Hells Deep Furnace Brook Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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a trip into the deeping coombs of Furance Brook
Our cache is placed with a bit of poetic license to Helms Deep and Tolkien. You will not find the cache at the posted coords, but what you will find is the spillway where Furance Brook empties into Onondaga Creek. Furnace Brook ends it's run with the last half mile under the homes and streets of Syracuse in the "valley" section of the city. True coords for the cache would be no good to you anyways as your unit will not pick up the satellites while you are underground. While I was placing the cache I did happen to have cellphone coverage while standing under one of the several manholes I saw along the way. I turned off my headlamp and on a sunny day did manage to see small rays of light from acouple of them . Still I would have to say wear high rubber boots and have a back up light just in case.
I started my trip by canoe from the put in at Kelly Park on Dorwin Springs road upstream from the cache in Nedrow. After passing a couple of both highway and pedestrian bridges I came to the Elmhurst ave. bridge buildt in 1991 and knew I was getting close. As I saw the spillway ahead I tied off to a small tree under a bunch of grape vines. Soon I was on my way up the creek without a paddle, just my cache to hide, a camera and my headlamp. Oh yeah, rubber boots dude!
Most of the tunnel is poured concrete when you get to the second of two limestone block archways you know you are there. A very strange splattering of reflective spots above the cache looks like stars ,but please dont touch them as I found out they wipe right off and we would like to save them for future cachers. Both these arches were here before the creek was sent under ground many years ago. I won't say which street up top they are near to keep cachers from trying to enter from above. At the right spot you will find the items in the pictures I have posted to help you find the cache.
After placing the cache I continued up stream to the spot where Furnace Brook goes under ground in Elmwood Park, coords for which I have posted on the cache page. After allowing my GPS to grab a few satellites I found out I had travelled .52 miles as the crow flies underground. Now to hike back to the canoe. took several pics along the way and made it back to my ride. I went solo but used my cellphone before, during, and after my trip inside to keep in touch with Maria.
This was a creek clean up day 9/11/10 and shortly I caught up with a bunch of the creek rats as they cleaned up a lot of trash and junk from Onondaga Creek. The creek comes with a bit of history and from Balentyne road down stream it is no longer a true creek. It has been dug out and lined with both concrete and limestone block. This was done to prevent erosion and aid in drainage for parts of the city south of down town. This was a killer creek with quite a few drowning victims over the years. While on this part of the creek all the way to the inner harbor you can see the the steel rail steps placed every few hundred feet for grabbing on to if you were being swept away. They are staggered on both sides of the waterway and go from bottom to top to allow any one lucky enough to grab on, a means to climb all the way out.
Please remember at no time do you have to go after our cache but the trip is most excellent. A canoe is not needed we guess but that was the best way for me. Only one picture will be posted on the cache page and the cache is in the picture all other helpful pics will be posted on our first log.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
bayl erq oevpx ng gjb b'pybpx