CJS - Trap Pond State Park Mystery Cache

Over four hundred years ago, Englishman John Smith and a small crew set out in an open boat to explore the Chesapeake Bay. Between 1607 and 1609 Smith mapped and documented nearly 3,000 miles of the Bay and its rivers. Along the way he visited many thriving American Indians communities and gathered information about this “fruitful and delightsome land.” In December 2006 the U.S. Congress designated the routes of Smith’s explorations of the Chesapeake as a national historic trail—the first national water trail.

Are you ready to follow in the wake of Captain John Smith? Visit sites along the National Historic Trail and learn about the native cultures and the natural environment of the 17th-century Chesapeake through the Captain John Smith Chesapeake Geotrail. The Trail provides opportunities for you to experience the Bay through the routes and places associated with Smith’s explorations. Caches will be located in museums, refuges, parks, and towns in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware along the rivers and creeks that Smith and his crew explored four centuries ago.

The Captain John Smith (CJS) Geotrail launched June 4, 2011 with over 40 caches within Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. A trackable geo coin will be awarded to the first 400 geocachers, while supplies last, for locating at least 15 CJS caches. To be eligible for the coin, geocachers must download a passport from either the CJS Geotrail or Maryland Geocaching Society website. Geocachers must find and log at least 15 finds, record the code word from each cache on their passport and post a picture of themselve at each cache location. After discovering the 15 required caches, geocachers may have thier passports validated in person or via mail at the National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Office located at 410 Severn Ave, Suite 314, Annapolis, MD 21403. Please refer to the passport for complete validation instructions.

Participating in the CJS geotrail is fun and we hope that many people join in. However, it is not a requirement for logging your find on this cache once you find the container.

The cache is NOT at the listed coords. Please no night caching!
Please park at the listed coordinates. You will need to answer some questions about the structure nearest the parking coords.
A = number of windows (Do NOT count the glass at the top of the door as a window.)
B = number of chimney(s)
C = number of characters (NOT just letters) in the name above door
DEFG = year the building was built
TUV = (A times C) + D + E + F
XYZ = ((A + B) times C) + D + E + E + F
To find the final North cache coordinate ADD TUV to the last 3 digits of the listed North coordinate.
To find the West cache coordinate ADD XYZ to the last 3 digits of the listed West coordinate.
Checksum for cache coordinates is 61.
While in Trap Pond you may want to consider doing Delaware’s oldest cache, dElAWare 7{1} (GC10A).


When at Trap Pond State Park, the smart visitor will rent a canoe or kayak and paddle around the pond, getting a low-to-the-water view of turtles sunning on logs and meanders around the pond through baldcypress trees. If you don’t want to do the paddling yourself, Trap Pond State Park offers pontoon boat tours on the weekends, or you can use their boat ramp to launch your own small motorized boat.

Freshwater wetlands once covered a large portion of southwestern Sussex County. Trap Pond State Park retains a part of the swamp's original beauty and mystery, and features the northernmost natural stand of baldcypress trees in the United States. The pond was created in the late 1700s to power a sawmill during the harvest of large baldcypress from the area. The Federal Government later purchased the pond and surrounding farmland during the 1930s and the Civilian Conservation Corps began to develop the area for recreation. Trap Pond became one of Delaware's first state parks in 1951.

Baldcypress is a long-lived, important tree in a swampland ecosystem. It was a valuable source of lumber, prized for its durability and resistance to rot. Baldcypress is known for its “knees”, cone-shaped extensions of the root system thought to function as the trees’ means of obtaining oxygen for the roots during flooded conditions.

American Indians favored baldcypress for their log canoes, some of which could accommodate nearly 40 people. Baldcypress was highly favored by English boat builders as well. By 1607, when Captain John Smith began exploring the Chesapeake, most forests in England had been cut and timber became a very important export. In his writings, Smith reported seeing baldcypress trees eighteen feet in circumference at the base. These very large, very straight trees were a valuable commodity, and the Virginia Company of London expected Captain Smith and his fellow Jamestown settlers to find suitable timber in addition to precious metals and the hoped-for Northwest Passage providing easy access from the Atlantic Ocean to the other side of the world for trade.

Camping: For visitors who wish to stay overnight, there are 142 campsites (tents and recreational vehicles can be accommodated). Yurts and Camping Cabins may also be available.
Daily Entry Fees: A park entrance fee is charged daily from March 1 to November 30. This fee allows your vehicle and its passengers to enter any Delaware State Park on the date of purchase, except for Fort Delaware and Brandywine Zoo. Delaware Registered Vehicle: $3 per day at Trap Pond, Out-of-state Registered Vehicle: $6 per day at Trap Pond. Hours: Trap Pond is open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset.
Other considerations: Dogs must remain leashed and are NOT allowed in picnic areas. A Map of Trap Pond is available for downloading and printing: http://www.destateparks.com/downloads/maps/trap-pond/trap-pond-2009.pdf

Thanks to Hostanut for helping with this hide and to the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this project.

Delaware State Park Approved.