The first time I visited ground zero, I
thought that this would be a great place to hide a
cache.
The second time I visited ground zero, I
returned with a cache and tried climbing the tree without
equipment. Feeling unsafe, I quit.
The third time I visited this cache, I had
rope, harnesses, and tried climbing the tree. Without a
belay, I still felt unsafe and quit.
The fourth time I visited with my
brother. He tried the same thing I did on my second
attempt. Despite what I was telling him..., "I told you so"
just doesn't quite say it.
| Here
are the paramedics helping my brother.
He learned when to quit about 2
seconds too late. |
 |
The fifth attempt, I returned with my
sister, a video camera, extra safety equipment, and with a new
found fear of heights.
I never thought I would be able to say
something like this, but "this tree scares the crap out of
me".
At first this cache was a 5 for difficulty
and a 5 for terrain. I am deliberately telling you where the
cache is hidden now so you come prepared, which now makes the
difficulty a 1. I couldn't rate the terrain any higher but I
would if I could.
The cache is in the hole at the top of this
tree.
The only branch that is on the
tree is 25' off the ground.
The hole is another 5 feet from
the branch.
The tree is 8 feet 2 inches, in
diameter.
There is only a small patch of
area around the bottom of the tree, so a ladder is not exactly
ideal.
This is a dangerous
cache. I am not playing around, or trying to prove
anything. If you are going to attempt to recover this cache
do so at your own risk. Don't say I didn't warn
you.
- On a plus note, I
have tested the 911 call center's response time. It only took
them 6 minutes to arrive at our location.
- On the down side,
I learned that they are not as familiar with latitude and longitude
as a geocacher is. They want the street address to the
tree.
|
Here are the
before and after pictures of my brother attempting this
cache.
|
 |
 |
I would highly recommend that you be careful!
If you are curious, I have been told that it does
hurt. |
When I placed the cache I used a nylon cord
weighed with a carabineer to throw over the branch. The
hardest part of doing this was it getting caught on things around
the tree. Once I pulled the rope up I anchored it to a tree
about 75' away. I didn't want to anchor it to a tree too
close and have the loop slide up the tree.
Using petzel ascender's and some webbing I
climbed up the rope. I had a 10' rope dangling beneath me
that was attached to the ammo can. Once at the top I clipped
the ammo can onto the ascender and used the rope to wrap around the
branch for safety. The main rope would be no help if I went
over the other side. This also prevented me from standing on
the branch. I was able to get on my knees and place the
cache.
Without being able to safely (or
comfortably) switch from the ascenders to a figure 8 so I could
rappel down I continued to use the ascenders to
descend. |
In order to log a find, the
cache has to be back where it was before you found it.
This can not be accomplished with matches, an axe, a chainsaw, or
anything else your imagination ponders up to eliminate the fact
that the tree is the problem.
You are going to have to go
up the tree!
(If I believe that you didn't go up the tree and you log this as a
find I will delete your log.)
The cache is a 50 caliber ammo
can. I seriously recommend reading the past log notes and
recon the cache site before attempting this cache. If you
don't take all the precautions just remember it will take 6 minutes
before the paramedics arrive. That is, if you are able to use
your phone and call 911. So I would bring a buddy and make
them memorize this:
I am located
in the northwest corner of "Anthony Sanlaro Memorial Park" off
Velasko Rd. across from Summerfield Village.
Please don't mention my name
when you call 911.