Grab My Stick | Let's Go Cruisin' Mystery Cache
Grab My Stick | Let's Go Cruisin'
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A long time ago, my good friend QWERTY and I were studying the
effects of the industrial revolution on the Black Forests of
Germany. Part of that class included a lesson on
Cruisin.
No, not the kind where you roll down your window and crank the
Beastie Boys. The
Cruisin
I'm talking about is the kind that involves estimating merchantable
board feet from standing trees. To that ends we were asked to
create a "cruising stick" of our own. As is turns out, Bill and I
were the only 2 students to take the task seriously and in the end
we came in first and second place for favorite stick. When I
recently rediscovered it, I thought it would be nice to get this
nostalgic stick back in action as it's just been collecting dust.
Here's your chance to learn how to cruise.
The
"Biltmore
stick" or cruiser stick is an ingenious device used in cruising
and measuring trees and logs and to estimate lumber. It was
developed around the turn of the century based on a principle of
similar triangles. It is graduated for direct readings of tree
diameters and heights. The stick allows you to measure the diameter
at a point 4.5 feet above stump height and also the merchantable
height in terms of 8- or 16-foot logs from a distance of one chain
(66 feet). With these two measurements, the board foot volume of
the tree may be determined. The actual volume table is printed on
the stick, but is not printed on my version. For
Cruisin
the width increments begin at 6" and run through 30" with added
points for 32, 34 and 36". Tree height corresponds to 8'
sections.
Stand squarely in front of the tree and hold
Cruisin
with it's face flat against tree and in a horizontal position at
right angles to your line of sight. The stick must be held against
the tree at diameter breast height (a spot 4.5 feet above the stump
height is referred to as"dbh") at a predetermined distance (25")
from the observer's eye. Read the diameter starting at the first
tic mark at 6" Tics are placed in increments of 2 inches. Because
of the difficulty maintaining exact distance and keeping the stick
in the absolute vertical or horizontal, it must be regarded as a
fairly crude measuring device. The cruising stick is handy for
quick estimates but is not generally used by foresters for
generating precise cruise data.
Cruisin
is perhaps less accurate than a commercially available stick but
will prove accurate enough to make the correct estimates for this
puzzle.
Because the referenced template only estimates to the nearest 16'
foot log, you will only need to estimate full 16-foot log sections
with a small end diameter of 10" or larger. Estimating gets a
little loose when you begin working around crooks of trees or main
branching, but for the purpose of this exercise, lets assume
there's a solid trunk to the point where the main trunk gets
smaller that 10' in diameter. So, for example, if you are
estimating logs and see a crotch at say 24' up the tree, just
assume that log is good until you hit the 32' or "2-16 foot logs"
mark. At that point, see if you can get another full 16' log with a
minimum diameter of 10" on the narrow end.
Park in the North most lot. At this
waypoint, you will see a row of trees by a filed stone wall. You
will be cruising 2 of the tallest trees in this row. Add the
estimated board feet of the eastern most tree, the last in this
line which I think is a Chestnut, to N44°09.000. Add the estimated
board feet of the largest in this line, a Pin Oak, to W088°16.000
to get your final coordinates.
UPDATE 5.15.09: Updated the clue
slightly. Also, having witnessed the first attempt on the
calculation I am also adding the following. 1. Do your best
to attain 25" from your eyes to the tree and do not move your head,
just your eyes when sighting the edges of the tree bark. If you
know you have short arms, stretch. 2. The diameter
measurements for both trees will end in the same
digit.
UPDATE 5.18.09: It was discovered that
the numbers for a 24" diameter tree are incorrect on the linked
Biltmore template. Since that number is not needed, you can simply
ignore that misprint of a smaller diameter column
repeat.
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The Geocache Notification Form has been
submitted to the High Cliff State Park Geocache Liaison, Jay
Vosters, of the Wisconsin DNR.
Additional Hints
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