Start at the center of our Solar System, at “The Sun”,
and visit all 8 planets gaining clues to Pluto’s location.
Supply stops (caches) are located along your voyage for you to log
your progress and exchange supplies. It is a long and arduous
journey, but no one said interplanetary travel would be easy.
Your craft of choice could be your 2 legs or a very sturdy
mountain bike, helmet and hardcore attitude (even when it's dry).
The trail is long and varied, with some steep gradients, road
crossings, water crossings, muddy areas, lots of rocks, roots,
loose stones, sloppy puddles, slippery bridges, wooden walkways,
pricker bushes, poison ivy and the usual seasonal bugs.
Some may want to jockey your heavy transport vehicle as you move
farther from The Sun, but you will loose the sense of vastness, and
beauty, of our Solar System. Docking stations (parking) are located
along your flight path for those that may want to break up their
adventure. A recommended option is to leave a transport near
Neptune and start at the Sun, a journey of about five earth miles
(or 2.8 billion space miles).
- The Middle Brook Trail Solar System (constructed by Eagle
Scouts) starts at
The Sun in Chimney Rock Park in Martinsville.
- Log your launch at The Sun cache, and locate the nearby visible
tag with coordinates for the first planet, Mercury.
- At each planet, record the single digit Clue (for Finding
Pluto) from the plaque and find the visible tag with the
Coordinates for the next planet (Stage).
- Most planets have a cache nearby, see Supply Cache chart below
for the links.
- After visiting all the planets, assemble the Clues to find
"Finding Pluto"
The Solar System
| Celestial Body |
Clue |
Relative Size |
Coordinate |
| Sun |
- |
96 inches |
N40 35.635 W74 33.520 |
| Mercury |
3rd Line, 3rd Digit |
0.33 inch |
? |
| Venus |
2nd Line, 1st Digit |
0.83 inch |
? |
| Earth |
7th Line, 1st Digit |
0.87 inch |
? |
| Mars |
3rd Line, 2nd Digit |
0.45 inch |
? |
| Jupiter |
2nd Line, 3rd Digit |
9.8 inches |
? |
| Saturn |
6th Line, 1st Digit |
8.2 inches |
? |
| Uranus |
2nd Line, 4th Digit |
3.6 inches |
? |
| Neptune |
3rd Line, 2nd Digit |
3.4 inches |
? |
IMPORTANT - The # of Lines in the Clue includes the Planet
Name
and the Digit is a single number, 0 thru 9
Finding Pluto is located at
| N40 |
3 |
Saturn |
. |
Uranus |
Earth |
Venus |
| W74 |
3 |
Neptune |
. |
Jupiter |
Mercury |
Mars |
Substitute the proper Clue for each Planet
The terrain rating on all caches reflect "walking" from The Sun.
Middle Brook Trail Map.
Trail Tips - Print Map
Crossing Gilbride Rd. - trail continues at the end of the
guardrail
After Mars - Take the right fork
Crossing Chimney Rock Rd.- Head downhill to gap/gate in fence
Past Dam - take any gap in the fence to follow southern shore
Titan - take sidetrip down to water to see beaver activity
Newmans Lane - Follow trail along brook
Crim School - take stairs along brook, past birdhouses
Comet Halley - take trail on south side of brook
Neptune - about .45 miles from Neptune, take trail North and cross
brook
Pluto - Take the bridge to nowhere across the creek
FTF Congrats go to mblatch, ericles, moya
crew and veni_vidi_vici !