Natural Landscapes
Geocache #1
Indiana County 1776 GeoTrail
- Most of Indiana County was covered with a forest of huge trees. Chestnut and sycamore trees could grow to 16 feet in diameter.
- Beavers created ponds along streams which lasted for 50 years. When the beavers moved on, the ponds drained and became meadows.
- Carolina Parakeets probably once lived along the Conemaugh River. They became extinct in 1918.
- Gray wolves were common in Indiana County in the late 1700s. The last recorded wolf in Pennsylvania was in Clearfield County in 1892.
A set of 12 geocaches at Indiana County locations that were significant in the late 1700s. Visit all 12 and imagine what the county was like at our nation's birth.
You can earn a geocoin, while supplies last, by picking up a geotrail passport at the Indiana County Tourist Bureau office, the Blue Spruce Park office, or three of the county's historical societies — Blairsville, Indiana County, and Saltsburg. Or you can download, print and assemble the passport yourself from the Indiana County 1776 GeoTrail web site.
When you open the passport, each left page will show the name and GPS coordinates of a geocache and the right page will be blank. Use the graphite stick supplied in the geocache container (or your own crayon) and the corresponding blank page in your passport to make a rubbing of the woodblock that is attached to the inside of the container's lid. If you don't have a passport, you can use any blank sheet of paper. This rubbing will prove that you visited the geocache. If you are unsure how to make a rubbing, watch the video on the Indiana County 1776 GeoTrail web page. If you have already logged any of these 12 geocaches before September 28, 2025, you do not have to revisit them to take a rubbing. Just take rubbings of any subsequent caches that you visit.
After completing the geotrail, you will have a broad picture of Indiana County's character in and around 1776. Bring your passport or your own sheets of paper with the 12 rubbings to the Tourist Bureau office or the Blue Spruce Park office to pick up a trackable geocoin prize designed and created for this geotrail, while supplies last.
For more information, visit the Indiana County 1776 GeoTrail web site.