This is a field puzzle. Please read the cache description carefully and print the included images BEFORE you visit the site. Doing some homework before visiting the trail will prevent you from needing to make a return trip.
Dawley Farm is a little-known parcel of open space in the City of Warwick. The original farm extended from Rt. 2 east to the land 95 currently occupies. The land was auctioned in the 1970s, a period of rapid growth for Warwick. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company bought a large parcel with frontage on Route 2, and development of the rest of the parcel was imminent. In 2000, the city of Warwick bought the remaining 63 acres to preserve as open space.
Prior to Warwick's acquisition, the land development company Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe (DCH), were in the midst of evaluating the land for a new neighborhood development. The crown jewel of the neighborhood was to be a "nature sanctuary" for residents to explore nature and relax. Numerous soil test pits were dug, and water table test wells were installed in order to begin the permitting process.
DCH employed an inept group of environmental scientists to collect their data. Paperwork was misfiled, soil description and water table data were mixed up, and the precise location of the sanctuary was recorded only on a field form that was then smudged with dirt. The follies of the field crew proved costly; the City of Warwick took advantage of the delays, allocated funding, and purchased the land for use as open space. DCH became the laughing stock of the land development world and were forced into bankruptcy.
One would think all ended well. Recently, however, members of the Warwick Conservation Commission wanted to find this much-touted "sanctuary." None of the former employees of DCH can recall the precise location. Luckily, the original field data documents still exist. Perhaps they could be used to find the nature area.
Included in this listing are several DEM site evaluation forms that were filled out by the scientists at DCH. Unfortunatley, the incompetant DCH scientists never labeled which evaluation form is for which test pit and monitoring well. To make matters worse, one of the descriptions was mislabeled and isn't even from the Dawley Farm project! Also included is a crude site map. Coordinates aren't included, as seletive availability was still in effect in 1999, causing civilian GPS to be highly inaccurate. Not to mention the fact that the financials weren't looking too well for DCH at this time!
The listed coords bring you to the gate/trailhead for Dawley Farm. There is parking here for several cars single file, although backing out onto Cowesett Road can be tricky. There is a grassy pulloff a little further west. The gate is where you will start your journey. You'll need to use the site map to find each of the 6 test pits and monitoring wells. You should be able to perform some "water table monitoring" at each percolation pipe to match the site evaluation form to the actual location.
Once you have your evaluation forms in order (test pits 1 - 6), you'll have a small string of digits based on the soil class (on the evaluation sheets, lower left corner) that you'll be able to make a projection with to locate the sanctuary (and cache container). Remember, one of the included evaluation forms was mislabeled and is not from Dawley!
The combination of digits should be used in this sequence: _ _ _', _ _ _°
There is no need for heavy bushwhacking. There is a slight trail through an open part of the forest that will lead you to the cache. A keen eye may help you see it during your travels
While you are completing this cache, please go and find Golfer's Cache II. GCII is a great cache that isn't found often enough. I would never have explored Dawley Farm if it wasn't for that cache!
High fives to KATnDOGZ, bjm3rd, and Hobo for the FTF!