West Virginia State Star #01 Mystery Cache

★★★ Welcome to the West Virginia State Star ★★★

Welcome to the Mountain State, a geocacher's playground for all adventures big and small. The West Virginia State Star is a 51 piece geo-art series located along the rolling banks of the Monongahela River near Morgantown West Virginia. This isn't your typical geo-art, however. Spanning over 11-miles, these caches will have you climbing your way to a variety of unique D/T combinations. So whether you are trying to fill your fizzy grid, working on a challenge, or just simply looking for some exercise, the West Virginia State Star has something for everyone!

This is the second iteration of the West Virginia State Star geo-art and part of a bigger nationwide project. The original WV State Star was located in Charles Town and placed by TazScouter. After five years in the panhandle, the WV State Star now calls North Central West Virginia home. 

What To Look For?

All caches in the West Virginia State Star series are either small-sized pill bottle containers or ammo cans. Pill bottles are wrapped in camo duct tape and securely fastened to limbs along the trail. Keep the terrain rating in mind while searching for these caches. Inside each container is a film canister which contains the logbook in a bag. I'm aware this is annoying and tedious, but it is the best setup to ensure all the logs remain as dry as possible. Ammo cans are hidden in the standard fashion.

PLEASE replace each cache exactly as you found it. This is a very heavily traveled trail with lots of muggle traffic. If you cannot locate one or more of the caches, please refrain from replacing the containers, even if it is obvious where the cache *might* go. I will keep a close eye on the logs and perform any maintenance that might be required. As a result, make any notes in your log that might be helpful to me and others.

Most caches will have very explicit hints when necessary. Others might have limited clues to appease a specific difficulty rating. If you need help with any specific cache, either solving the puzzle or locating the final, do not hesitate to send me a message using the geocaching message system.

Rolling logs, leap-frogging, sharing GPX files on geo-art databases, or other unethical geo-art practices will make me very sad. Please be respectful of the effort that went into creating this trail and the integrity of the game. Thank you.

Parking Along The Trail

As previously described, this is NOT a power trail, and in true WV style, you'll need to lace up your hiking boots to tackle this series. The series is designed to be completed in chunks of five and in numerical order from start to finish. The entirety of the series spans eleven miles, or twenty-two miles round trip. As a result, I suggest breaking the series up utilizing the three convenient parking spots listed below. It could also be advantageous to stagger multiple cars along the trail if you are attempting to complete the trail in a single outing.

Parking #1 - N 39° 33.825' W 80° 03.000' (Suggested parking for caches #1-30 at Opekiska.)

Parking #2 - N 39° 33.448' W 79° 59.957' (Suggested parking for caches #31-45 at Little Falls.)

Parking #3 - N 39° 35.234' W 79° 58.672' (Suggested parking for caches #46-50 at Uffiington.)

Solving For The Final Coordinates

To solve for the final coordinates for the 40 mystery caches, you'll need to take a virtual tour of West Virginia's various State Parks. Each cache page will feature a stunning picture from around the state, and it is your objective to figure out from which park the picture was taken. Typing the name of the park, exactly as it is shown in the list below, into the geochecker on each page will result in the final coordinates. Each park is only used once. For the 10 bonus wherigo caches, you will find code words at the top of all the logbooks throughout the series. All preliminary caches for each wherigo feature the same codeword, so you only need to find one of the four. (Example: Caches #1-#4 all contain the same code word that will grant you access to the final coords for cache #5.) Typing this code word into the cartridge linked for download on each page will display the final coordinates for that cache. Once all ten code words have been successfully entered, the coordinates for cache #51 will be unlocked. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is; you'll get the hang of it. 

Enjoy The Other Caches Along The Trail!

After you solve all the puzzles in the West Virginia State Star series, you may notice there are some gaps along the trail. While this could be a result of private property along the trail, such as the case between #45 and #46. It might also be one of the already existing caches previously published along the trail. I highly encourage you to solve all the puzzles and check out the other hides before hitting the trail.

GCKH8D - Lost Beechwood , GC4RWXP - The MATRIX , GC6KZG5 - Are You Smarter Than an AP Chemistry Student? , GC191BM - Huangdi on the Mon , GCZRRZ - Impeator on the Mon , GC3VQW9 - A little Challenging , GCZNX8 - Wanna go to the Can on the Mon , GC99R9J - Triple Falls

Hitting The Trail

So you've solved the 40 preliminary puzzles and reviewed all the information available on this page, what's next? It's time to hit the trail of course! Don't hesitate to reach out if you encounter any problems along the way. Please be careful and know your physical limit. Signing your fake name on a scrappy sheet of paper is not worth a trip to the ER, or worse. I hope you have as much fun finding these caches as I did placing them. I look forward to reading all your logs; especially those that are more than TFTC or a copy-paste.