The Introduction to Dendrology series continues with my personal favourite, the sugar pine or Pinus lambertiana. This is a multi-cache that will take you eastward up CA ST 20 several miles. It's an ideal bridge cache to take you from Nevada City up towards Bear Valley and the numerous caches located there. The point of my "Intro to Dendro" caches is to introduce native plants/trees to geocachers so they can have a better understanding of their natural environment. Sugar pine is the focus of this cache and your ability to recognize and identify one is key to making this an easier find (especially from a very long ways away..."#4, the Larch" -- Monty Python). Sugar pines are the largest and tallest species of the Pinus genus in the world, typically reaching heights of 175 feet and more. The largest sugar pine is in Yosemite Park and is 270-feet tall and 111 inches in diameter. I've seen a 230-foot tree that was 124 inches in diameter north of Weaverville. Only the sequoias can out-match sugar pines for large conifers. Sugar pines live for 500 years and more. The most remarkable aspects of the sugar pine is their general gestalt: long clear stems (trunk), long horizontal branches high in the crown of the tree; branches are asymmetrical and give the tree a wind-blown sculpted look; this gestalt is so distinct that is easy to identify the profile of a sugar pine from up to five miles away (try it with binoculars at the Washington Overlook vista looking north towards the Spanish Mine). The bark of the tree is brownish-red to purplish, forming large puzzle-piece plates on older trees (see linked photos of 10-foot diameter tree). Needles form small clumps that extend along the entire length of branches. The needles are in five-needle fascicles (bundles) and are 5 cm to 10 cm in length; they have a slight bluish tint to the evergreen colour. A relatively famous trait of the tree is the large pine cones they have, growing from 10-inches to two-feet in length, that hang from the end of branches like massive pendants. Watch yourself on a windy day around sugar pines as a cone falling from 100+-feet is likely to lay you out. Sugar pines can be found from Central Oregon south into Baja California with isolated populations scattered through Nevada. In California, sugar pines can be found from 2,000-feet to 10,000-feet elevation where it tends to hybridize with other white pines such as limber and western white pines. Sugar pine gets its common name from its sugary resin which John Muir was reputed to have used as syrup. Be careful about eating it though...it's quite a laxative! Sugar pine is one of the more valuable commercial species in logging as its pure white wood and even grain is highly prized for finished woodwork. You may see sugar pines that have dead branches or strange festering sores on their stems. This is caused by the disease White Pine Blister-rust. Numerous trees died from this disease in the mid-portion of the 20th Century as the disease migrated from the East Coast (and Europe originally). Forest geneticists have been working for decades to "breed" a resistant variety of sugar pine to assure this tree does not become extinct as it was predicted to do in the 1950's by 2040. Things are looking good thus far for the tree's survival. This is a three stage multi-cache. The first two stages have small containers with the coordinates to the next stage written on the container and on a "official geocache" disclaimer sheet. With all stages, let the sugar pine cones guide you to your goal. It's vital that the stages and cache be replaced as found, using the ample natural camoflauge to hide things. Use the sugar pine cones... Stage 1: Parking is impromptu so be sure to pull fully off the road in a spot with good visibility. The locals drive a lot faster than I remember ten years ago... The coordinates should bring you to a large sugar pine. This tree has some conspicuous orange paint markings. This paint signified that the tree was to be left during the logging operations that took place in '96. I marked this tree with the paint in '94 as part of the prep work for the timber sale. The locals thought the tree was marked for cutting and later that year had scraped off the paint. This minor environmental action is common except in this case they would have caused this tree to be cut down. I reapplied some orange paint, leaving my tell-tale "butt mark", the large X. "X" doesn't mark the spot but you're close. The most important aspect of stage one (besides the coords to Stage 2) is to take a good look at the sugar pine. Notice the branch angles, the shape of the tree's crown, the position of the pine cones — you'll need to be able to identify this tree's appearance to make the last two stages easier. Stage 2: Water and privies available. Park by the phone booth. Stage 3: Parking is readily available at the gated road. This portion is far from level so be careful with your footing, especially when it's damp. You'll find yourself in a stand of large trees that are used by the US Forest Service for administering their tree-mensuration tests for field crews. *Statistical information from Trees and Shrubs of California by John D. Stuart and John O. Sawyer, 2001. Additional Hints ( Decrypt ) 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) [Stage 1:] Fbhgu fvqr ng gur onfr, fznyy nygbvq gva. [Stage 2:] Sebz qevaxvat sbhagnva, ornevat 53 qrterrf (mreb qrpyvangvba). [Stage 3:] Orgjrra 12 naq 69. Er-uvqr vg jryy!!!