Big Bend Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The Wolf River was once a beautiful spring fed river that flowed its meandering course through an unbroken stretch of forest from its origin in northern Mississippi to the Mississippi River at Memphis. It was considered a navigable river by keel boat all the way from its mouth to LaGrange, Tennessee. As farmlands were cleared to its banks and industrial factories were built along its shores to carry away wastes and by products from manufacturing, the river became more and more polluted until it was declared “dead” by local scientists and environmentalists. The river was channelized from Memphis Harbor all the way to Grays Creek near Germantown during the 1960’s resulting in the complete loss of wetland habitat for the wildlife that used to frequent the area.
In 1985 the Wolf River Conservancy was formed to help conserve what was left of the river ecosystem and restore parts of the river to its former natural glory. The portion of the river that is followed by this recently opened trail maintains its loops and meanders as it wends its way west through an extensive bottomland hardwood forest. The concave side of these loops forms shallow deposits of sand and gravel with gently sloping banks that provide wildlife with much needed fresh water sources, food, and cover.
This cache is located on one of the large bends of the Wolf River. As I was placing the cache and waiting on the GPSr to get an average lat/lon reading I saw 4 deer come down to the river for a drink and a great blue heron slowly walking upstream in the shallow water looking for fish and frogs for dinner. When you arrive at the site just sit and watch for a while so you can experience the Wolf as it used to be. After leaving the gravel trail you will have about a 0.2 mile bushwhack to the edge of the river. The undergrowth is not dense at all and there are very few thorns if you choose your way carefully.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur evire jvyy unir gb trg cerggl uvtu gb ernpu vg guvf gvzr.
Treasures
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