A pre-geocache day outdoor park adventure

A Treasured Troop 140 Memory

Sharks tempt ox? What the what?

Easter Egg Hunt / Expert Level

A friend who lives in the Rocky Mountain West said she’s become obsessed Forest Fenn’s adventuresome treasure hunt. She’s finding thrills in her chase of rich gold and Idaho gems and said that even if she doesn’t find one red cent, it’s still enough to for her to sharpen her skills and senses from this high excitement.

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I know a little about what she means, because at age 6 our troop leaders of Arlington’s Pack 140, went to great lengths to set up an elaborate scavenger hunt in Lubber Run Park. The precision and effort they put into this wholesome hunt held my euphoric fascination so well that I still smile fondly, thinking about it today. And this likely came from our fathers’ various military backgrounds, considering the nearby Pentagon.

Back in the pre-geocache days, the dad’s structured the scavenger hunt with its search lists so that one tiny clue, perhaps scribbled on a small note, would lead us traipsing to the next hint. There we’d unearth obscure cub scout badge references, with ponderous directions leading us to another hidden spot. This would be a finger-sized Archie comic strip, wrapped around bubble gum and poked as a puzzle inside a pebble rock cairn, along with a couple of Mercury Dimes.

Hiking beyond that small mind-bender, one lad tentatively opened a miniature jack-in-the-box he had unearthed, which sprung a clue that fluttered like a butterfly to sip the creek. Fortunately that clue was scribbled in pencil, so water wouldn’t smear the cub-level hieroglyphics. These odd parchment spheres were written backwards and upside-down. Deciphering that prank clue led us downstream to a glistening brass tube barely sticking out from under a waterfall.

 Jiggling open the shiny tube let loose a protractor with a compass, plus a simple map, directing us 40 medium paces to the Amphitheater. There under the 3rd row from the sun, tucked among three Buffalo Nickels, were sticks they jammed to form an arrow pointing to a cedar. Arriving at this grove we found a bowl spilling over with acorns and next to a major turtle crossing.

Shuffling the acorns we found the next clue at the bottom, which made us follow the crossing. We quickly followed these turtle tracks and by then our energy was starting to run thin. Our excitement rose up again, when we spied a grey cardboard box labeled, “SHARKS TEMPT OX!” This was the most puzzling head-scratcher yet, and no-one figured it out. Years later one day meditating behind an Idaho waterfall the phrase "Flew astral" came suddenly into my head and felt oddly important. After mulling this over, it struck that "Flew astral" and "Waterfalls" are reflective anagrams for each other! 

Like a bolt from the blue, I cracked our tempted ox clue, and with that hint you may find treasure too:

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I disremember what we found in that final spot, but more valuable than whatever it might have been, is my indelible memory of that playful time spent outdoors with the Lubber Run Cub Scouts so wildly alive.

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Some readers responded with few observations of their own from those magical days of sweet innocence, when dad confided in us that he personally knew Santa Claus:

Betty Felder When I played in Arlington forest and Lubber Run Park back in the 40's the treasures I found were not planted by a scout leader. I found fiddle headed ferns and little islands of moss growing next to the roots of a big old oak tree. Minnows in the stream (water was clear back then). Wild azaleas all through the woods, and dogwood trees. It was a magic place for me. Good times.

Jim Banholzer I used to find turtles quite frequently in some of those gentle natural areas you describe. One year the Lubber Run camp was holding festive turtle races for one of its summer events. The officials held their contest near the amphitheater, with little rascals chaulk-scribblings written on the pavement to indicate the small turtle racetrack. I took my box turtle named "Sammy Speedy" against the others and placed 3rd.

I had forgotten about this for years, until one summer Saturday I was outside doing chores. Inside were my girlfriend and mom getting acquainted and their discussion led naturally led childhood memories. Mom remarked that one was recalling little rapscallion me lugging a huge watermelon, while dripping juice and seeds along, up the steep path home. And smiling sunbeams, because an out-sized watermelon was the prize for Sammy Speedys' victory 3rd.

And while we headed home to Columbus Street, I tugged bits from the watermelon to share with my vigorous turtle, while I cradled him shelled under my nurturing forearm, with both of us nibbling at pieces as I skipped and sang joyfully home, up the Lubber Run woodland trail.

Ellie Eshelman Fall is my favorite time of year and Lubber Run is beautiful in the fall. At the very end of autumn the sun casts long shadows over the park at sunset, and the surrounding houses and trees are silhouetted black against the last rays of pink and azure in the western twilight.

I was in the park one brisk day in late autumn when there was a chill over the woods and a heavy frost
along the creek. Just down from the parking lot hill, a frosty carpet where now* the amphitheater rests,
I saw a squirrel bounce down the hill like a child's ball and jump into the leaves by the creek. He
disappeared by the creek bed and reappeared on top of the petrified logs by the footbridge. He didn't
see me right away. He sniffed the air, turned and trotted across the footbridge and made his way to a
large metal mesh trash bin near the fire circle.

While he was busy scraping around inside the bin, I crossed the footbridge. He must have heard me approach, because when his head popped up, he fixed me with his shiny black eyes for an instant and took off, tail flying, toward the nearest tree.

 *(The Amphitheatre had not been built yet. The Park roadway was gravel and not asphalt.)

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