"Bluestone" or "Loyalhanna Limestone" is the rock quarried from
numerous locations in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern
Pennsylvania. The suggested route to the cache is a somewhat
overgrown trail which follows an old road through the Longbridge
Quarry (1883) which produced about 100,000 tons of stone per year
including many of the "Belgian Blocks" used to pave the streets of
Pittsburgh. There is a good view of an active quarry operation from
the cache. The entrance to a quarry mine with passage totaling more
than 30 miles can be seen from this vantage point. This quarry was
known as the McCance Quarry in its early days.
Directions: Route 30 has one-ways through the gorge and in the
vicinity of the parking area for the cache at 40° 16.122', -79°
17.795'. Take care to follow these directions or you may have to
drive 3 miles through the gorge and 3 miles back to get to the
right place. Eastbound (from Pittsburgh) cache seekers should go
approximately 3 miles from the junction of Routes 30 and 217 and
turn right on Fourmile Run Road (SR 2043) toward Darlington. The
parking area is on the left side of the road about 50 yards from
Route 30. Westbound (from Ligonier) cache seekers should turn left
(south) on Darlington Road about 1/2 mile west of the entrance to
Idlewild Park. Go about 3/10 of a mile and turn right on Fourmile
Run Road after crossing the bridge over Loyalhanna Creek. It will
be about .8 miles on Fourmile Run Road to the parking area on the
right. From the parking area, walk across the road and toward Route
30. Look for a path which begins from the SW side of Fourmile Run
Road about 50 feet from Route 30. Follow this path up to the floor
of the quarry. The first stage is a micro hidden in one of a
zillion holes drilled into the face of the quarry by Kennametal to
test their tooling. The second stage is a regular cache hidden at
the far end of the quarry. From this point, find a safe route to
the top of the quarry and proceed to the final cache. There is
little or no trail. Good Luck!
Warning: No dangerous rock climbing is required to get to any
part of this cache! Please be careful. Somebody died here in 1985
when they fell from the edge of the quarry.
