Years ago there were far fewer caches. A cache and dash 14 years ago still required you to get out of your car and possibly go a couple hundred feet into the woods. Lots of cachers today would argue that a C&D can be found, logged, and you could be on your way in 2 minutes or less. Most of the caches in this area back then were decent hikes, often at the top of mountains and usually requiring at least a quarter mile hike. The nearby Athena cache was one such cache that has survived the test of time.
During this time, we had often found ourselves hiking at least a half mile to mountain vistas and thinking that it would be so much more satisfying if we could find caches all along the trail on our way to the summit. We had thought about starting a series called "On the way to ..." and place such caches along the trail to give geocachers something to find on the way to their ultimate goal.
This is one of those caches that you can find "On the way to" On Top of Old Smokey. You may need a breather on the way anyway, so why not also search for another cache?
Please note that the land owners have no problem with geocaching and permission has been granted, however, they ask that you please adhere to the posted signs - no off-road vehicles. Also, as you should always do anyway, please bring a small bag with you to CITO any trash you may find along the way.
Parking for the east trail head is at the firehouse. The firehouse has confirmed that parking here for hiking is fine but park in the most inaccessible spots and by no means ever block the fire truck bays. The trail head is directly across the street (if perhaps a little further north) from the parking lot.
Enjoy the hike!