When my cousin, Meriwether Lewis, was eight years of age, he migrated from Virginia to GEORGIA with his mother and stepfather. They settled on the Broad River in northeastern Georgia, which is now Oglethorpe County.
Georgia, is where Meriwether learned his frontier skills. He gloried the experience. Thomas Jefferson later wrote that he “was remarkable even in infancy for enterprise, boldness and discretion. When only eight years of age, he habitually went out in the dead of night alone with his dogs, into the forest to hunt the raccoon and opossum....In this exercise no season or circumstance could obstruct his purpose, plunging thro’ the Winter’s snows and frozen streams in pursuit of his object.”
At about this time, according to family legend, nine-year-old Meriwether was crossing a field with some friends, returning from a hunt. A vicious bull rushed him. His companions watched breathless as he calmly raised his gun and shot the bull dead.
You will need these items for this hunt:
1. GPS (just to get you started)
2. Compass
3. Measuring device
4. Other normal caching tools
5. Math machine
Word of warning: Use the tracking tool in your GPS for the return trip, as there are no trail maps.
Do not attempt this cache after dark or you may be spending the night on the trail.
I suggest starting this cache hunt in the Winter AM.
Please replace the cache well hidden.
Happy hunting.
First stage: Follow your navigational instrument to this stage. At the listed latitude and longitude, face the setting sun, and you should see some sort of shelter that I found while scouting for the best route west.
I assumed it was used to house a large family of Indians! Moments later, a chief and his family stepped out of the thick forest. They welcomed me, we exchanged gifts, smoked the pipe, and he gave me the route to my westward destination. Big Chief said, “Count the even number of poles that support my shelter and use that number to find your way. The best route is to pass the five finger tree on the bank of the stream, but there are many other paths. Son beware, many of the other ways will be difficult because of wild animals and hostile Indians.”
His instructions were to take my current location, use the number of poles, and add two zeros to that number to create three numbers. He said to add that number to the last three numbers, of the seven numbers, that represent my current map location, on the lines that go from side to side, or east to west. Then he instructed to add 93 more to that. And I did.
He was somewhat puzzled with the lines on the map that ran top to bottom, or north to south, but after a short lesson he soon understood. My instructions were to take the last four numbers of the meridian, at my current location, and add nine hundred one…plus the number of posts. And I did.
We proceed on, across the creek, through the low lands, up and down two hills…to the west, and in search of.
 Poison Plant Alert  Thorns
 Cache In - Trash Out!  Not Recommended After Dark  Dogs Allowed
 Available year-round  Restricted hours  Bicycles permitted on paths  Long pants suggested  Snakes
 Some Climbing (No special equipment required)
 Off-trail Hiking Required  Equestrian Trail  Accessible in Winter
 Mud!  Compass Suggested / Required  Bring a pen or pencil  Historic Site  Ticks  More than .5 mile from Trailhead  Wear bug repellant!
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