Feeling FrogQueen? Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Are you feeling froggy? This cache will fix you right up. The cache is located on the southwestern side of Pactola Lake off of Edelweiss Mt. road. There is a small parking area at the end of a closed road. Go around the the gate and follow the road till it runs out. (about a half mile) This is where I turned and started going up hill towards the northeast. It is a fairly steep hill and may be a bit easier if one goes more towards the north to the ridgeline and then follows the ridgeline towards the cache area. Except if you did that you would miss the huge patch of wild rasberries that I found as I was headed up the hill. There is also a lot of dead and down trees in this area which makes navagation a bit more challenging.Going a little further north would also avoid most of this. Once I got to the top I looked around hoping to get a glimpse of the lake and then I noticed even higher ground to the north, so off I went. When I got there, still no sign of the lake but I could catch glimpses of the fire watch tower. I also caught a glimpse of even higher ground :). Watch out for the big hole on the ridge line, looks like someone did a bit of mining there at one time, tho I don't know why anyone would want to go all the way up there to look for gold. (I got a mental picture of back in the day and some "back east" tinhorn buying a 10 cent treasure map from some traveling gypsies, "guaranteed to find gold!!" hehehe.) Anyway, once you get to the top of the world you will notice a large and very old and twisted, broken off tree trunk that looks like it may have been struck by lightening at one time, who knows, maybe that is what scared the miners off, the cache is located a handfull of paces to the southwest of that and that is the only clues I shall give on this one. Please use some caution, there are a lot of loose rocks and the hill is quite steep at the top. I am giving this cache a 3.5 for terrain simply because of the long steep climb. The elevation at the top is about 5738 ft and the total ascent from the parking spot to the top is about 730 ft. in about 3/4 of a mile as the crow flies. The accuracy of the GPS was 19 ft. on the last of several readings of the location. I was looking for Empress gulch as a location for the FrogQueens cache, but I noticed as I was driving back out that I had passed it up on my way in. (oh well might be a good spot for another cache at a later date) Daughter FrogQueen won this cache at the Black Hills geocaching club, Geobash campout a month or so ago and I had a red jeep TB that needed to go someplace, so there it is. If you have not heard of the club, check out: black_hills_geocaching, in Yahoo! groups. Lots of fun, no membership fees! Besides the rasberries, which I feasted on, I did managed to see a couple hen turkeys with a good sized flock of young uns' between them and the tail-end of a whitetail deer going over the hill, the trouble being, it is so dry, everything is so dry and crunchy it is hard to walk quietly and all the critters can hear you coming for a mile away. Which brings up the final and most important subject of todays lesson: PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH MATCHES AND/OR CIGARRETTES!! The hills are getting extremely dry and we don't want to lose any more to fire. A good thing here being that most geocachers are non-smokers has been my observance. So " be careful out there!". Good luck and have fun. Lots of good views from the top, just not of the lake like I had hoped for.
The original contents of the cache:
A log book and a couple pencils
3 tickets for free pony rides at Old MacDonalds Farm
3D butterfly sticker
Friends of the NRA pencil
Bob the Builder
Inlaws compass (works real good, just like that 10 cent treasure map)
a package of AA batteries
2006 and 2007 South Dakota mile hat pins
The Red Jeep TB
A Mae West coin purse (ask and older person if you don't know what this is)
Flower keychain
2 Buggy Bath tokens (there usedtawas a Buggy Bath in Gillette WY, don't know if it is still there or not)
Red race car
Poker chip keychain
Green springy keychain thingy
Pepsi golf ball
And of course FROGS! (couldn't be a FrogQueen cache without frogs!)
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)