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Land of the Lorax: A Hoosier Heirloom Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

JBTsWife: Alas a hive of bees have found the perfect new home in the base of the tree where this cache sits. So pleased the pollinators are finding shelter and visiting flowers nearby. Thus I'm archiving the cache. Bee happy!

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Hidden : 6/18/2013
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

"Back home again in Indiana
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still burning bright
Through the sycamores for me"--Ballard MacDonald & James Hanley,  Back Home Again in Indiana

This Lorax series invites you to celebrate the wonders of trees. The caches are intended as family friendly hides that are easy to find with hints that are giveaways.

As a native-born Hoosier, my favorite of all trees is the sycamore.  I love its camouflaged mottled  greenish-white, gray and brown bark.  I love its place in the classic song Back Home Again in Indiana that is sung every May at the opening of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race.

I love how the sycamore can grow to massive proportions, typically reaching 100 to 130 feet high.  I love how it is one of the oldest species of trees on Earth, known for its longevity and hardiness, often living for hundreds of years.

Walking along this two-block section of West Foster Avenue in State College will take you underneath several great sycamores. I hope you'll take time to stop at their trunks and just look up to the whimsical shapes of their higher branches.

I've placed a micro cache in a hollow at the base of one gigantic sycamore near the street. The micro is within a small container set in a small bag wrapped in some camouflage tape. Please replace it in the hollow as found--it would be easy for it to slip out of the hollow. There is no room for trade items. The container honors the Indianapolis 500 race cars--in their earliest years! Please bring a pen or pencil. Free parking is available around the corner on N. Burrowes Street.

I've given this a 2.5 difficulty because of the high muggle factor. Please use stealth. Because my GPS was bouncing around under the big trees, I've made the giveaway hint very explicit. There aren't that many gigantic sycamores in this block so use your geosenses and look on the street side of the biggest tree there.

"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more."--Ralph Waldo Emerson from a conversation with John Muir.

(Though my husband, JBT, knows nothing about this cache, I have asked him to be disqualified from the FTF lest anyone think he had advance knowledge.)

Congratulations to geo-senseless for the FTF!! and to the carels for the STF!!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[First Hint] Ubyybj snprf gur fgerrg [Giveaway Hint] Yrsg fvqr bs ubyybj

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)