Yes, the trees know, and they will lead you through this 4-stage
multi IF you heed what they say. No, not heed with your ears, but
with your eyes.
You see, over the several generations many of us have sought to
immortalize our own messages by carving letters and numbers into
the bark of many of the old trees throughout this neck of the
woods. The messages vary from proclamations of true love for a
sweetheart to hippie battle cries from a bygone era, and many
include a date in one form or other as part of the message.
The dates are the keys to finding all the stages of this cache
successfully. Simply find the carved message referred to in each of
the clues and note the date it was carved. You will then need to do
a little math with the carved dates (don't worry - addition, only)
to find the coordinates of each subsequent stage.
Two math examples:
N42 (55.001 plus the four digit year 1995) would be N42 56.996
N42 (55.001 plus the two digit year 79) would be N42 55.080
Simple, huh?
With the exception of the final stage, all clues are clearly
visible from one of the many dirt paths that criss-cross the woods,
so no bushwacking will be necessary until the final stage. So, when
your receiver says you are getting close to the next clue, start
heeding the trees. Looking around you will notice a bunch of
carvings along the paths and deeper in the woods. If you have the
time and the interest (and the bug spray) you can find some pretty
old carvings - the oldest I have seen is from 1938.Now, while the
trees will help you on your way with the coordinates, you must know
they will also do nasty things to impair your progress. These trees
are old. And tall. And their outstretched branches are filled with
leaves forming a beautiful canopy. Beautifully blocking the signals
from reaching your GPSr, that is. What this means is that, at
times, your receiver may be not entirely reliable and you may need
to find a clear view of the sky and let it catch-up. You have been
warned. Bringing a compass may be a good idea, but bringing several
helpers would probably be more beneficial, as they can help with
tree inspection once you are reasonably close. They can also help
with the math.The final cache is a large ammo box filled with stuff
too numerous to mention. One interesting item is a 1982 Milwaukee
Brewers World Series Champions button, peculiar only because the
Brewers lost game seven to the Cards. One more thing - our travel
bug, beetleborg, is using this cache as his launch point.
Here we go, then.
Waypoint #1
N42 54.974 W087 52.140
Clue #1: What year did J.D. carve his initials? (four digits)
Waypoint #2
N42 (53.197 plus the four digit year from Clue #1) W087 52.075
Clue #2: What year did someone proclaim this area "RAWSON WOODS"?
(two digits)
Waypoint #3
N42 (54.959 plus the two digit year from Clue #2) W087 52.064
Clue #3: What year did NICK, MARY, DIANE carve their names? (four
digits)
Waypoint #4
N42 (53.158 plus the four digit year from Clue #3) W087 52.050
Find the cache!
Photos from the cache cameras are posted at
photos.yahoo.com/cachehedz (visit
link)