The End Of The Road Traditional Cache
Hidden : 4/24/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

Pulpit Hill is just to the west of  Katoomba. 

It is the location of
  • a putated convict graveyard; 
  • remains of the 1815 convict built western road (aka Cox's Road, old Bathurst Road); 
  • the site of Blind Paddy's inn; 
  • the fabled Explorers Marked Tree; a
  • and the start of the Six Foot Track to Jenolan Caves.

The hill was named by Governor Macquarie in 1815 "from a large rock on its summit resembling a pulpit." By 1822 a deviation had been made, which the main highway now follows. By 1899 the sandstone pulpit rock on the summit had been broken up by road contractors. The summit now houses a telecommunications tower.

In 1824 the French explorer Lesson wrote:
"M. d’Urville and I climbed this old road with difficulty and we enjoyed the view of enormous precipices, deep chasms, in short the ruins of nature, which impressed us deeply. On this wind-beaten height stand rocks of various shapes. One of them bore the epitaph of a young man who died there in 1822, and whose still fresh grave will make me call this Mount Sepulchre."

If you park at the Explorers Tree carpark (turn left into Nellies Glen Road when travelling west on the Great Western Highway) then follow the rough service road up underneath the powerlines and look at the location I have marked as 'headstones' waypoint, you will spot 2 obvious such graves, you should then be able to spot several other similars. Some claim there are as many as 22 such graves in this spot. 

The cache is hidden just outside (downhill on the highway side) the area partially surrounded by a low rock wall that houses what appears to be rudimentary graves & headstones.

There is an article on the  Blue Mountains City Council website with more discussion on the history of the graves.

NB you can't get back onto the GWH (in either direction) from the Explorers Tree carpark - you need to follow Nellies Glen Road around in a loop, and you will reach the GWH again about 1KM west of the car park.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

onfr bs gerr

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)


Advertising with Us