Nan Dungortheb Traditional Cache
atmospherium: Thanks to all who visited this simple ammo can in the woods. It sat in plain sight of every passing fisherman and muggle for nearly three years, yet was never tampered with. Good job. [:)]
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Keg Creek and I go back a long ways. I grew up in Appleton, and as a boy I often rode my bike to the creek for a summer afternoon of fishing. Over the years I trapped muskrats in the marshes near the lakeshore, built campfires on the beach, and explored the two branches of the creek upstream as far as I could go. I still like to wander along the creek during quiet times of the year.
Walking the creek bottoms is not quite a stroll in the park. Although popular with fishermen in season, there are no established trails. The bottoms seem to be always muddy and thick with briars and thorns. There are plenty of fallen trees to climb over and around. At certain times of the year, when the weather is dry or in a deep freeze, it can be a very nice walk in the quiet woods beside the gurgling stream. But most of the year it’s a dank and dismal place, the soggy ground strewn with rotting trees and vegetation left from the spring floods, and clouds of mosquitos rising from the dense patches of nettles.
In other words, a good place for a cache. Leave your vehicle in the parking area, wear your boots and long sleeves, descend the wooden stairs and follow the creek. Resist any temptation to cut across the nearby orchards. As the sign says, public access is only for the creek bank; everything above the ravine is privately owned.
Oh, and the cache title? You’ll find Nan Dungortheb in “The Silmarillion” by JRR Tolkien, where it is translated as “The valley of dreadful death”. Here is an excerpt:
...Beyond lay the wilderness of Dungortheb, where the sorcery of Sauron and the power of Melian came together, and horror and madness walked. There spiders of the fell race of Ungoliant abode, spinning their unseen webs in which all living things were snared; and monsters wandered there that were born in the long dark before the Sun, hunting silently with many eyes...
Well, ok, Keg Creek really isn’t nearly as bad as I’m making out to be, but it sounds cool and I enjoy exaggerating for dramatic effect. Wear your boots and have fun.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fbhgu fvqr bs perrx, hcuvyy n srj srrg, nzbat gur ebbgf.