Pink School House
** Please
read all of description before trying this
one.**
The hard part!! This
cache is located in a very rural and isolated location. Narrow one
lane roads, with hilly terrain. Visibility over the crest of many
hills is quite limited, stay on your side of the road. Maintenance,
while not considered minimal, is quite limited in this remote
Nebraska setting. Climate can change very quickly and road
conditions are known to change abruptly. Houses are 6-8 miles
apart, so it would be considered remote in the best of terms. A
long walk if you would have trouble. A pickup or SUV would be a
good choice for this trip.
Directions to the
cache are, from Watson's Ranch (check these coords at this cache,
N 42° 13.150 W 103°
39.526, this cache page
'Watson Ranch' ) From the above coords or cache
location, migrate on North approx. 3 miles. Instead of following
the road East on Hiway 71, take the gravel road to your left,
should be 'Whiterock Road'. Approx. 3.5 miles on north you will
come to the Pink School House Road turning to the east, (to the
right). Continue 9.5 mile east and north on Pink School House Rd.
to cache sight. You cannot get off this road except to turn into
one of a few ranches along the way. These directions are from
Google Maps and are worth a look,
Google Directions. Google maps put this 33 miles north of
Scottsbluff, but allows 1hr 20min for the trip. Kinda tells you
something. Directions from Crawford are also available at the above
link.
Now for some history.
I don't have much to offer other that I have driven past this
country school for upwards to 40 yrs. Whoever had the fortitude to
paint it pink in their own way has made it an icon for this area.
It has even garnered it's own road name. The cache itself is one of
those blasted micros on a bridge reflector, 1/4 mile south of the
school itself.
The bridge by the way
straddles the Niobrara River which continues on thru the northern
part of the state and eventually reaches the Missouri River. Exact
cache location is located on the reflector located on the SE corner
of the bridge. You might want to bring a small screwdriver to help
with removing the cache (strong magnet holds this one).
I am giving this one a
4+ for terrain for the drive and conditions, and giving away
the cache location. I figure anyone who drives this far to see this
icon of rural Nebraska, doesn't need to come away empty handed.
Certainly any muggles seeing you on the bridge will ask what is
going on, be prepared.
Take some pictures of
the school house and have fun.
As usual hide as good or better.
Current Caching Weather (Scottsbluff):
Member of
'Eyvegotgas'