The Nathaniel Trail consists of 17 caches. Because all 17 are part of the geoart, please don't forget to do your homework before setting out to find these caches. For 14 of them, you'll need to enter a simple solution into Certitude in order to receive the actual coordinates for those hides. To find caches 15-17, you'll need to carefully collect information from each of the 14 caches. Some of the trails are used by equestrians, so be prepared to yield to riders. And please pay attention to hunting regulations and schedules. Wearing international orange is never a bad idea. I've never seen one in Carroll County, but a bear was sighted in this area in December 2018, and others have been reported in backyards in Carroll recently. So be careful as you hike these woods. I strongly urge you to solve all the little puzzles BEFORE you head for the trails. All 17 caches could be found in a couple or three hours and three or four miles of relatively easy walking. If you love birds, remember your binocular. And if you don't love ticks, remember your Deet or chemical of choice. As you cache, may you find joy and peace.
One of our favorite places to cache, to eat, to be!
Nathaniel probably had hundreds of operations and procedures performed on him for his various problems. For many years he made regular visits to Kernan Hospital’s myelomeningocele clinic as the doctors there tried to develop strategies for ensuring the best life possible for him. He underwent many operations and treatments at Mercy and Johns Hopkins Hospitals too. If shunts were not failing, it seemed pneumonia was threatening him, no doubt because he couldn’t develop his lungs fully through normal physical exercise. Another concern was his vision; he had at least six doctors at Kennedy Krieger, each one with a different specialty. And then there were gastrointestinal issues to cope with, as well as hypertension. Somehow, Nathaniel forged an inner strength that helped him endure all these invasions of this frail, small body (he never weighed more than sixty-five pounds). And, miraculously, his spirit never seemed to flag.
For this cache, as well as for numbers 16 and 17, there is no puzzle question to answer in Certitude. However, you will need to gather info at all of the first 14 caches in order to determine the final coordinates for caches 15-17. It might not be a bad idea to check your record-keeping by entering the coordinates you’ve come up with in Certitude.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.