A Burmese Tiger On the Road to Mandalay Traditional Cache
Hidden : 3/9/2021
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


Warner

Okay, I admit, I sometimes really have to stretch to amuse myself with cartographical associations. I could have gone here with the Age of Empires II scenario, or (yikes) the Urban Dictionary reference (who knew? Not I!) but instead you get a Warner Bros./Frank Sinatra mashup, at least, until the idiotic cancel mob decides, for our own good, (yeah, sure) that watching, listening, or reading such innocent entertainment is the source of all our troubles... [but, I digress.]. Burmese Tiger is a minor character in Stop! Look! and Hasten! The coyote builds a Burmese tiger trap according to a How-To book: dig a square pit in the road and fill it with a sheet camouflaged as road. He hides behind a rock and, hearing the Road Runner beep and the trap activate, dives in to capture his prey... only to instantly re-emerge and flee in terror, after which a real Burmese tiger (Surprisibus! Surprisibus!), stealthily climbs out of the trap and stalks off.

You won't find any such surprise here, but maybe you'll listen to the dulcet tones of Ol' Blue Eyes singing of the exotic charms of The Road to Mandalay. Or, you can listen to the impeccable Charles Dance read the original Rudyard Kipling poem on which the song is based, here.

The Burma Road (3N37) is a little-travelled power line access road terminating at Highline Saddle, where it meets the Mendenhall Ridge Road coming up from Dillon Divide. After a moderate descent to a shady oak grove—practically the only trees you'll see on the entire road—(where you may also find a few bee boxes placed) it begins the steady 2.5 mile climb to the saddle, and becoming after a mile or so a rock-strewn single track interrupted repeatedly by small rock slides just to keep things interesting. And just when the saddle is in sight, the switchbacks frustratingly take you the other way, requiring a little patience. Fortunately, the views and some unique features enroute make the trip eminently worthwhile. At least, IMHO.

Long gone are the days when we'd gladly hike five miles to the top of a mountain to find one lonely cache. Seems it takes much more to entice us aging geocachers to hit the trail these days. I appreciate, and, to some degree, share Mountain Lovers' (may he rest in peace) concern about over-populating an area, although personally I don't mind finding a cache on average every half mile or so. However, I don't want to just hand w01f his FTFs on a platter, so to speak. Which is to say, be forewarned: The nature of the caches on this road, and the amount of work required, make this a vastly different experience than stopping every 528 feet to pick up an Altoids tin next to the trail. Considering the effort involved, I prefer to call it well-populated, and commensurately rewarding, rather than a population crisis.


Cache is a large poly jar, painted to blend in.

Caution: you're in prime snake habitat. Ticks, poison-oak, coyotes, and mountain lions all make their home here. Plus, the road is blisteringly, brutally hot in summer months. Please make adequate preparations.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

oyngnagylboivbhfFCBE

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)


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