Bohemian Forest Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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For this hunt you will journey in to the backwoods of the (little) Bohemian Forest here on Long Island in Bohemia County Park.
Bohemia was named for the Boii, a Celtic people who had settled in the area before Bohemia became a historic kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe in the first half of the second millenium (AD). Vratislav II was it's first king (reigned 1061–92). From there the kingdom followed a tumultuous path of war with Austria and Hungary. These warring years, culminating in the death of King Otakar II in 1278, led to diminishing Bohemian power in the region. By 1310, Bohemia was under the rule of the Luxembourg dynasty.
In the 15th century a Protestant religious reformer from Bohemia, Jan Hus, demanded religious freedom from the Roman Catholic church. He was burned as a heretic in 1415 and his followers (the Hussites) waged a civil war that successfully gained concessions from Luxembourg. Unfortunately, the Luxembourg dynasty dissolved in 1437.
After a messy succession of power that lasted 90 years, the Habsburg's King Ferdinand I of Austria gained control of the Bohemian region. The religious conflicts reemerged, but the Roman Catholic forces finally defeated the Bohemian Protestants at the Battle of the White Mountain (Nov. 8, 1620). At this time Bohemia lost it's status as a kingdom and was thoroughly absorbed into the Austrian Empire. The people of Bohemia and bordering Moravia began to be referred to as "Czechs".
The Habsburgs vehemently suppressed Czech nationalism. In 1848 the people of the Czech region revolted against Austria for autonomy, but were easily put down (a condition that would last until the end of World War I with the formation of the Republic of Czechoslovakia). Thus began a wave of emigration to the United States led by the Bohemian Jakob Sternberger. Jakob was the influential grandson of the first mayor of Kadan (a city to the north of the Bohemian Forest). After the Revolution of 1848, he led many Bohemians to the United States seeking religious freedom from their oppressors.
Jakob eventually settled in Wisconsin, but a group of Bohemian immigrants settled on Long Island's south shore. They named their settlement after their historic homeland, and Bohemia, NY was founded in 1855.
I've lived in Bohemia for 6 years now and have grown an affinity to the area. The woods to the west of the old settlement is now known as Bohemia County Park. While walking through this park, I feel a connection to the homeland it was named for. I found a description of the European Bohemian Forest from Wikipedia that might sum up the experience of hunting this cache (on a smaller scale):
"settlement was sparse and for centuries forests dominated over human dwellings and pathways. These unique circumstances led to the preservation of unspoilt nature and forest ecosystems relatively unaffected by human activity"
As you depart from the parking lot, you will notice a lot of development bordering the park. But as you get closer to the cache, you will delve into a remote area of solitude that few people visit. Some of the trails are quite overgrown. I recommend that you wear protective clothing or the abundant scrub oak will scratch you up. Also, I don't recommend this cache in the summer without tick protection. In the end, you will find a large tupper cache container in a quiet peaceful valley. Take a moment to enjoy your surroundings, it's rare to find these places amidst the suburban sprawl.
Since the trail system becomes relatively confounding once you head west beyond the horse paths, I have provided a map of the recommended route to the cache site in the images below. You may notice a nice clean dirt road south of the cache... this road is in Connetquot State Park and is separated from the cache by a fence. I do not recommend taking this route.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
orgjrra gjb cvarf naq n lbhat bnx
Treasures
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