Trimont Mountain Mine Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A long abandoned mica mine. Will require some bushwhacking. Recommend experienced cachers only. It is one of five caches I have placed in this area requiring about a 5 mile hike to find all of them. Can do it in 3 to 4 hours. This is the most difficult of the five. Named for nearby Trimont Mountain which is just northeast of the mine.
Topo maps of the area show many mines in Macon County, NC. They are usually mica mines which were open pits rather than the tunnel type mines we see in old Western movies.
There is little left to remind anyone this was a mine except for the piles of dirt, rocks and holes in the ground that now have good size trees growing out of them. During WWII mica was vital to the war effort for insulation material in communications equipment and other uses.
Macon County is known for its ruby mining and other gem stones but mica is often overlooked.
The cache is a standard ammo can.
The hunt begins at the parking area for the Bartram Trailhead west of Franklin, NC, at the end of Wallace Branch Road. Take the Bartram Trail. (Yellow blazes) You will cross a small foot bridge at a waterfall. Beyond this bridge you will come to an intersection of the trail and an abandoned logging road. Take the logging road to the right. It looks more like a trail rather than an old road. You will begin a steep climb. You can grab my Bartram Side Trail cache on the way up or down. It's on the same route.
Look for a smaller trail to the right at coordinates:
35 degrees 11.132'
083 degrees 26.030'
Take this trail as it will not require as much bushwhacking in the summer months. It's basically just a hunter's foot path.
I don't recommend this cache for small children as there are lots of briars and during the warm months look out for snakes.
What you will find are piles of dirt and bits of mica and quartz lying around the area. This is only one of the dozens of mica mines scattered around Macon and surrounding counties. Watch your footing at all times. Please do not consider caching this area alone as it is far from a phone and cell phone service is spotty at best. The GPS signal may bounce around a bit due to the terrain.
It's about a two mile round trip to the mine. It's a beautiful hike and the trail follows a clear mountain stream.
Have fun.
FTF MXCR & LL100
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g or fghzcrq.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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