“September 24, 2023, marks 100 years since the establishment of the Allegheny National Forest. To commemorate this historic milestone, the ANF Centennial Geocache trail has been established to provide an opportunity to connect the American public to the outdoors, encourage families to explore the national forest, and provide educational and recreational opportunities for users of the trail. We encourage you to join the fun, enjoy the adventure, and learn more about your national forest while respecting and protecting our natural resources! The Allegheny National Forest includes land in four Pennsylvania counties (Elk, Forest, McKean, and Warren Counties).
This geocache is one of a total of 28 ANF Centennial Geocaches placed throughout the Allegheny National Forest. In order to complete the GeoTrail, you must find at least 5 ANF Centennial Geocaches in each of the four counties which include part of the Allegheny National Forest. Each cache will contain a unique laminated code word to be found on the logbook, to be written in your passport as proof of finding the cache. Please remember to write the code word on your passport before or after signing the logbook, and return the logbook to the cache container when finished. The next person who finds the cache is also going to need it!
Please remember to also log your find on geocaching.com after you find the cache and tell us about your adventure or anything that you found interesting during your visit. Please post pictures of your visit to the Allegheny National Forest as well with your log or on social media sites. Before setting out to find the ANF Centennial GeoTrail caches, you will need an official passport document. Passports are free and can be obtained by downloading and printing the passport document from the website www.pennsoil.org “
There are three ponds that comprise the Meade Run Ponds, 2 just north of Forestry Road 150 and the largest one just south of FR 150 and slightly west of the other two. All three are man made (USFS) earthen dams blocking the headwaters of Meade Run. Additional WP's given will help you navigate via the best route to the hidden ammo can. You will have to walk across a natural spillway that provides automatic drainaige in very wet conditions. This area may be muddy at those times so wear appropriate shoes or boots. It was very dry the day we placed the cache. All three ponds are being managed to promote recreation (fishing), wildlife viewing ( each pond has at least one beaver lodge) and propagation for ducks & geese. Wood duck boxes are numerouos and there is a good deal of subsurface structure placed to attract fish and give them cover. There are supposedly basking structures placed just above surface level for use by turtles but I forgot to bring my binoculars to try to see them. There is also a hacking tower for Osprey on the southernmost pond and they were feeding at least one hatchling as we walked by.The dirt road that you should take to get close to the pond is gated but just before you reach the gate there is a decent area to park on the left.Park there and walk the rest of the way. It is about .3mi to the cache with only a short bushwhack at the end. You shouldn't encounter any briars but we've found McKean County to be a hot spot for deer ticks so plan accordingly. Bring your binoculars and camera with you but I would discourage lying in the grass and having a picnic due to the ticks.You can access the ponds from either end of FR 150 but we would suggest starting at its eastern terminus with US 219 as it is much closer to the ponds than starting on the western terminus in the Redbridge area. Hide the container as well as you found it and don't forget to write down the code word found inside the cover of the logbook.