The Guns of Fort McGilvray Traditional Cache
The Guns of Fort McGilvray
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Bring a flashlight for the underground fort, an amazing place to explore, with dozens of pitch black rooms and corridors.
The cache is outside, at a great viewspot. Don't climb down the slope, the cliff edge is just below. The container is an ammo can, looking completely at home in this area which had intense military activity sixty years ago.
You can travel to Caines Head by boat or kayak, or hike the 4.5 mile coastal trail from Lowell Point. The trail is only passable at low tide, so have a tide book and plan to stay out at least 12 hours for the next low. Water taxis can drop you off and/or pick you up if you want to make a one-way hike fit your schedule.
At North Beach, the site of the remains of the old Army dock, there is great camping, with restrooms available. The 2 mile trail to Fort McGilvray is well-cleared, revealing the bed of the old military road, and ascends through the forest to 660 feet above the ocean. Get out your flashlight and walk through the rooms of the fort with its massive concrete walls. There are even stalactites on the ceilings in places where water has leached lime out over the years. The floor has open spots, watch your step!
There is a hallway connecting the two huge pits where 6-inch artillery guns were placed to protect the important harbor in Seward from the Japanese invasion of Alaska during the early part of WWII. New trees have grown up obscuring much of the view, but beautiful Thumb Cove and Fox Island are easily seen. Don't miss the sighting room on top of the fort, where spotters could take bearings on targets in the bay entrance.
Enjoy the fort, find the cache, get some pictures, then consider hiking the 1.5 mile side road to South Beach on the way back down. Numerous buildings that once housed five hundred soldiers are in various stages of collapse in the woods above South Beach. A treat for canine companions are old green fire hydrants looking bizarrely out-of-place in the trees.
Exploring Fort McGilvray and Caines Head is a fine adventure. Did we mention, bring a flashlight?
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pbaprnyrq ol pbapergr.
Treasures
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