Fire Tacs After Dark (Night Cache)
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This cache is intended to be hunted in darkness using a flashlight. The starting coords take you to the first location. Retro-reflective material marks the route. Getting disorientated is likely. You will need a flashlight. A back up flashlight as well as extra batteries for your GPS might also be a good idea. The final is an ammo box with “luminous” theme trade trinkets. Plan on at least 90 minutes from parking to parking. I recommend parking at 40 34.968, 89 36.214.
Hours. The Park closes at 10 P.M. You must be out of the park by 10 P.M. The Park Rangers know about his cache. They know, you know. So, consider yourselves warned. They will. The Park opens at 6 A.M. for you early risers.
Fire Tacks and Flashlights. Fire tacks are small pieces of RETRO Reflective material. That means, they reflect light directly back to where it came from – on a very narrow beam. You should hold your flashlight as near to your eye level as possible for the best results. Even as close as your shoulder will dim the reflection, as far away as your waist might fade completely away. I recommend a pointed pistol approach – unless you have the 7 cell maglight where the rifle sighting approach should be used. Do this right and you will see them as bright orange or bright white/amber spots. Your flashlight can be a double edged sword. The stronger and brighter the light source, the stronger the reflection from the Fire Tack but at the same time, bright lights reduce your night vision. You might want to use one source for lighting your path and another for searching. Remember, around 90 minutes of darkness, so don’t run out of battery/charge without a backup plan!
The Plan. The starting coords will take you to the first location. Double tacks denote a start point. From there, find single tacks to guide you along. Some will be near and easy to spot, others will be at greater distance and require a bit of moving about to find – moving further than 10 feet is never required to spot the next tack and mostly you need to merely duck or sway to see it. Again, remember to have your light source at eye level! If you see more than 2 tacks together, you should find something important at that location.
McNaughton Park at Night. It is, well, dark. So, here are a few helpful hints or ideas.
I think the terrain rating in the daylight would be a 3, I’ve added one for the darkness. Use my suggested parking and head east up the hill on the well worn trail (trust me on this, at least until the top of the hill). If you do, you will not have to walk in water, unless it’s raining. Also, I will have helpful hints on how to get out of the park at the final, if you want to use them. If you don’t park at the suggested coords, well, you are on your own and I hope you marked that location on your GPS.
There are countless sections of old fencing, so watch for it to avoid getting tripped up.
There are billions of stick tight style seed pods that hitch a ride on your clothes. Wear as slick of material as you have or risk being covered with them.
The park has many nocturnal animals so don’t be surprised if you encounter them. They include deer, owl, raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote, possum, rabbit, spiders and various insects. Oh, if your flashlight picks up a tiny bright green reflection, that would be the eyes of the giant wolf spider – one of many night time hunters. So think twice before reaching for a tree to steady your walk.
This cache is approved on a trial bases by the Pekin Park District.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)