Leopold Legacy: Febuary Traditional Cache
shanty: In 2004 my son Aaron (shanty) and I deployed the Leopold Legacy series. Aaron was active in Scouting and this was one of three projects that he completed for the Hornaday award with the BSA. Shanty, i.e. a little shack, was a parody on the famous Leopold retreat on the Wisconsin River.
The project was designed to combine the sport of geocaching and environmental education. Since the series was deployed, we have distributed about 1000 packets of the threatened pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallidia) seed with propagating instructions and about 1000 dreamcatchers. There were over 4,500 visits to the series in its 15-year run. Many people were drawn to the Dane County parks because of the caches and discovered what a valuable resource they are to our community.
Aaron now lives away with his own home and career. Dad has developed health issues from his exposure to agent orange in Viet Nam. It’s time to wrap this project up and move on to new ventures.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments and photos over the years. It has been our pleasure.
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(regular)
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Easy to find. About a 1 mile walk.
This cache is a part of the “Leopold Legacy” set. The Leopold Legacy set is a series of twelve caches all placed in Dane County Parks. Each one of these caches has a quote representing one month of Aldo Leopold’s The Sand County Almanac. At each of the sites you will find something relating to the quote at or near the geocache. Aldo Leopold was a famous Ecologist from Wisconsin, and The Sand County Almanac is his most famous book. It is a collection of short stories related to each month of the year. I decided to make this series to bring geocachers to some of the Dane County parks, and to give them a sample of some of Aldo Leopold’s writing.
The cache has been authorized and the proper permit was issued by Dick Black,Dane County Parks on July 16, 2004. I would like to acknowledge Wayne Pauly, the naturalist at Dane County Parks, for his assistance in my project.
"We mourned the loss of the old tree, but knew that a dozen of its progeny standing straight and stalwart on the sands had already taken over its job of wood-making.” This quote is a part of “Good Oak.” This story was about when they decided to cut down a lightning struck Oak on their property. This location is a great stand of Oaks that resemble Leopold’s stand near his weekend getaway, the “shack”.
This cache is at Goose Lake. To reach this cache park at a parking lot for the Military Ridge bike trail at coordinates N 43º 00.251’ W 089º 29.028’. Then follow the bike trail for slightly less than two thirds of a mile. A state trail pass, available at a kiosk near the trailhead, is necessary if you use a bike. Pets are allowed, but should be on a leash at all times. On your left is the entrance to Goose Lake Park. It may be difficult to spot so here are the coordinates if you need them N 42 º 59.840’ W 089º 29.918’. After entering the Park take the right trail, and follow it for another 0.3 mile.
The cache is in a stand of Oaks, and it is a brown ammo box. Inside I have placed a few carabineers, some small dream-catchers made by me, and some small packets of seeds for pale purple coneflower, a threatened species in Wisconsin.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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