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Tombstone Territory Traditional Cache

Hidden : 2/14/2012
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is in the Eastern Section of Eno River State Park. It is a medium sized Lock-N-Lock with some camouflage hidden about 150 off the Dunnagan Trail. Parking and trailhead at the Old Cole Mill Road access point in Eno River State Park. CO has obtained Permit Number 512-106 and paid the $35 fee for this geocache.

Please access the cache only from the parking/trailhead location and as always, tread lightly. Taking the shortest route to the cache and back is around 2 mi. If you complete Dunnagan's Trail Loop (and you really should) you'll add another 1.2 mi. Park hours vary with day length. Check closing hours at gate when arriving so you don't get locked in!

You can find a trail map at the trail head. From the south end of the parking lot, take the Pea Creek Trail blazed with blue dots. Pea Creek Trail goes down to the river, follows the river under the Cole Mill Road bridge, eventually intersecting with a short loop that follows the river and Pea Creek. Crossing the footbridge will put you on the Dunnagan Loop Trail. At Waypoint approx. N36° 03.742 W78° 58.457 turn left up hill if you wish to take the shortest route to the cache. Going right will continue along the river until you reach an old wagon road where the trail turns left and goes uphill before it loops back.

If you take the shortest route, you won't need to leave the trail until you are about 150' from the cache. Once in the vicinity of GZ, the cache lies to the north of the twin oak. Please leave the cache at least as well hidden as when you found it.

After leaving GC, you should at least continue on another 200 yards to the little cemetery where Catherine Dunnagan is buried. You can see her gravestone (hence the name of the cache) standing among other unmarked graves and the daffodils are already blooming (mid-Feb). A little bit of history about Catherine Dunnagan: On the Dunnagan Trail in the Eno River State Park, hikers encounter a small graveyard, and it frequently piques the interest of the curious. Chris Graham, History PhD candidate at UNC-G who keeps the blogsite Whig Hill, wrote in 2005 of walking there, accompanied by his border collie Lizzie.

"So we went to the Cole Mill section . . . and hiked around the Pea Ridge and Dunnagan trails. At the top of the latter, on a wooded bluff overlooking the river, is a small cemetery with a smatter of unmarked slate headers* and one engraved stone marker. It reads 'P. Catharine Dunnagan / Born / M[ar]ch 7, 1826 / Died / Jan. 6, 1914'." You can read more about Catherine here: (visit link)

Just beyond the gravesite, there is a heap of stones where the chimney of a farmhouse once stood. This area is surrounded by daffodils, too. Take a moment to contemplate the hardy folk who eked out a living on the rocky, clay soils of Durham and Orange Counties.

From here you can continue on taking the right fork in about 0.3 mi which will take you down to a trail along the river that will take you back to your car.

Cache is filled with swag for young and old. There is a travel bug attached to Phargo Phraugh in the cache. His goal is to get to Norwalk, CT.

There is also an unactivated frog travel tag for the first to find.

Big, hearty congratulations to mossyfeet, FIRST TO FIND!!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vg'f va n objy. Ohg abg gung xvaq bs objy.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)