That Geocache is Missing

We went to find the Blue Light Bug Hotel geocache today, and that cache is definitely missing. I thought it might be. There's been three DNFs posted. Muggles? Vandals? Bandits? No, it appears that Mother Nature, a city maintenance crew, and fate came together as the perfect storm in the loss of this cache.

The site is located in a busy section of Minnetonka, Minnesota, where a popular hiking/biking trail runs just behind a Kmart. Protected from the prying eyes of muggles, the cache was well hidden in the cavity of an old cottonwood tree perched on the bank of a stream. The cache, hidden almost four years ago, was a popular spot for exchanging travel bugs - sometime six or seven at a time.

It appears that a huge section of the cottonwood tree broke off and fell across the stream. City maintenance crews responded by removing parts of the tree, and it looks like they did quite a bit of buckthorn removal while they were there. The cache is gone - along with eight trackables.

Click on the photos to enlarge.