Update 11/1/03. Hello! We are the owners of this geocache. We
recently re-visted it and found it to be in good shape. We added a
black fanny pack to the contents already there. We took the chain
and lock that had been keeping it secure, and simply replaced it in
the same spot in the same 5-trunk tree. We were concerned because
no one had logged onto this cache page for over a year. We were
relieved to find it still in place.
The Fund is hidden along the headwaters of one of the parallel
streams running down into Laurel Fork. The hike to this cache will
take you through a number of different eco-zones, from deciduous
forest to upland "bog-like" vegetation to wetlands grass.
The geocache is in an olive drab ammo box that is wedged about
waist-high in the fork of a five-trunk tree. You will probably have
to tip the box at an angle to open the latch. To a watchful eye,
the ammo box, and the rock slab on top of it, can be seen from some
distance across the meadowlike area.
Both the north and south State routes into this general region
run through West Virginia. After turning off the paved road, there
is a good gravel road that should not require a sports utility
vehicle, except perhaps in snow. One route to the cache can be
accessed from this gravel road. The other takes you on yet another
back road that may require an SUV. For the coordinates we have
given, we averaged over 300 measurements on our Garmin emap, with
5-6 satellites and 20-30 feet accuracy.
The upland meadows of all the streams have series of beaver dams
and ponds, which are spectacular - please take care not to disturb.
There are no beavers in the immediate area of the geocache. We saw
deer, wild turkeys, hawks, and even a bobcat. "Pack it in and pack
it out." There are few resources for visitors and trail blazes are
often non-existent. Good luck! It's remote, but worth a visit.
On our 11/1/03 re-visit, we took the coordinates again, and
found them to be very similar. We got N 38 degrees 33.225, and W
079 degrees 39.545. Once you make it to this remote area, you
should have no trouble finding the cache.