The Cremation of UBC Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

UBC Geograd: Has lasted a long time, but archiving to open up this spot. Lots has changed here since 2008 when this cache was first placed.

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Hidden : 1/25/2008
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Rewriting Canadian History? What better way than re-writing the most famous poem in Canadian History, Robert Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Also conveniently serves as some trashtalk in anticipation of CARW2008.



here are strange tales told, In the Northern cold, by the folks who hunt for caches.
The Edmonton trails have their secret tales, some reduced to ashes.
The Northern lights have seen strange sights, but the strangest they ever did see,
Was the night on the fringe, of the Sa-skatchewan, I cremated “UBC”.

Now UBC was from B.C, where the forests thrive and grow,
Why he left his home on the coast to roam, round the prairies, we’ll never know.
His blood would boil, but the land of oil, seemed to hold him by the mouth,
Though he often say, in a deadpan way, that he’d rather live down South.

On a winter day, we were caching our way, down the Yellowhead Trail,
I felt the cold, through the parka’s fold, and my gloves began to fail,
If our eyes we’d close, as we followed the road, then of course we couldn’t see,
But we opened our eyes, and to our surprise, there was no “UBC”!

And that very night, we all packed tight, into Hellfish’s mini-van,
On a night cache run, that was lots of fun, on a search for an ammo can,
Then he turned to me, and said “Where’s UBC?”, I think he was left behind!
He’s out in the cold, searching for gold, in the form of a First-to-Find!

But Geo-grad, had been driven mad, and he said with a sort of a wink
“It’s the cursed snow, and the winds that blow, that have driven me to the brink,”
Yet, t’ain’t being dead, it’s the awful dread, of the dreary winter darkness,
So swear on your grave, that you’ll rant and rave, ‘till they burn my lifeless carcass.”

Now a cacher’s word, is a vow to be heard, and I swore I would succeed
And we yelled “Cache on!”, at the brink of dawn, but our cries he did not heed,
As for Geograd, he stayed in bed, and claimed that his path was chosen,
And by nightfall, it appeared to all, that Geo-grad was frozen!

The cold wind thundered, ‘cross the prairie tundra, the cachers searched for their “gold”,
And they thought of the oath, they had made to the oaf, who couldn’t stand the cold.
And a ghastly snow, began to blow, and seemed to sing and hum,
“You should take a break, and host a wake, for respect of your frozen chum”

Now a ghostly chord, should not be ignored, as spirits have their own stern measures,
“But with due respect, I must object, there are dozens of unfound treasures!”
In the lonely night, by the dashboard lights, the coordinates were entered,
“There’s a stand of trees, with a cache or three, it’s an FTF adventure!”

As the night went on, the burden grew strong, and the cachers decided to fold,
For a fallen colleague, who was frozen solid, by the harsh Alberta cold,
“To the memory, of U.B.C, a toast and then some booze,
We’ll sit all night, by the warm fire light, and solemnly pay our dues”.

Through the long, cold, night, by the lone firelight, they remembered of their vow,
VE-6-Dave, a spiel he gave, “Listen to me now!”
“A contract seal, made the promise real, that I’d toss him in the fire
If we fail to burn, he will return, and curse me as a liar!”

Some planks they tore, from the tavern floor, and the waitress got quite mad,
The inferno roared, and the blaze just soared, and they threw in Geograd.
The tavern blazed, and the fire trucks raced, and attempted to put out the embers,
But the place was gone, by the break of dawn, and Geograd was remembered.

Then a hike was made, to the smoking grave, of the ghastly conflagration.
The coroner laughed, and an eerie gasp, emerged from the congregation.
“The remains in the pub, are a grizzly cub, that died of natural causes,
There’s nothing here, save boiling beer, and a lot of uninsured losses.

I do not know, how long in the snow, I wrestled with the query,
If a deceased bear, was all that was there, then perhaps I had a theory.
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said, “I’ll have a look on the site”
And the pages loaded, and my joy eroded, when I realized I was right.

For there he wrote, in his simple quote, “FTFs: 53!”
“For I faked my end, it was just pretend, to go on a caching spree!”
To put a lid on CoalBranchKid, annihilate VP.
And beat the ‘Nana, and Fidorama, and puzzle Bruno-G.

Then an observation, that eased my frustration, was the listing of a cache!
For when ‘Grad went missing, he was busy listing, this brand new hidden stash.
This cache was placed, and I quickly raced, and grabbed GPS
This one FTF, that’s all that is left, since Geograd got the rest.

So on CARW day, if you hear me say, “I’ve got a secret fact!”
You can safely guess, there’s no FTF, at a spot near Medicine Hat.
For the game is on, and the guns are drawn, and there’s caches out to seek.
And keep in mind, that the Firsts to Find, get bragging rights for a week!

So listen here, the time is near, to get into the zone.
To heed the mission of competition, these skills you have to hone.
A grave concern, you have been warned: Be vigilant or get beat.
See you on the caching trails, CAR-W: March 16th ;-)


While you are in the neighborhood, have a look at my nearby cache, Harry Potter and the Hunt for the Geocache: Gryffindor. And don't try finding this cache before March 7th 2008, at 5:30pm. It has been placed in anticipation of CARW2008.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre n cvyr bs fgvpxf. Ovt uryc, ru?

Decryption Key

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

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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