Keystone Arches Multi-Cache
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A four-mile hike, alongside waterfalls and rapids, to one of America’s engineering wonders, and a geocache.
In the 1830s, America was thwarted in its westward expansion by the Berkshire Hills. Traversed today by automobile on Route 20, know as Jacobs Ladder for its climb through the charming Hill Towns east of the Berkshires, these mountains and rugged gorges were first conquered by the Western Railroad over a rail bed built by Alexander Birnie and engineered by George Washington Whistler. Whistler’s triumph was ten stone arch keystone bridges, built of one-ton stones fitted together without mortar. These arches, many still in use by the CSX railroad that continues operation along the same right of way that cross-crosses the Westfield River, bridge potions of the most challenging white water in Massachusetts; feeding the course used each year on the third weekend in April for the oldest continuously run white race in America.
Whistler’s arches became world famous, and prompted Czar Nicholas to place him in charge of Russian rail engineering, including the design of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. His son, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (named for Whistler’s friend and surveyor) grew up in the Court of St. Petersburg where he developed an interest in painting and went on to produce a profile of his mother in a rocking chair now famous as “Whistler’s Mother.”
During this century, the famous arches became increasingly inaccessible and seemingly lost to history except during one weekend in May when the local Town of Chester included tours as part of its annual “Chester on Track” Railfair. Recently, however, a group known as the Friends of the Keystone Arches opened a safe hiking trail to several of the least accessible bridges. This multi-part Geocache takes you to waterfalls and nearby access to a map of the Keystone Arch Bridges (KAB) route that you can use to navigate a four-mile round trip hike up river to several of the arches. Match locations to those shown in the Guide and take photographs in the same setting before returning to the cache, making your exchange, and completing the logbook.
Due to relation, this cache is available for ADOPTION. Contact GeoCare.
If you like this cache, consider supporting the Friends of the Keystone Arches, P.O. Box 276, Huntington, MA 01050.
BEWARE: The area is frequented by people of all ages with local knowledge who dive and swim into the water, hunt, use motorized vehicles along the tracks and other hazardous areas, and otherwise engage in attractive but very dangerous activities. Avoid the area during hunting season (no hunting on Sundays), and follow the routes and warnings in the guide. You can bring children and pets, but only with the closest supervision.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Treasures
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