echipukwa = pipe of peace
Languages are interesting. We used the Seminole/English translation dictionary for the names for these caches. In the Seminole language they do not have any words that start with the letter B, D, J, Q,V or X according to the translation dictionary.
Seminole history begins with bands of Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama who migrated to Florida in the 1700s. Conflicts with Europeans and other tribes caused them to seek new lands to live in peace.
Groups of Lower Creeks moved to Florida to get away from the dominance of Upper Creeks. Some Creeks were searching for rich, new fields to plant corn, beans and other crops. For a while, Spain even encouraged these migrations to help provide a buffer between Florida and the British colonies.
The 1770s is when Florida Indians collectively became known as Seminole, a name meaning "wild people" or "runaway."
In addition to Creeks, Seminoles included Yuchis, Yamasses and a few aboriginal remnants. The population also increased with runaway slaves who found refuge among the Indians.
While looking for locations (during lockdown) in the ONF to place Geocaches, we looked at FR’s time and time again, then decided, “Yup” we will place them in this area along established FR’s. FR-05–1.5 / SE 140th St was used for these caches. This may be a busy FR/sand street during the weekends and hunting season.
We used a high profile 4X4 vehicle to place these caches. Conditions change when it rains. Unless you have a vehicle that can drive through soft sand, do not try and drive through the community of Umatilla. You may encounter a soft sand area and get stuck. Cell service was good in this area.
Remember this is the Ocala National Forest and there are a lot of things that are not really friendly to humans. They will bite, sting, suck your blood, scratch, trip, cause a rash or even worse. This area is open to hunting which is another consideration to keep in mind. Come prepared and have fun finding these clothespins with containers attached. A pair of tweezers will be helpful getting the log out of the container which are made out of special paper that lets you write on them wet or dry with pen or pencil. The containers are larger than the clothespins used to clip them on/to stuff. None were placed on the ground.
In this area of the ONF the electronic signals are affected by the Military area from time to time. We averaged the location readings from 3 GPSr’s for the locations. At times there was quite a GPS jump.