Native Indian Signal Tree Navigation Multi-Cache
Hidden : 4/11/2010
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

Have you ever wondered how the Native Indians like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and Oconee tribes found their way from one place to another when they roamed these forests hundreds of years ago? By hunting this cache, you will experience what they did on a smaller scale.

SADLY THE REST OF THE TREE HAS NOW FALLEN DOWN AND NO LONGER POINTS TOWARDS THE CACHE CONTAINER.
The only documented existence of this tree now only exists on this cache page through photos.
But keep reading the cache page as I will tell you which way the tree once pointed.


Located near the posted coordinates WAS once the sight of one of the few remaining Signal Trees inside Stone Mountain Park. What is a Signal Tree, you ask?

Below is a photo I took of a sign posted on a fence inside Stone Mountain Park.
Sign Inside park


Signal Trees are also called "Trail Trees". Native Americans forced hardwood trees such as Oak trees to grow in certain shapes so as to serve as signals on a trail. They were used to mark trails pointing towards hunting grounds, hideouts, camping areas, shallow fords, tribal territories, and sacred burial grounds. Native Indians made them by cutting, then bending and tying down a sapling using either sinew rope, vines, or even rawhide. Larger trees were later used when the Indians started to ride on horses.

Not all bent trees are Signal Trees. Many trees become bent from wind, storms, ice, and even from other trees falling down on them. But those do not create the characteristic shape of a Signal Tree. On a Signal Tree, you will see some scarring or a healed over part of the nose or knob from where the tree was originally cut. The scarring can be hard to see on some trees. In some cases, you can actually see the scars left by the tie-down sinews.

WakeboardLanier highlights a similar tree in one of his caches in a park on Lake Lanier. His cache is called "Cherokee Trail Tree" and can be looked up with code: GC214RP. CLICK HERE to visit WakeboardLanier's cache page.

INSTRUCTIONS TO FIND THE CACHE!
============================

The Signal Tree
Above is a photo of the once living Signal Tree. The posted coordinates lead you to within 100 feet of this tree. Unfortunately, you can no longer do like the Native Indians did over 200 years ago, and locate the tree using only your eyes. The tree was small for it's age, but that tree was at least 200 years old. It's growth was stunted due to the forced bending of it as a sapling. The tree once showed all the signs of it being a Signal Tree. It had the knob or the nose at the pointing end of it. This was the characteristic scarring or healed-over part where the tree was cut. What did this tree originally point to? We may never know the answer. But what we do know is that it now points towards a geocache hide. The tree pointed to the cache which is located approximately 237 feet away. Use the general direction the body of the tree points towards. Since you can no longer use the general direction of the tree, I will tell you that it use to point downhill from the posted coordinates towards a man made object!

DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR OWN PEN TO SIGN THE LOG.


Happy Hunting.

CONGRATULATIONS TO geomobster FOR THE FTF!!!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Yrg lbhe trbfrafr thvqr lbh lbhat rntyr jneevbe!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Attributes

No attributes available

Advertising with Us

Inventory

There are no Trackables in this cache.

View past Trackables

What are Trackable Items?

Bookmark Lists

View all 5 bookmark lists...