This cache is located in the Baytown Nature Center, the entrance of which is located at N29 45.293 W95 02.142. There is an entrance fee of $4 for adults 13 and older. Children 5-12 and Seniors are $1. Gates open 30 minutes before sunrise and close 30 minutes after sunset. Sorry, but pets are not allowed in the nature center, even on leash.
The Baytown Nature center is located in the old Brownwood subdivision. Once an upscale neighborhood with great views of the surrounding bays, most of the area has sunk to sea level or below due to subsidence from groundwater pumping. After repeated floodings in the 1960's and 70's, the neighborhood was finished off by Hurricane Alicia in 1983. The remaining homeowners were bought out by FEMA and the City of Baytown and the area was eventually converted into a nature center and wetlands. A site on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, the Nature Center is home to over 300 species of resident and migratory birds. This site is primarily land-based but there there are some water-based areas around the marshes and along the bays. Some of the old neighborhood streets are still there, though many of them are closed to vehicular traffic. You can still see a few foundations and other evidence of the homes that were once here.
The Houston Area Pick 6 Challenge
Depending on how many caches you've already found in the Houston area, this challenge could be fairly easy or quite difficult. All you have to do is find 6 different types of geocaches in a single day in the Houston area (described below) and then you're eligible to find this cache and log it. Are you up to the challenge?
What do you have to do?
- Go find 6 different types of caches (regular, multi, event, etc) in any of the following Houston area counties all on the same day: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery, and/or Waller. They don't have to all be in the same county.
- Log your finds normally.
- Find this cache and then either: Bookmark this cache and make it public, then show the qualifying caches in your bookmark list; upload a GSAK screenshot showing your qualifying caches; copy and paste the output from the Project-GC checker (see link below); OR just list the qualifying caches you found in your log for this cache in this format:
Cache Name -- Waypoint ID -- Cache Type
Cache Name -- Waypoint ID -- Cache Type
Cache Name -- Waypoint ID -- Cache Type
........................
Also, list somewhere in your log the date you found all the caches -- it doesn't have to be the same day you found this cache.
- This challenge cache CANNOT count as one of the finds. If you need a mystery/puzzle cache, there is one in the park.
- Logs to this cache without the supporting documentation will be subject to intense scrutiny and possible investigation by Homeland Security. If all else fails, the log may be deleted.
You may check to see if you already qualify here:
Other info:
- The cache IS at the listed coordinates. Feel free to sign the log if you are in the area, but don't log the cache as found until you have fulfilled the requirements.
- Past finds are eligible!!! To make it a little easier on those veteran cachers who have already done most of the caches in the area, if there happens to be a day somewhere in the past where you found caches that meet the criteria, feel free to come claim your find!
- If you're new to caching this is easy. You can get six types of caches in this park alone! You have all kinds of options. If you've been at this a while, then you may be out of webcams and virtuals, and you know there isn't an APE cache available here and an Mega Event isn't likely. So what do you do? How about a Traditional, a Multi, a Puzzle, a Wherigo, an Event, and a Letterbox Hybrid? Yeah, you may have to get some events going to make this happen -- or get a friend to place a cache type you need nearby. Naturally, there are other options.
- Sorry, but only loggable geocaches and/or events count. No benchmarks, waymarks, or (for those using past finds) locationless caches.
- You don't have to find THIS cache on the same day you did the six qualifying caches. You just need to find them prior to logging this one.
- If you're going in a group, the park this cache is located in makes a great place to meet up.
- If you're a slow cacher there is one day a year that has 25 hours if you really need that extra hour.
**** Special thanks goes out to Electric Water Boy for giving me the idea and allowing me to blatantly plagairize his cache page (GC1V0HW)! ****
Congratulations to MTCachers and Manofsteel73 for being FTF's!