Cruz Garcia Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Off Highway 160, go North on North Pagosa Blvd. approximately 4 miles. Just before you reach Mockingbird Rd on your right, there is an un-marked, but clear gravel road to the left. Go up the road, park and start at Gate #5. Coordinates for Gate #5 are: N 37 degrees 17.437'; W 107 degrees 06.333'. The cache is about .5 mile away or less. Please respect the Cruz Garcia area. If/when the cross finally falls, please notify the keeper of the cache. Thank you.
Cache is a green ammo box.
A certain long time resident of Pagosa Springs is a published cowboy poet and general community activist. During one horseback riding trip, he came upon something kinda special along the trail. Off that trail, back in the brush and timber is a cross on a tree. Once having seen that cross, this particular cowboy couldn’t ignore it and felt compelled to write this poem.
Cruz Garcia
I tip my hat to Cruz Garcia
As I ride this woodland trail.
He came this way and left behind
A weathered cross and untold tale.
Back there in the old growth timber,
Where but few will ever see,
An inscription I’ll long remember
On a cross nailed to a tree.
Cruz Garcia, he died here.
It was in the month of May.
Nineteen hundred and fifty-seven.
The nineteenth was the day.
I asked old timers around Pagosa.
Searched the records all in vain.
Who was this man who perished here
And left no record to explain?
Was he young or was he old?
Was there a family left behind?
Was he a good man or a scoundrel?
Was he wise? Was he kind?
Did he die of natural causes
Or some sudden, chance event?
A lightning strike or bolting horse
Or a logging accident?
I’ll never know the facts surrounding
That wooden cross nailed to the tree.
But having found it and its message
I feel some responsibility.
Someone cared and made that cross.
Perhaps he wanted me to know
About a man no one remembers
Who died near here so long ago.
No man should be so soon forgotten.
And so, I guess, it’s up to me.
This piece of train now draws my mind
To that cross there on the tree.
If you were to watch along this trail
As I ride by you would see
I tip my hat to Cruz Garcia.
I tip my hat in memory.
For the continuation of this saga, go to coordinates. ENJOY!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sbyybj Hccre Evz genvy. Xrrc evtug ng gur L. N fvta cbvagf gb Arjg Wnpx Genvy, gnxr gung evtug n srj lneqf. Ybbx sbe n qrre cngu irrevat evtug. Sbyybj gur qrre genvy. Ybbx evtug sbe Pehm'f pebff. Vs lbh ernpu gur oneorq srapr, lbh'er gbb sne!
Treasures
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