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First aidPrevent Wildfires LbNA #59605

Owner:Shamoose
Plant date:Jul 9, 2011
Location: Myles Standish State Forest
City:Carver
County:Plymouth
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:1
Found by: GodGirl
Last found:Jul 13, 2023
Status:FFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jul 25, 2018
Park at the Headquarters of the Myles Standish State Forest. Behind the Interpretive Center, walk to the "loop road." Walk along this paved road to the amphitheater on your right. You will get to a brown metal gate at the end of this road with a sign about the CCC amphitheater and the paved bike path on the right. Follow this bike path up the hill. If you look to the left you will see the top of Smokey the Bear's hat. Continue on the path and it will level out for a quick bit before climbing up a slight hill and leveling out again. This path runs parallel to the road and you can hear cars sometimes. You will walk along a long section of this straight, flat path for a few minutes with low vegetation and less trees. When the path starts to bend towards the right and the large pine trees start up again, stop at that bend and look towards your right. You will see lots of fallen logs on both sides of this path. On the right, behind all the fallen logs, there is a large stump that is uprooted about 10 steps in from the path. You can clearly see it from the bend in the path. The box you seek is hidden under the roots on the left edge of the stump. Please re-hide it where you found it. To return back to headquarters you may retrace your steps in the direction you just came from or continue straight on the bike path. Just beyond 3/4 a mile, the trail leads up a small hill and back down to a sharp left hand trail at the bottom of the hill. This trail leads toward the water. Follow this trail to the end where there will be a sign post with the #13 on it. Take a right here and follow the trail, eventually passing a sign post that says #14. Always bear towards the left when another footpath branches off. This path will bring you back to the "loop road" where you started. The round trip takes about 20 minutes.

The history of Smokey the Bear: The Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history. On August 9, 1944, Smokey the Bear was born as the voice to prevent fires. Walt Disney let the forest fire prevention campaign use Bambi on their campaign posters originally, but it was a temporary loan and they would need to find their own animal. The first poster of Smokey depicted him pouring a bucket of water on a campfire in 1944. Over time, he became one of the countries most recognized fictional characters. The slogans have changed over the years from "Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires" to its current slogan "Only you can prevent wildfires." Their message that people could prevent accidental fires is an important one to remember, especially in this forest.
Myles Standish has had a remarkable history with fire. The Great Fire in 1957 wiped out 3,673 acres in the forest and 15,000 acres total with abutting land. This fire burned from the Plymouth entrance between Widgeon Pond and Curlew Pond all the way to Barrett's Pond and almost to the Forest Headquarters. Then another massive fire in 1964 from the other direction in Wareham going through Charge Pond and around Fearing Pond was a substantial hit to the forest. That fire destroyed 1,845 acres in the forest and 6,300 total acres with abutting land. Some more fires occurred throughout the following years, the last one in 1985. If we follow the motto of Smokey the Bear, we can prevent wildfires like these from occurring and destroying the Pine Barrens of the forest.
NOTE: Before you set out you must read and agree to the Waiver of Responsibility and Disclaimer.