Jim Kuhl & I are teachers who are creating student activities to integrate GPS & geocaching with lessons in earth science, social studies, math, and language arts. As amateur radio operators, we see GPS as a continuation of our technology integration explorations with AM-FM, ham, and shortwave radios: a GPS "receiver" is a radio!
We dedicate this cache to the memory of the poet Robert Service who wrote "Songs of a Sourdough", a collection of poems about the hard life of goldminers in the Yukon. In his verse you'll meet such memorable characters as Dan McGrew, Sam McGee, and Clancy of the Mounted Police.
Service could be called the Poet Laureate of geocaching. In "The Spell of the Yukon", he gives us what Jim and I think may be true spirit of the sport:
"I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy - I caught it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it -
Came out with a fortune last fall, -
Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn't all.
There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;
It's luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting,
So much as just finding the gold.
It's the great, big, broad land way up yonder,
It's the forests where silence has lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace."
Driving Directions:
Take Route 81 to Parish, then east on Rt. 69. Go a mile past West Amboy. Turn south on Tanner Road, and go 1.8 miles to the intersection at Starks Road. Unless you're in a 4WD vehicle, park here. That's Bill Ehling's advice in my well-worn copy of the book: 50 Hikes in Central New York. I credit Bill for getting me to "The Klondike" awhile back, with my another hiking pal & all-around good neighbor, Rob Feldman.
Warning! Wear pants, long sleeves, boots, a hat, and maybe a gallon of DEET. Along the trail, Jim looked up from his Garmin 48 long enough to observe: "Anton, you've got about 30 deerflies chasing you." Thanks Jim, I really needed that.
This cache is NOT on a trail, but the woods here are open enough that I can't fairly call it bushwhacking either - we didn't whack a thing. Just be aware that most of this walk isn't on a formal trail. Afterall, this is "The Klondike", not a walk in the park! Look for an ammo box placed inside a large, dead branch on a live tree. See the photos if you want more help, and bring a magnetic compass.
While you're in the Forest, take time to visit Chase Pond and North Pond. Ehling's book describes one possible route.
On the way there you could have breakfast at the diner by the Parish exit off Rt. 81. On the way home, you can stop again for ice cream. Good luck, lads!
73 de N2RUD & N2STK