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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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12 YEAR CACHE-This is a wildlife driving tour. Enjoy the nature views and the bird sounds. There are places to park and then walk some loop trails. There is no reason to leave the road or the trails. This should be a no impact cache. Virtual multi for the drive part and a code breaker to find the stash.
On the 3rd birthday of this cache I went out to re-check the steps. All is well. The eagles have hatched and are hanging around the viewable nest.
Update: April 23, 2006 - The Eagle Babies have hatched and viewing is possible. The drive reopened today (It is periodically closed for special nature events, one being the nesting of the eagles). Also, the final location has been changed this year. With the permission from the National Wildlife Service, this cache was allowed to remain just as long as the final stage is off of the refuge itself. They reviewed the comments in the logs and found them to be favorable (Another good reason to leave good comments and I thank all of the past finders for that!!)
The first set of Lat,Lon will get you to the beginning of the tour. Follow the park rules as posted and stop at the Lats and Lons shown below.
1) 45-27.940,93-44.154 What is the speed limit? AB,
2) 45-27.997,93-43.874 View eagle nest (set telescope to a little more than 15). There are maps and other info near the parking area.(Outhouse at this stop only, the drive will take more than an hour),
3) 45-27.621,93-43.242 On the Prairie Animal Board, how many turtles are in the picture? D,
4) 45-27.422,93-42.501 For Distant Viewing what is the zip code? EFGHI,
5) 45-28.372,93-42.193 Year that Pete Nelson was born? JKLM,
6) 45-29.028,93-42.280 Year Native Prairie was Seeded? NOPQ,
7) 45-28.998,93-42.261 Number etched into name plate under SeeCoast? RST,
8) 45-28.736,93-42.889 How many vowels in the yellow line of text? UV,
9) 45-28.687,93-43.070 Year Charlie Stickney was born? WXYZ,
10) 45-28.238,93-43.179 View of Eagle Nest from road.
11) 45-27.942,93-43.721 Mile marker? C,
12) 45-27.997,93-43.874 Stop for potty break and figure out code breaker to be able to determine Lat and Lon for cache. You have to drive to it. Sit by the telescopes and enjoy another look at the Eagles
A=____ B=____ C=____ D=____ E=____ F=____ G=____ H=____ I=____ J=____ K=____ L=____ M=____ N=____ O=____ P=____ Q=____ R=____ S=____ T=____ U=____ V=____ W=____ X=____ Y=____ Z=____ .
Now you can solve for Lat. QT-AZ.EQF and Lon. PH-QQ.VFC.
Drive to this area and park. There is room for one vehicle. If there are others in the area, you might have to be a little sneaky so as to not give it away to non-cachers. Metal tube for a container. So bring small items to swap. There is poison ivy near the hidey spot, I was able to go around it. But, it is growing there. If you have kids or geo-pups along keep them on the trails and they should be fine. Even Cleo had to wear her leash here. I rated this as fairly easy as the only thing that might make it hard is the little extra time it takes. It is a wonderful wildlife drive. The bird sounds alone are worth the trip. There is a birders guide at the trail start if you are into that. Bring Binoculars if you have them. Enjoy. JK
Here is an alternate puzzle for the times when the Wildlife Drive is closed during the Eagle nesting season:
The first town south of the drive is 033095 (6 letters), the second town, continuing south on County Road 5
is 2167458 (7 letters).
Solve for the following, Latitude=AK-BG.RAG and Longitude=CR-AA.OGL
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)