missed out on something truly amazing. Anyone reading this log and thinking about going after this cache... seriously, GO AFTER THIS CACHE! Much of it I'm sure had to do with the weather (which was beautiful as well, mind out), but still... there's going to be more days like that this summer. Plan to visit this cache on a nice day. Bring a picnic!

So yes... thanks again for this cache location. I STILL can't get over it .

Took: In a lot of the scenery
Left: Logbook entry, chainmail ball, and all my stress