Athena's Passageway Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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A traditional cache dedicated to our new puppy, Athena, hidden in a very special area along Summersville Lake, located just south of Summersville, West Virginia.
From U.S. Route 19, turn onto Airport Road. If traveling north, this is a left-hand turn; if coming south, turn right. Follow Airport Road until you see the Long Point Trail sign and a closed red gate just beyond. Pull off and park on either side of the road but do not block the opening of the gate. Proceed on foot from this point. After a short distance, you will see some "No Trespassing" signs on the left. These signs are for the winter RV & boat storage area of a local private campground - not the trail. Next, you will come to a closed blue gate at the old archery range. Walk past the gate and through the archery range until you come to a second blue gate and another trail sign. Continue on out the trail past this gate for about .20 mile until you come to a slightly overgrown dirt road going off to the left at N38° 13.887, W080° 51.753. Walk out this road a short way until you arrive at a large cleared field. Proceed across the field to the far end where you will find an overgrown access road for the old shooting range. If you start seeing lane signs and the remnants of targets, you have re-entered the woods at the right place. Continue on until the old road splits at the Shooting Lane #26 sign. Take the trail that goes downhill and to the right. Just follow your GPS unit from there. Stay on the trail as much as possible, although you may have to detour around some areas of thick overgrowth. You will soon come to a place where two underground springs come to the surface and form a small stream. The hiding place is nearby.
Cache is in a 1.2 quart Lock & Lock container. Initial contents are: a toy car, Smokey Bear pin, pencil sharpener, magic towel, "Drugs Are Lame" wristband, 3 fossils with descriptive cards, mini playing cards, dinosaur magnet, 2 polished glass accent gems, 3 foreign coins in holders, and a log book with pencil and pen.
This cache is located in the most densely forested area of Summersville Lake. There are lots of fallen trees, thick Rhododendron undergrowth, and heavy tree canopy cover. I hid the cache in the winter, so the coordinates are pretty accurate. But, if you go for it when the leaves are on the trees and only small patches of sunlight penetrate to the forest floor, you are definitely going to have satellite reception problems. However, the combination of your GPSr, my trail directions and the clue should, hopefully, make your hunt a success! If you decide to explore the area further, you will find some nice high views of the lake nearby, but beware of the cliffs - it's a long way down!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
N gerr fghzc vf "ebbgrq" va n cnffntrjnl orgjrra gjb tvnag obhyqref.
Treasures
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