The cache is not at the listed coordinates. Find the answers to the questions below and use the formula to calculate the final coordinates.
The Commonwealth of Virginia incorporated the Blue Ridge Railroad on March 5, 1849 to build 17 miles across the Blue Ridge Mountains. The route required four tunnels, by far the longest of which was 4273-foot Blue Ridge Tunnel near Afton, Virginia. The original tunnel was replaced by the new, larger Blue Ridge Tunnel in 1944 and has been renamed in honour of Crozet. The picture above shows the Eastern (Afton) entrance as it appeared in 2012, before construction work on the rail trail started.
Claudius Crozet, chief engineer of the Blue Ridge Railroad, was born in France and served in the French military under Napoleon. After Napoleon's defeat, Crozet immigrated to the United States and served on the faculty of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before appointment as principal engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works.
Under Crozet's direction, construction of Blue Ridge Tunnel began in 1850 from both Waynesboro (west) and Afton (east) ends without the use of vertical shafts. With only hand-drills, pickaxes, and black powder, crews of Irish laborers and African American slaves drilled through bedrock for nearly seven years, far longer than expected. Frequent rockfalls necessitated temporary timber lining. Further, with the tunnel's western portal nearly 60 feet higher than the east, water drainage proved problematic when drilling from the west. Crozet designed a siphon of nearly 2,000 feet to drain the water, likely the longest siphon constructed by that time. Then in the summer of 1854, a cholera outbreak halted construction and killed dozens of workers in and near the tunnel.
Despite such obstacles, the two ends met December 29, 1856, just inches off alignment. Brick lining was applied to the westernmost 1479 feet of the tunnel. Ventilation shafts were not required as the steady grade would provide a natural chimney. Blue Ridge Tunnel opened for service in April 1858. The state-financed Blue Ridge Railroad became part of the Virginia Central Railroad upon completion.
The rail road and the tunnel played an important role in the Civil War by allowing Stonewall Jackson to move his troops quickly across the Blue Ridge mountains. Shortly after the Civil War, the Virginia Central was merged into the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railway in 1869.
Construction of a parallel replacement tunnel began in 1941 and completed in 1944. The new bore accommodated larger railcars and reduced grades by tunneling approximately 20 feet lower than the original bore. The new tunnel assumed the Blue Ridge Tunnel name while the original, abandoned in 1944, is now known as Crozet Tunnel.
After 20 years of effort, Nelson County Parks and Recreation opened the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail system to pedestrians and bicyclists Saturday, Nov. 21 2020 just 700 feet below the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap in Afton. The trail has two access points, a 12-spot parking lot can be found at 215 Afton Depot Lane and a trailhead situated just east of Waynesboro at 483 Three Notched Mountain Highway that has 25 parking spaces and two oversized areas for small buses. At just over 2.25 miles one way, the crushed stone path offers the explorer a chance to travel back in time to touch the original pin scars from the 1850s. The trail is open from sunrise to sunset.
Start at Afton Depot (Trailhead), and collect answers to the following questions as you approach the Eastern tunnel entrance. The terrain is suitable for strollers and wheelchairs but it’s a bit of a walk from parking to the cache and back.
Please use stealth and move quickly; use the (very explicit!) hint.
What is the year on the front page of the "Contractors Book"? Answer = A
How many Augusta County residents signed a petition blaming Claudius Crozet for delays on the Blue Ridge Railroad construction? Answer (number) = B
Claudius Crozet divided the Blue Ridge Railroad into construction sections; what is the number of the section that contains Brookville tunnel? Answer = C
What is the number of the section that contains Little Rock tunnel? Answer = D
From which parish in County Cork, Ireland were the pictured starving youngsters? Eight letters; sum of letter values (A=1, B=2 etc.) = E
What was the daily pay for floorers after a strike in 1853? Sum of all individual integer digits in the amount as written on the information board = F
Now you can calculate the final coordinates:
NEW formula as of 15-Aug-2025!
N 38°0[A+B+C-E-F^2]/1000
W 078°5[A/C+B*(C+D)-D+(E-F+C)*F]/1000