Treasure Hunters' Spring - Kincskereső-forrás Traditional Geocache
Treasure Hunters' Spring - Kincskereső-forrás
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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in our disclaimer.
A geoláda a geocaching.hu oldalon GCKNCS név alatt szerepel. Ne feledkezz el az ott szükséges jelszóról! This cache is also available on geocaching.hu as GCKNCS.
Springs
Springs are useful not only beacause of the cup of cold water they offer to the hiker. With their continuous gurgle they are part of the forest as much as the songs of birds or rustling of leaves. The vicinity of even the smallest spring is greener, unique mosses and rare plants grow. The minerals leached from the rock sometimes get deposited around the spring creating special formations. The persistent strength that allows creeks, brooks, rivers to carve deep valleys in hard rock originates from springs also.
Protect Our Waters!
Every spring is protected in Hungary! Please, help to keep the water clean and the spring in good condition! When visiting a spring, please remove leaves, twigs, mud from the run-off area! Clean the sign by wiping, gently scraping off the mud, moss, and lichen! Even with a few minutes of work you help a great deal to keep the spring clean - and that is to the interest of all hikers and forest workers. (Lime tufa formations around a spring are also protected, please, do not remove those!)
The Springs of the Mecsek
Limestone mountains provide favorable conditions for springs to appear on the surface. The Mecsek is especially generous to us: more than 1 200 springs are known. 360 of them are developed, but actually only 210 is in good condition - which is a very high number, but it shows that there is still a lot to do.
Masters of the Springs
Hiking, as a recreational activity became popular at the turn of the 19th-20th century. Creating spring outflow pools in an organized and professional manner was started by the Mecsek Association in the 1890s.
Later Sándor Vitéz Csokonay (1898-1983), a physical education instructor, is considered to be the father of this kind of work, he alone built about 70 springs for his own pleasure and for the benefit of the public.
Nearly every time he hiked, he carried some cement, a trowel, and other tools necessary, so he could start working right away when he stumbled upon a nice spring. He also learned to carve the signs by marble. He named the springs, generally of something typical to the area. He wanted the forest to be a place of peace, quiet, eternal renewal for everyone visiting it, as this is what it meant to him. He roamed the forest for 50 years, marked trails, built springs, participated in building huts for tourist.
After his death the springs were not maintained, hardly any new ones were built.
The Mecsek Association was recreated in 1993. Some members decided to clean and renew the existing springs and build new ones where necessary. The leaders of this work have been József Baumann and his wife. Today, after 20 years of work more than 100 springs became operational by renovation or new construction. Their fellows, János Tasnádi and Endre Biki have been working mainly in the Kelet-Mecsekben and the Baranyai-dombság.
Creating a spring outflow pool is not an easy job. It needs years of experience and careful planning, the observation of the minimal and maximum water output and the characteristics of the terrain. Also, a building permit is required that has to be approved by three different authorities. It is not advisable to go ahead with the work without a permit, it can lead to a substantial fine!
The Birth of the Treasure Hunter Spring
It was the Kis-Molnár family who came up with the idea that we should build a spring for our own pleasure, for the benefit of the public, and for the promotion of geocaching. Kakukkos and Hajszál, and Strombus got enthusiastic immediately. Kis-Molnár turned to Mr. Baumann at the Mecsek Association for guidance. Mr. Baumann was very pleased with our initiative and became our technical leader. He could also recommend us a suitable spring: az old, unnamed, partly developed spring that has a steady 1.5 l/minute water output all year long and is only 100 meters away, and easily accessible from a main trail, the South-Transdanubian Blue Stripe. So, soon we had a leader who new what we wanted, another who knew how to accomplish it, and a spring that needed our attention. All we needed now was some more geocachers who were willing to participate in the work and finance the project. And the South-Transdanubian geocachers joined forces! While with the help of Mr. Baumann, the Mecsek Association acquired the permits, we drew plans of the springhouse, and the sign and agreed on the name of our "baby". We waited impatiently, eager to start working. Five months have passed by the time the permits have finally arrived!
On our first day of work we cleared the area, removed fallen branches, drained stagnant water, dug out a trench from the mouth of the old spring to the future wall of the new spring, collected rocks needed for the construction. During the next two workdays we dug out the semicircular shape of the future wall, cleaned the settling pool, laid the water pipe, painted trail signs leading to the spring. Then came the best part: building the wall, creating the spout, affixing the sign with the name of the spring, making benches, landscaping.
Our work has not ended here! We are responsible for the Treasure Hunter Spring. This means that someone has to visit it every three months, check its condition, clean off fallen leaves and other debris, document the before and after condition by photos. Please, help us by taking before and after pictures and sending them to Strombus.
Acknowledgement
This project could not have been accomplished without the contribution of the following individuals:
Donated money and labor:
Kis-Molnár (Endre Kis, Anna Molnár), Pécs
Strombus (Boglárka Lázár), Pécs
Kakukkos és Hajszál (Csaba Murgács, Katalin Néczin), Pécs
H. Gábor and family (Gábor Horváth, Eszter Gám, Barnabás Horváth), Pécs
Péter60 (dr. Péter Keller), Szekszárd
Icewolf (Attila Matkovits), Pécs
Jevica and Gyuszi (Éva Csetényi and Gyula Balassa), Kisharsány
Donated money:
bazsogeleba, Pécs
bluemonday, Pécs
Bojta (Ferk Bojta), Pécs
Csöpke és Cicon (dr. Éva Gál Éva és Béla Bódi), Pécs
dr. Mária Csüllög, Palic, Serbia
Hulope (Fülöp Laki), Feked
kekenj (József Keresztes Nagy), Pécs
dr. Tibor Kis, Palic, Serbia
Kukucska (Ádám Simon), Pécs
dr. Gyula Levente Lázár, Pécs
Lepke, Pécs
Menytyinty, Csanu (Menyhért Laki and Csanád Laki), Feked
Nargoth (János Zsohár), Kaposvár
Párduc50 (Ferenc Geisz), Pécs
András Piczehelyi, Pécs
RoriZo (Zoltán Rőhringer), Pécs
Rosie 77 (Rózsa Bengyák), Kaposvár
rotty (János Péter Szász), Pécs
SylverRat és Bogee (Balázs Pethő és Boglárka Erdős), Pécs
szamosszamoca (Ágnes Szamosköziné), Pécs
Contributed their labor:
József Baumann, Pécs
Fairy (Ferenc Kövecs), Pécs
Barnabás Kriston, Pécs
István Jónás, Pécs.
We also appreciate the assistance provided by the Mecsek Association and the Mecsek Forest Company.
The cost of the project including the required materials, the permits, some transportation cost, and Mr. Baunmann's fee was 100 000 Ft. We invested about 200 hours of our labor. (I thought that this information may be useful for other geocacher communities who decide to create a project like this.)
We hope that the spring and the geocache will give you as much pleasure as it gave us to create them. Have a nice time here!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n qenjre.