Spirit Quest - Ballows Cemetery:
The cache is not at the posted coordinates, you will need to locate several grave markers inside the cemetery and gather information off of them to find the cache, it's a very small cemetery so gathering the information should be pretty easy, and there is NO difficult math required. As with any cemetery cache please be respectful of the grounds, and any possible visitors that might not understand what we are doing. This is a daylight hours only cache, please no night caching. The cache is NOT near any graves, but you will need to look at the stones to find the needed information.
The Ballows Cemetery:
There are approximately 30 internments within the cemetery, most of them are from the 1930's and 1940's with the last one being in 1948. By 1982 this cemetery had become almost completely inaccessible. The directions written in may of 1982, involve parking on the side of the road and walking though the woods. Keeping in mind there was no GPS use in 1982 it would have taken a bit of work to find it. Today there is road you can drive right up to the cemetery on no problem. After 50 years of inactivity there have been 4 new burials since 1998. Those 4 burials are on the opposite side of the road than the rest of the cemetery. The entrance road to the cemetery is marked with a sign that reads cemetery road, as your driving up Ballows road you will pass an area that has been clear cut, don't mistakenly turn into the area continue on until you reach the sign.
The Cache:
This is very special cemetery that has some very unique stones that you should take your time to look at. The cache itself should be easy to locate and is not at the posted coordinates, or near any of the graves, however you will need to look at several of the interesting grave stones to gather the needed information to solve the puzzle. I'm not going to give coordinates to each stone as the cemetery is extremely small (about 30 internments), and it is flat so it's easy to navigate.
The coordinates for the cache container are N 47° 14.ABC W 122° 52.DEF
You will need to located the following stones / information:
There are three Tingley Babys, how many were girls = D
One of the wooden crosses is Marga (Margie) Griner, above her name reads Aug _ _ The first number below Aug = A, the second = E
At the grave of Theodore Nachisheim, there is a cross on the ground in front of his stone, there are two words written on the stone, the number of letters in the second word = B & F
What country was Theodore Nachisheim from, the number of letters in the country = C
Please check your answer using the geocacher. I've left the check sum basically for historical purposes, feel free to use either or both to veify your answers.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Check Sum N = 28, W = 18
About the final. You will NOT need to take a long walk, brushwhack, or get in your car. Please use the cordinate checker that I have added as of 11-1-23. Thank you.
One last thing:
While you are wondering the cemetery gathering the needed information you will likely wonder past the stone pictured below, look closely into the front of it, what do see in there? Please post it in your log.
Unknown burial at the Ballow Cemetery. Photo taken 8-2-15, by SirKarp
While there are no posted hours, I ask that the cacher only search for this cache during daylight hours out of respect for the cemetery. While you are here please take your time and look around, and enjoy all of the history here, but remember to be respectful, since the cemetery was inactive for 50 years, it is unlikely that you will run into any mourners, but there have been a very recent burials so it is possible, just remember to be respectful of the grounds and any possible visitors that might not understand what we are doing. The cache is NOT located near any graves, but you will have to look at the stones to gather the needed information.
Congratulations goes to Jones Damm for the First to Find!!!!!