The Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and WVTim partnered to place this new (2016) and most unique Geotrail. There will be 15 geocaches in this exciting new trail. Many of the caches will not only be “gadget” caches, but many will be powered by a microprocessor, making them "SMART". They will actually interact with you based on your actions, location or something you do. Whether you are taking the time to earn a coin or not, I'm sure you will find the caches on this trail to be unique and challenging.
The first 450 households to find 13 of the 15 will earn their SCBC trackable geocoin.
"SCBC 8 - Night Cache" is the only REQUIRED cache. Each site will have a code word to collect. Rack cards to record these words can be picked up at the I-81 rest stops or at the Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
(THE PIC TO THE RIGHT is the location of the event, the Round House. The Martinsburg Roundhouse is the only cast iron-framed structure of its kind still standing today. It was also the site of the First National Labor Strike of 1877 and was a key site early during the Civil War. There is lots of history here!
The Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau is located at 126 East Race Street, Martinsburg, WV 25401. Their phone number is (304-264-8801). Open 7 days a week; 9am – 5 pm weekdays and 9:00-4:00 weekends. For more information on visiting Martinsburg and surrounding areas, visit Martinsburg Visitor's Center.
Coins will NOT be mailed out. Please refer to the passport for complete validation instructions. We request that all family units, having more than one Geocaching.com caching account, accept one (1) SCBC coin for the trail. This enables us to spread the most smiles to those who visit SMART Caches of Berkeley County Geotrail.
This is a very diverse trail. It has something for all different geocaching interest, a couple nice hikes (<2 miles), some urban caches, a couple cache that requires teamwork, a night cache, a couple physical challenges, "SMART" ammo cans and of course the all to familiar infamous WVTim birdhouses. Each cache is different and in some cases very challenging. There are enough options if you find a cache that you believe is beyond your physical capabilities either skip that one or in one case I provided an alternative solution for solving for the faint of heart. YOU WILL NEED TO READ THE CACHE PAGES on this trail - many of the caches will require you to bring something "like" different types of batteries, matches, flashlights, water, etc, all will require you to bring your A game. If you don't read the cache pages, you will NOT be prepared to solve some of these SMART caches. With the sophistication and expense of these caches we would like to ask you please read instructions carefully and handle them with care..
Two additional Geotrails in this cache friendly county are still active. Gadgets of Berkeley County (GC4XCH3), where there are less than 6 coins left ( May1, 2016), and Mystery Caches of Berkeley County (GC5NEER)
This is a unique trail in two ways.
First: Eleven (11) caches on this trail are a joint effort between two cachers, one in the US and one in Germany. My German friend Olaf (his GC nick is th10gt) and I have emailed daily for nearly a year in development of many of the caches on this trail. Emails sharing ideas, sketches and computer code has not only resulted in this extraordinary trail but a great friendship. Your search will lead you to find a collaborative effort of hundreds of emails, videos and facetime calls. th10gt has many of these same caches (different names) active in Germany. In fact Olaf will be traveling from Germany to be here at this event.
Second: It might be one of the only "SMART" gadget trails in the world. There are many other cache creators in the US building micro processor based geocaches, a few come to our mind we would like to thank for their encouragement and assistance - e.g. hyliston , djwhouse, and ventura_kids. We hope all our efforts give you a most enjoyable experience. Have fun and enjoy your journey.
We hope to make your time here in our beautiful county one you won’t soon forget. You will feel certainly feel a sense of accomplishment when you earn this coin.
Please let us know if we can do anything to help make your visit more enjoyable.
Make a weekend of it! While you are in Berkeley County make sure you look for other caches placed by WVTim, or the Take Me Home Country Roads GeoArt cache by GR8Caches. We have enough to keep you busy for days!