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Smokey's Stump Traditional Cache

Hidden : 4/3/2021
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


You’re looking for am ammo can near by a big stump. A really big stump.

The stump was originally created as a roadside monument in the 1960’s, but when the TransCanada Highway was twinned around 1970, Smokey's Stump found itself 100 metres off in the bush.

Fast forward to 2015. Now the highway is being upgraded to 110 km/h and that takes gravel – lots of gravel. A contractor was permitted to dig a “borrow pit” right under Stumpy. They dragged the concrete behemoth to one side and five years later the new pond has been given back to nature with Stumpy lying on the shore.

The giant stump was built as a pedestal for a Smokey-the-Bear statue to commemorate the brave firefighters who fought the massive 1955 forest fire. Three young men (two brothers and their cousin, one of whom had a cast on his leg) were caught in the fire and perished. The monument was eventually built at the Pine Grove Rest Stop without Smokey-the-bear.

Stumpy’s story may not be over yet; the Sandilands Forest Discovery Centre petitioned the province to relocate it, a flat-bed truck was booked, but then local resistance thought Stumpy should remain in its natural habitat, so there it sits.

HRPlett ‘s original “Stumped?” cache description can be found here.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre fgvpxf va n cvyr bs obhyqref. Pnoyrq gb n gerr.

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)