This is one of the 12 Caches, each representing a point of the Scout Law, for the Eagle Project of Will Shamblen from Troop 18 Cazenovia. These locations are the sites of previous Scouts’ Eagle Projects. This cache is hidden along the rail trail of the historic Lehigh Valley RR Station in New Woodstock, NY. At the station there is a caboose, picnic tables, and several other historic pieces of equipment on display. Following the old rail bed is a hiking trail heading towards Cazenovia but ending a little short at Balina Rd. This 3 mile hiking trail is great for biking, skiing, and snowmobiling, at least when not too wet. There’s plenty of parking here, a large common lot for the trail head and old hardware store.
There’s an extra special puzzle to go along with this cache: Imagine you are a Maintenance of Way repair worker along this section of the rails. Head to the caboose to retrieve your “tools” (the final coordinates), before heading up the line to your destination to make track repairs. Once at the caboose, record the serial number off the side, under the NYC (New York Central RR) label, and do the following calculations to each corresponding digit. First Digit: add 4. Second Digit: subtract 7. Third Digit: Subtract 3. Fourth Digit: Subtract 2. Keep the Fifth Digit the same. This new 5 digit number will fill in these blanks in the final coordinates: N 42 ##.### W 075 51.712.
Enjoy the short hike and happy hunting everyone!