The Elves Join the Badger Patrol Traditional Geocache
The Elves Join the Badger Patrol
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache introduces the finder to yet another trail in Sewickley Heights Park. It's designed to complement the excellent Harper's Halfpipe cache, without crowding it. The cache is filled with toys to reward adventurous young geocachers, and is intended to be an easy find just a couple hundred feet off trail at the top of a beautiful valley.
The cache is located near a trail junction, so there's several ways to reach it. We followed the Towhee Trail (which continues on to Harper's Halfpipe) followed by the Spruce Run Trail. Don't forget, the park closes at 8:00 (summer) and 5:00 (winter).
This is the fourth entry in the "Badger Patrol" cache series, placed as a tribute to our geocaching friend, SherwoodForest, who passed away on Halloween Weekend 2005. Oldtime Pittsburgh geocachers will remember that he was the only out-of-town person to attend the Elves' CITO Event in Spring 2003. Eric was one of the early ambassadors who traveled around to different areas. We were friends from that time forward.
In honor of this fine Ohio geocacher, the cache contains an unactivated Ohio Geocoin as an FTF prize as well as a travel bug honoring Eric's work on the Midwest GeoBash which should be moved by a later finder. Eric gave me my first Ohio Geocoin in a trade, and it is one of my most prized geocaching items. This is a different coin!
If you did not know Eric, please learn a bit more about him by reading the logs from November 4th on A Walk Down Millionaire's Row cache, including my eulogy posted in my notes there. Also, please read the following text that is included on all Badger Patrol caches. Thanks for thinking of Eric as you enjoy the hike to this cache. He would have liked this park very much!
Eric "SherwoodForest" was a very special Geocacher. A Self-Proclaimed Ambassador, he not only represented the Northeast Ohio Geocachers at events in other areas, he was an advocate for the entire sport to park districts, lawmakers, and even people on the street.
You might think that with an attitude like this, that Eric might have been arrogant or boastful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Eric had a mild demeanor that earned him the common description "Gentle Giant". Eric won friends by listening. He encouraged and welcomed the people who were least convinced of their sanity in enjoying such an underground sport. He encouraged people on to their personal bests and challenged all of us to expect more from ourselves.
Eric is partly responsible for many big initiatives in Ohio. He was instrumental in the formation of GeocacheOhio (GO) and the Midwest GeoBash. He helped promote the All-Ohio Women's Event and aided in the flight of the men-folk with the matching "Ohio Men's Escape Weekend".
Eric is truly missed, but in so many ways his influence is all around us. It's in the people, the caches and the culture of Geocaching. To represent this, we have chosen to dedicate a series of caches that we hope will represent the impact that our friend, SherwoodForest had on our sport and our lives.
As Eric would say, "Cache well, and see you 'round the bend."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tbbq guvatf unccra va gur raq.