Impound Basin 24 - A Kick in the Grass Mystery Cache
Impound Basin 24 - A Kick in the Grass
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
There is nothing at the posted coordinates. It is just a
spot next to the parking lot. .
The puzzle will take you on a tour of Bob Case park and involve a
little bit of walking through some tall grass and thorny things,
where I picked up a few ticks, so be sure to use bug
repellent and check yourself after. I have not encountered poison
ivy, but it would not surprise me if some was there.
You are standing in the reclaimed remains of Impounding Basin No.
24. For a hundred years, barges carried coal from upstate to
Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River and the Schuylkill Canal,
which was a series of locks and dams along this stretch of the
river. Although you cannot see it from here, the river is about 500
meters north of here (no, you cannot walk to it, there is a
railroad in the way). By the 1950s the river bed was clogged with
silt and dust washed out from the coal mining operations upstream
and from the barges. The river was polluted and not navigable. The
Army Corp of Engineers began dredging the river and built a series
of impounding basins to hold and drain the recovered muck off from
the bottom of the river. Growing up in this area, we referred to
these sites as Silt Basins. They were a favorite destination for
anyone with a mini-bike or a Jeep.
In the last decade, many of these basins have been mined. The coal
dust sold to charcoal companies. The construction companies working
on the expansion of the Turnpike and Expressway needed a place to
dump tons of dirt and they worked out a deal with the township to
dump the excavated dirt into these empty basins, which at this
point were just big ugly holes. In return for a free place to dump
the dirt, the excavating companies filled the basins, then build
sports fields and playgrounds on them. This is the most recent park
created this way. It provides practice fields for the local youth
soccer and lacrosse clubs. Another larger park, Heuser Park, is
located about a half mile west of here. That one has fields for
football, baseball, softball, t-ball, soccer and lacrosse. It also
has a children's; playground and a Geocache (GC1HAW9). A walking
trail connects the two parks.
To find this cache, walk in a northerly direction from the parking
area along the fence line. You will come to a paved path (which
eventually winds through a housing development to Heuser park). The
path is clearly visible on Google maps photos. There is a fence on
both sides of the paved path as it descends to the bottom of the
old basin. As you go down the path, count and make note of the
number of fence posts on the left side (facing downhill) and on the
right side.
There are more than 10, but less than 50 on each side.
Left side (L) = ____ L/1000 = A
Right side (R) = ____ R/1000 = B
You will use these numbers to calculate the final. Walking along
this path, you can get a feel for how deep this basis once was. The
western boundary of the basin would have been around the road where
you drove in. The berms marking the southern and eastern edges are
still clearly visible in the treeline surrounding the soccer
fields.
Stealth will be required, especially if there is a game or
practice underway on the field as you will be visible to players
and spectators. We don't want to freak them out or expose the cache
to muggles.
The final location can be found by using the reference coordinates
and the numbers calculated above.
This calculation will give the final
40N 6.795 + 2B
75W 23.044 - 3A
The cache is a regular container with GEOCACHE written on the side,
located in just inside the tree line. A little bushwacking will be
required for the last 25 feet or so. There is no need to climb over
any berms.
I found that my GPSR gets a bit fuzzy when under tree cover, but it
always got me within a few feet of the final.
Initially the cache contains a logbook, pencils, a couple water
pistols, a Phillies dogtag/bottle opener, some pencil top toys and
a big snake to guard it all. There is also a Wawa hoagie for the
first to find.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gurer ner zber srapr cbfgf ba gur yrsg fvqr bs gur cngu guna ba gur evtug fvqr.
Gur pnpur vf oruvaq n fznyy gerr. Gel gb xrrc vg uvqqra.