Fallen Giants Traditional Cache
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This cache is a small lock & lock container located just a short walk down the Spirit Ridge Trail off the Cherohala Skyway. The trail is wheel chair accesible, but you will have to venture off the trail a few feet in order to find the cache. After you find the cache, you may want to continue down the trail to the overlook. It's not a far walk and on a clear day, the views are definitely worth the extra time.
As you get close to the cache location, you will notice an information plaque along the trail entitled "The Once Supreme American Chestnut". Take a moment and scan the plaque. It tells of the huge chestnut trees that use to cover these mountains and its importance to the people and wildlife in this area. The American Chestnut trees had many uses such as providing wood that was resistant to weather and rot that many used for building cabins, shingles, fences, etc. Also the trees' nuts were used as food for both people and animals.
Sadly, the plaque also tells of a killer disease, the chestnut blight, which originally came to New York in 1904 and worked its way south. The blight killed out billions of American Chestnut trees. Very few of the trees still remain, and while saplings still grow, most sucumb to the blight before reaching any significant size.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
ba gur snyyra tvnag. fvqr bccbfvgr gur genvy.
Treasures
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