A NASTY Night in November
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A Nasty Night in November. A night cache to end all night caches (in sweet little old Swanson Park).
Having heard rumors that Lincoln B might be going on sabbatical if not actually retiring, the Badd One had to bring this one to fruition quickly (sort of like inducing labor).
This one has elements not present in my other night caches and also has a rather persistent nastiness, only sporadically present in my other night caches. In particular, it has more thorns and cedars by far. But the real problem is creek crossings without bridges and projections in the night when both the projecting point and the projected point are in heavy tree cover. Of course, you will also have to watch for trip hazards, abrupt steep banks, poison ivy (not as bad as the thorns), a lot of thorny bushes (locusts and wild roses), and other typical Swanson hazards. Additionally, coyotes have been seen in this park as well as skunks and badgers. The only other disclaimer is that the water in Cowskin should not be drunk without serious treatment.
On to the cache! You should take the paved path to near the starting point. This will be the last you see of this path and relevant reflectors at the same time. Whenever you get close to the path, you will project past it so that no one can successfully shortcut the trail and to keep muggles with headlamps from following the trail easily. The projections are only to avoid shortcuts and confusing spots. They are not there to get you across Cowskin Creek. That is your problem to solve (thus the 5 difficulty..two bridgeless crossings and four projections yields a 5 in my book).
Follow the deer tacks south from the paved path. Eventually, you will run out of them while still in the middle of the woods. At this point, you must project to the next tack and caching trail segment. You will do this four times, it is must harder in the field than it is in your living room or even in your geovehicle.
PROJECTION ONE: 150 feet at 260 degrees.
PROJECTION TWO: 400 feet at 160 degrees.
PROJECTION THREE: 260 feet at 335 degrees
PROJECTION FOUR: 455 feet at 120 degrees.
Soon after projection four, you will find the cache. There are at most only four deer tacks after the fourth projection.
The terrain gets a 5 due to the length, the thorns, the trip hazards, the cliffs, the need to travel stooped over at times, and if you attempt to wade/swim/leap Cowskin, the hypothermia you will get from the cold November water.
HELPFUL HINTS:
THE ONLY BRIDGE IN SWANSON PARK is at 37 41.940 97 28.138. This is crucial information for getting across Cowskin and you will get to know this spot rather well.
When you come to a stream crossing, you always have the option of the direct route, of course, but you may also find a trail nearby that will shoot you fairly directly toward the bridge. To help confirm that you are on the right way, I have placed a single deer tack well down the correct path. There are many other ways to get to the bridge but the tack is on the most direct.
PROJECTING IN THE FIELD: you will probably do okay if your GPS will project in feet. If not, here is a Badd Companie Trick to use. Do a reverse projection. Set your current location as a waypoint and then try to walk until you are so many feet at a given bearing from it. The bearing you are looking for is the projected direction minus 180 degrees or if that number is negative then plus 180 degrees. It is like the opposite side of a circle.
The first projection takes you west from the end of the first segment. The second projection takes you south-southeast from the second segment. The third projection takes you northwest from the third segment. The fourth projection takes you east-southeast from the fourth segment. The segments vary greatly in length and some are interrupted by streams.
The final is a 50 cal ammo box, the biggest thing I have ever hidden.
Precautions:
1.The park is open from 6:00 a.m. till midnight. There are gates, which I believe get locked in the middle of the night.
2. There are signs near the parking warning people not to leave valuables in their vehicles. I recommend bringing them to the cache to trade, except it is a long way to go.
3. I used over 150 deer tacks on this cache. It is very long and with the need to find routes around Cowskin and blundered projections, it may take quite a while.
4. Set waypoints frequently especially when you a ready to cross Cowskin, for the parking lot, for trail junctions. If you have already done other Swanson caches, those co-ordinates may help in getting out. At times, you come close to some of the other caches, so you might snag an extra along the way.
5. If you go alone, let someone else know where you will be. Take a phone, and extra batteries for lights. Trekking poles would be useful at times. I strongly recommend long pants, sturdy boots (to protect from locust thorns on the ground), long sleeves and durable clothing.
6. If you go between April 1 and October 1, I would also watch out for spiders, ticks, snakes, and poison ivy.
7. If Cowskin is high, this cache is too dangerous. Cowskin rises fast and floods more than you would expect to look at it. Perhaps half of Swanson is in the flood plain.
8. If you see two deer tacks side by side that seem to glow, head for the hills. It could be anything from a deer to a mountain lion or a rabid wild turkey. One of the neater things I saw was a tree full of either possums or raccoons. It was almost lit up like a Christmas tree.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
vs lbh trg fghpx arne Pbjfxva, uryc vf gb lbhe evtug.