Military Pass Emigrant Road - Tobin's Cache Traditional Cache
Hidden : 1/18/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Park at N41.33.359 W122.12.313 near the Lockhart Wagon Road sign (see photo in gallery). This is a great opportunity to interest the kids in some of the fascinating local history. Please leave the pencil and sharpener for the next person.

Tobin (along with Quinn) was one of the original Geo-Goldenz. Both of them spent a lot of time in this area, working on Forest Service historical projects to map this emigrant road, variously called the Yreka Trail and the Lockhart Wagon Road. Animal Planet even did a program on them for their work on this type of project. It was also one of their favorite places to go snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. You can drive (high-clearance) this historic route all the way through to McCloud when the weather is dry, and the views are spectacular. We've placed this cache at a point where regular highway cars can still reach it. This is an easy kid-friendly cache, because Tobin absolutely loved children. The Geo-Goldenz like caches that don't require a lot of stealth. It's hard to be inconspicuous when you are two ultra-friendly golden retrievers. Extra points (lol) if you upload photos of your geodogs, past or present, with your log record for this cache. We'd love to see them!

A BIT OF THE HISTORY WHERE YOU ARE:

Military Pass Road was built, in part, by the U.S. Army in 1855. The original route has changed since its
early days as a wagon road. Archaeologist Gerald Hoertling discovered that the route marked on today’s maps was not the same as the original wagon road shown on 1883 Government Land Office maps. The shifts in the road took place in 1910 and between 1924 and 1931. The road went by many names in its early days, such as Lockhart Wagon Road (after the brothers who laid it out hoping for more business for their ferry service), the road from Red Bluff to Yreka, and the Shasta Valley Road. The name Military Pass was adopted officially in the 1940s when a local historian expressed that it was first used by soldiers, but this is not the case. Emigrants were actually the first to use this road, carrying their families, cattle, and sheep along the trail. Later, stagecoaches traveled back and forth along this route, but in the late 1850s the Military established a presence, escorting travelers to protect them from the frequent Indian attacks along the road. Pilgrim Creek area used to serve as a stop for the stagecoaches traveling this route. (From "In Search of Military Pass Road," Cassidy and Hoertling, 1996)

Use this link for an excellent map showing the
various emigrant trails in the west, including the Yreka Trail:
(visit link)

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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