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Poison Ivy Alert! Thorns
Restricted hours Long pants suggested Hunting in area - use caution No restrooms available More than Half a Mile from Trailhead Bring a Flashlight Off-trail Hiking Required Mud! Compass Suggested / Required |
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Looking for a quick one during lunch break? Keep looking. Building up your find numbers? Move along. Want a cache that is both physically and mentally challenging? One that if you start early enough and make all the right decisions on, you just MIGHT finish it in a day? One that you will be part of a select few that will even TRY a particular cache? Here ya go! From the time you start till the time you finish, you will have driven several miles and walked several miles. At each stage you will find (hopefully, if nobody steals it) a brown buffalo until you reach the final stage where a white buffalo awaits you. I can't say how many brown buffaloes you'll encounter, but certainly they are more common than their white counterpart.
THE BASICS:
1) At each step you will find a container containing either a brown buffalo or a white buffalo. If it's brown, there will also be individually packaged puzzle sheets that lead you to the next stage. I packaged them individually both to make it easier to grab one and to help pad the buffalo. If you find a white buffalo, uh, you finished. Please feel free to take one of the souvenir white buffalo figurines in addition to any swaps you make while supplies last. Please do not take any of the brown ones.
2) Most items in the final container are buffalo related - buffalo figurines, buffalo nickels, Buffalo Bills Football Cards, etc. If you can come up with a Buffalo type swap that would be great but not necessary. Also first finder will have the opportunity to grab a VHS copy of the movie that inspired this cache. I've already watched it. Really, you can have it. Please.
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED:
1) THIS IS NOT A WALK IN THE PARK! The stages are located in the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge and adjacent areas. The NWR is a swampy place with an abundance of many creatures. Some bite. Team geocaching is strongly encouraged on this one, both for safety reasons and multiple brains to work on the puzzles.
2) Recommended equipment includes : Mosquito repellent, LOTS of water, hiking boots/shoes, mosquito repellent, combination hiking/poking/critter-whopping stick, mosquito repellent, spare batteries, pencil or pen (you'll need it) and calculator, mosquito repellent, more water, flashlight (even in daytime), mosquito repellent. You can carry a cell phone if you like, but unless you have your own phone tower, it ain't gonna be much use most of the time.
3) Please stop at the first Hunter Station you pass and pick up a Visitor Use Permit.
4) Hunting is allowed in some of the areas you will be covering. Please exercise caution, courtesy, and common sense during hunting seasons. At the same time, some areas around the Refuge are restricted (as some first seekers found out the hard way!) If you find yourself at a prohibited area, you've either got the wrong answer or the wrong approach.
5) Satellite reception will definitely be a factor at some of the stages. DO NOT EXPECT your GPS to say the cache is right on the money. In fact, at one stage my GPS was fluctuating from 0 to 158 feet while standing at the cache. It even lost signal a couple of times while standing there. That said, I would appreciate it greatly if the first few finders would make note of how far off and in what direction their GPS reads at the different stages, so I can gradually adjust to more precision. I made numerous averages at each stage but these numbers varied significantly. Fortunately all containers are black ammo boxes (no micros!) hidden in typical ammo box hiding places - nothing overly sneaky. The one that gave me fits is in clear view.
6) All stages are a short distance off a road or trail. Some trails are more established than others though.
7) Please keep me posted on your progress if you don't finish in one trip or get stuck on a phase. This will help me out a lot on maintenance. If you don't want to give away how quickly you're closing in on your prey, just email me.
8) If you'd like, I will be happy to accompany anyone on this hunt if I'm available.
9) The adventure will take you through varied habitats and terrains of the area. Even wrong answers on the puzzles (most are multiple choice) will take you to some impressive scenery.
10) Trails on the Refuge are strictly daytime use only.
11) If you think Dickerson Arm Rd. (Green Timber Res. #4) is a logical approach to a stage, look at the puzzle again. That road has been made a no-no.