It’s July in Newfoundland and what’s even more amazing is that it actually feels like July! The temperatures have been 20+ fairly steadily for the past two weeks, and it’s not gone unnoticed. With this heat, spending time in the woods geocaching can get quite warm to say the least, however this past weekend we found an excellent solution to this problem.

Last weekend, we headed out over the highway on our way to Central (Gander/Millertown) to see our parents and to escape the city life for a weekend. On the drive home, Kayla made it clear that outside of seeing our parents she had one specific goal in mind, swimming! This got me thinking about how refreshing it would be to spend some time geocaching followed by a plunge into a nice cool pond. The fact that this entered my head is strange, as I do not usually associate myself with the act of swimming, much more of a land lover! I digress!

The Thunderbrook Falls Cache (GC107AN) hidden by Codmother is an excellent spot for the geocaching/swimming combo to happen! The cache is located at none other than Thunderbrook Falls (also known as Leech Brook) approximately 10km west of Grand Falls-Windsor. It’s a popular spot among the locals, both for swimming and having a picnic, but when we stopped in around 3pm on Friday we had the area to ourselves. There are three swimming areas, depending on your level of adventure… The first area that you’ll encounter once you enter the trail is the most popular and the safest and provides the best family picnic atmosphere. Proceeding further up the trail will lead you to the First Falls, an area best reserved for older children and adults.

To find the geocache, you’ll to go further still all the way to Second Falls. This area has a beautiful 13m waterfall which drops into a lagoon. I’m told there is a hidden cave located behind the waterfall, but of course I never checked this out. This was my first time swimming here, and we stuck to the bottom “safer” swimming area.

How many of you are swimmers out there? Can you suggest another geocaching/swimming location that would go well together on a hot summer day?