Pineola Fern Grotto and a Train Wreck Traditional Cache
Pineola Fern Grotto and a Train Wreck
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
One of a series of historically themed caches along the Withlacoochee State Trail. Camo'd waterproof plastic gear box with log. BYO pen. Beware the thorny smilax vines.
The Pineola Fern Grotto is a unique, lush habitat of limestone outcroppings and bluffs situated near the Withlacoochee River on private property about a half mile east. Since the early 1880's the grotto has been well known by prominent botanists who would visit to collect, document and study the rare ferns that thrived there. The area sourrounding the grotto was pristine in the 1880's but by the early 1900's Pineola was bustling with limerock mining activity and has since been heavily impacted by industry, invasive plants and human activity. Even so, if you're observant, you can still find small lime rock grottos and ferns right here on the trail. If you had been here on the morning of 18 October 1956 you would have been surrounded by a tangled, smoldering jumble of derailed freight cars with their engine, also derailed and in flames 600 feet south across Istachatta Road where it met a northbound freight train head on. To learn more about the 1956 Pineola Train Wreck, read the interpretive sign 0.1 mile south near the covered picnic bench.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Bs pbhefr lbh'yy svaq guvf va n fznyy yvzrfgbar tebggb arne fbzr yhfu sreaf.