The Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour
Piscataway Park
The Chesapeake Bay, the great rivers that feed it, and the vast landscapes surrounding them are at the center of our nation’s story. More than 2,600 miles of designated water trails, 55 units of the National Park System, and scores of state parks, local parks, and wildlife refuges are found within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Each takes part in conserving special places for visitors, residents, and future generations. The Chesapeake Bay region is filled with rich history and heritage, opportunities for education and science, and beautiful scenery suitable for explorers of all ages. Join us in discovering the Chesapeake region when you “Find Your Chesapeake” and take advantage of our beautiful treasure.
The Find Your Chesapeake (FYC) GeoTour launched June 9, 2018 with over 60 caches within Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania. and Delaware. A trackable geocoin will be awarded to the first 400 geocachers, while supplies last, for locating at least 20 FYC caches. To be eligible for the coin, geocachers must download a passport from the Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour website. Geocachers must find and log at least 20 finds, record the code word from each cache on their passport. After discovering the 20 required caches, geocachers may have their passports validated via mail at the National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Office located at 410 Severn Ave, Suite 314, Annapolis, MD 21403. Please refer to the passport for complete validation instructions.
Participating in the FYC GeoTour is fun and we hope that many people join in. However, it is not a requirement for logging your find on this cache once you find the container.
Piscataway Park is a Native place, important to the Piscataway people of southern Maryland. The Accokeek Foundation, partner to the National Park Service, helps Piscataway communities share their culture here and helps the public appreciate the natural resources of the Chesapeake. Take advantage of the trails throughout the park maintained by the Accokeek Foundation, including the Pawpaw Trail, named for the pawpaw tree which grows in abundance in the park. The tree produces green oblong fruits that taste like a cross between a mango and a banana. It is the largest edible fruit native to the U.S.
The Geocache
This geocache is an on-site puzzle where you get information from a three sided sign which will be used to figure out the final coordinates.
"Cherished Homeland" N38 41.713 W77 03.946
- A = # of letters in name of town mentioned in the first paragraph.
- B = 3rd digit in year Father Andrew White visited the Piscataway.
- For C look for a green circle in the middle of the orange colored map. Find the largest letter in the green circle. Equate that letter with its corresponding number. (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.)
"John Smith Explores the Chesapeake"
- D = 2nd digit in the last date listed in the first paragraph.
- E = 2nd digit in length of primitive boat that Captain John Smith and crew used to reach the Susquehanna River.
- F = 1st digit in weight of sturgeon.
The coordinates for the final location are N38° 41.ABC, W77° 03.DEF
The checksum of ABCDEF is 25.
Thanks to deepdish23 for helping with this hide.
The inner parking at Piscataway Park is open from 9am to sunset. The historic farm area of National Colonial Farm is open March through December 10 am until 4 pm Tuesday through Sunday. It is closed from December through March.