The cache is placed on NVRP property
(with permission), just off the W&OD trail. The park is
open from dawn to dusk. Please do not look for the cache
outside of these hours.
NOTICE: Please be respectful of the posted park hours. If you enter
the park after hours you are trespassing. If you are stopped you
can be ticketed or arrested and will put the future of geocaching
in the parks in jeopardy.
There are no fees to enjoy the park or trail
- Do not pick up items unless you will drop them off somewhere
else relatively soon.
- Log your items in and out of the cache quickly. If you discover
an item in the cache that is not logged yet, give the other cacher
a chance to log the drop, before logging your pickup.
- Identify the item's mission before going to the cache or by
reading the info sheet at the cache. Help the traveler along in its
mission. Leave it there if you can't help.
The information below was taken from various web sites. Please
visit the links for more information.
This station is a rest stop along the
W&OD trail.
There are a lot of muggles taking advantage of the station
facilities. The cache has been hidden well off the trail but please
use stealth when entering the area of the hidden cache.
This station takes its name from the fact that the Smiths, a
fairly prominent family that once grew produce and raised livestock
in the vicinity of Ashburn, Virginia saw to the construction of a
railway siding whose switch the family would throw periodically in
order to bring trains to a loading area on the farm itself.
In 1916 there was a total of 65 stations on the W&OD, to
include those at the beginning (Georgetown) and the end of the line
(Bluemont).
This waiting shed was located just west of the current location of
Loudoun County Parkway. The grade for the siding is still visible
on the south side of the trail. The road now known as Smiths Switch
Road was formerly Normans Station Road, named after the waiting
shed of the same name at that location. Please see the
picture/blueprint in the gallery.
The 100-foot-wide W&OD has been called "the skinniest park
in Virginia." But it is also one of the longest parks, 45 miles of
paved trail for walking, running, bicycling and skating and 32
miles of adjacent gravel trail for horseback riding. Built on the
roadbed of the former Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, the
multi-use W&OD Trail runs through the urban heartland and
countryside of Northern Virginia. The park is open from dawn to
dusk. There are no fees to enjoy the park or trail.
Please follow the: 