The Great Pumpkin Escape! - a Badger Cache Multi-Cache
The Great Pumpkin Escape! - a Badger Cache
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Parking: N 42° 49.889' W 71° 35.775' – on Fairway Drive in Amherst. Parking is 'side-of-the-road' at the trail head. Please do not park in front of anyone's home or block their driveway. Obviously do not park during snow-plow operations.
MOSQUITO ALERT. WEAR SPRAY!
Welcome to The Great Pumpkin Escape! - a Badger Cache. This cache hunt varies with the seasons. With no snow cover, this would be a good 'cache-in-trash-out' walk. Additionally, this cache is also intended to honor the memory of Eric Sherwood a cacher from Ohio who passed on in 2005. Please read the homage below to get a better understanding of this man.
Coordinates are for the first waypoint. When near the waters edge excercise caution.
October 2005 saw some heavy rains that swelled the Souhegan River beyond its banks and into the floodplains. Every year the seasonal spring flooding picks up all sorts of stuff and carries it downstream. Eventually the waters recede and leave the offal planted in the sediment. The unusual flooding in October struck a farmers field full of pumpkins, and a few pumpkins had been picked up and deposited here. As you walk along the river, (looking for the pumpkin waypoint markers), you may notice other, less pleasant items left in the floodplains from the receding high water. Bring a plastic grocery bag and help clean up the escapees from the man-made world, and do a little something to help improve the environment. Note – there is a small cross with pet names on it. Please do not remove this as trash. Thanks!
These guys tried to get away. They made it about a mile from the field!
In Winter this cache should make a nice cross-country ski outing, mostly easy but might have some 'weed-traps' in a short section.
Hunting is allowed on all ACC properties, though I do not think it likely here. Either way, wear blaze orange during hunting season! Hunting information on ACC properties.
Eric "SherwoodForest" was a very special Geocacher. A Self-Proclaimed Ambassador, he not only represented the Northeast Ohio Geocachers at events in other areas, he was an advocate for the entire sport to park districts, lawmakers, and even people on the street.
You might think that with an attitude like this, that Eric might have been arrogant or boastful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Eric had a mild demeanor that earned him the common description "Gentle Giant". Eric won friends by listening. He encouraged and welcomed the people who were least convinced of their sanity in enjoying such an underground sport. He encouraged people on to their personal bests and challenged all of us to expect more from ourselves.
Eric is partly responsible for many big initiatives in Ohio. He was instrumental in the formation of GeocacheOhio (GO) and the Midwest GeoBash. He helped promote the All-Ohio Women's Event and aided in the flight of the men-folk with the matching "Ohio Men's Escape Weekend".
Eric is truly missed, but in so many ways his influence is all around us. It's in the people, the caches and the culture of Geocaching. To represent this, we have chosen to dedicate a series of caches that we hope will represent the impact that our friend, SherwoodForest had on our sport and our lives.
As Eric would say, "Cache well, and see you 'round the bend."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jnlcbvag 1: Ynetr fcyvg gerr qbjafgernz bs orapu
Jnlcbvag 2: Fvyire zncyr jvgu znal gehaxf.
Jnlcbvag 3: N gerr arne vagrefrpgvba
Svany: Oruvaq snyyra gerrf
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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