If Once You Have Cached On An Island Traditional Cache
If Once You Have Cached On An Island
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A cache on an Island in the Little Arkansas River in a park in Wichita.
For months, I have gazed longingly at this piece of real estate surrounded by water, wondering what is there and how to get there. Recently I have found my opportunity.
Cache is an ammo box with the usual log and pencil. Initial contents are a film cannister, a talking memo, a geocaching decal, a fake coral snake, a tire pressure gauge, poems, a package of golf tees, a few Iowa quarters, a Kennedy Half from the 60's, a Star Wars card from a Droid 61 cache, two teddy bears, and mardi gras beeds.
The area is wooded with a lot of cottonwoods, elm saplings, some poison ivy, although it is not nearly as thick as one might expect. The problem, of course, is that the cache is on an island without a bridge. I approached from the Bitting Bridge and went upstream. One could also approach from the 13th street bridge and go downstream. Motorized boats are not allowed on the Little Arkansas, rafts, canoes, row boats etc. are okay. The river bottom is relatively free of debris, but varies from sand to mud and the depth varies as well. There are deep holes on the east side of the island and it is fairly popular for fishing for the adventuresome. Please do not access the cache from the road that parallels the Little Arkansas east of Nims-Bitting-Jeanette Street, best to get there from under the Bitting Bridge or from the park across the River from North High School.
I have placed the cache at one of the higher points on the island. Trees are a problem with reception.
With apologies to Rachel Field, we present:
If once you have cached on an island,You'll never be quite the same.You may stink like you stank on the day beforeAnd geo by the same old name.
You may sloggle about thru streets and swampsYou may sit at home and stew.But you'll see black water and sucking muck, Wherever your feet may goo.
You may chat with your cachers about longs and lats,Or close to your laptop keep;But you'll hear snakes sissle and crickets chirp And frogs croak through your sleep.
You'll say: "Never again!""I won't go back!""I hate this silly game!"But if once you have cached on an island,You'll never be quite the same.
(As a special treat for cachers, the city of Wichita has lowered the water level on the Little River to rebuild the Murdock bridge. For now, one can walk to the cache on the dry bed of the Little Arkansas from under the Bitting Bridge. This reduces the difficulty and terrain to about a 2/2)
Christmas is past and the city has pulled the plug on the special treat for cachers. Don't get too wet heading for the cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gjb OVT Pbggbajbbqf
Treasures
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