Carolina Compass Confusion is all about the Buster Boyd Bridge that spans Lake Wylie across the North Carolina and South Carolina border. Few people realize that this seemingly ordinary bridge is in fact extraordinarily unique in that your compass will certainly confuse you. To cross the Buster Boyd Bridge from the North Carolina side into South Carolina, you are actually travelling north! And to cross from the South Carolina side into North Carolina, you are actually travelling south! This is the only bridge in the United States where you travel “the opposite direction” to get from a North state to a South state and vice versa.
Today you are going to do something you probably haven’t done before. You are going to walk south from SC to NC, and back north from NC to SC.
Details & Facts:
- You will be walking to a few waypoints along the bridge. The locations of each waypoint are listed below. One waypoint doesn’t lead to the next, but you still need to visit each location to gathering information that will lead you to the final cache location. There are no physical caches to find at each waypoint - only at the final GZ.
- The Buster Boyd Bridge has raised pedestrian paths on both sides and you will not need to cross any roads. Walking across the bridge is allowed and should be safe, but there are no guardrails separating the sidewalks from the roadway so I recommend strong supervision of any small children.
- This is not a park & grab. The total round-trip walk will be exactly one mile. I like telling people this up front. But most of that is over the beautiful, picturesque Lake Wylie.
- 100% of the journey is flat (no steps) and 98% is paved.
- This should be obvious, but never stop your car on the bridge!
- Regarding the name of the cache: a compass would be cool to look at to prove that you’re travelling in “the opposite direction” but it is definitely not required to find this cache.
This cache contains a hand-carved letterboxing stamp but you must bring your own ink pad. A non-permanent magic marker could also be used to ink the stamp.- This cache was planted with proper permission, but it’s not who you think it is so please don’t ask anybody nearby for help.
Parking:
Free public parking is available at the Lake Wylie boat launch in Lake Wylie, SC. This is right next to a restaurant but please do not park in their lot unless you plan to be a patron. The GPS coordinates of where to park are N 35° 06.471’ W 81° 02.424’.
Stage #1:
Go to N 35° 06.111’ W 81° 02.402’. This is not the exact center of the bridge but you are now standing directly on the state line. (It’s where the Catawba River used to be before becoming Lake Wylie.) Gather up the following clues before moving on to the next stage. When you do move on you’ll be traveling from SC to NC but be heading south.
A = Total number of automobile traffic lanes crossing the bridge
B = Number of horizontal guardrails along each side of the bridge (not the total for both sides)
C = Number of hex bolts in the span joint across the sidewalk
Stage #2:
Continue south and stop at N 35°06.040’ W 81°02.385’. You will find a geodesic survey disc, but unforunately it is not listed on geocaching.com so you won’t be able to log it as found. Gather up the following clues before you travel back over the bridge from NC to SC, but heading north.
DEFG = Year the survey disc was mounted into the bridge foundation
H = Number found within the name of the survey disc (not including the year)
I = Number of letters in the name of the survey disc (not including the year)
Ground Zero:
The coordinates for GZ are as follows:
N 35° EI.ABC
W 81° FD.AG(square root of H)
sumcheck A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I=32
Stealth could be required at certain times!