September 24, 2023, marks 100 years since the establishment of the Allegheny National Forest. To commemorate this historic milestone, the ANF Centennial Geocache trail has been established to provide an opportunity to connect the American public to the outdoors, encourage families to explore the national forest, and provide educational and recreational opportunities for users of the trail. We encourage you to join the fun, enjoy the adventure, and learn more about your national forest while respecting and protecting our natural resources! The Allegheny National Forest includes land in four Pennsylvania counties (Elk, Forest, McKean, and Warren Counties).
This geocache is one of a total of 28 ANF Centennial Geocaches placed throughout the Allegheny National Forest. In order to complete the GeoTrail, you must find at least 5 ANF Centennial Geocaches in each of the four counties which include part of the Allegheny National Forest. Each cache will contain a unique laminated code word to be found on the logbook, to be written in your passport as proof of finding the cache. Please remember to write the code word on your passport before or after signing the logbook, and return the logbook to the cache container when finished. The next person who finds the cache is also going to need it!
Please remember to also log your find on geocaching.com after you find the cache and tell us about your adventure or anything that you found interesting during your visit. Please post pictures of your visit to the Allegheny National Forest as well with your log or on social media sites. Before setting out to find the ANF Centennial GeoTrail caches, you will need an official passport document. Passports are free and can be obtained by downloading and printing the passport document from the website www.pennsoil.org
First Parcel Monument
Where it all began!
Park at the end of the forest road - don't block the gate! Walk on the road west a short distance towards the red barn and then up the hill between the reflectors to the monument area. The monument marker is similar to a benchmark so it can be hard to miss. There are bearing signs on the trees nearby.
History of the Allegheny National Forest
In 1911, Conngressman John W. Weeks proposed the weeks Act which in short authorized the United States Secretary of Agriculture to "Examine, locate,and reccommend for purchase...such lands within the watersheds of navigable streams as... may be necessary to the regulation and flow of navigable streams...It also established the National Forest Reservation Comission who would identify and approve the purchase of such lands.
The Act was approved by Congress and signed into law the same year by President William Howard Taft.
In 1905 years prior to the Weeks Act, the Transfer act transferred control of Federal Forest Reserves to the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service who cares for these lands in the present day.
Much of the area that is now the Allegheny National Forest had been clear cut for the timber industry, so much so that locals even referred to it as the Allegheny Brush Patch and it was believed that the forest would never return here. Conservation efforts however targeted the area due to its importance to conserving the watershed and building up the forest to prevent wildfires that had become a major issue in the west.
In May of 1922 the National Forest Reservation Commission approvd the purchase of approximately 30.000 acres of land from the Central Lumber Company. When surveying the area this spot was chosen as "Corner One" of Tract 1. Just over a year later on September 24th 1923, President Calvin Coolidge signed a Presidential Proclomation establishing the Allegheny National Forest and this marker serves as a memorial cornerstone on which the forest we enjoy today was built.
Observe the area around the monument and collect the answers to the following questions to calculate the final coordinatinates:
N 41 46.ABC W079 09.DEF
A - # of sheet metal signs within 10' of the Monument marker
B - # of letters in the first word that starts with "d" on the bearing tree sign
C - # of letter in the last word on the land survey monument sign
D - Sum of the first two numbers on the property boundary sign
E - Look at the survey monument, there are two years at the bottom (Sum of the digits in the 1st year - sum of the digits in the second year)
F - # of letters in the second word written in cursive on the nearby sign
Cache is appromately a 1 mile hike round trip, the first half is uphill and on forestry roads, no bushwacking required