Tubal Cain Treasure Hunt Traditional Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
A wonderful hike to this cache that is off the beaten path. Pick some nice weather, bring a lunch, and you'll love this experience.
Tubal Cain Treasure Hunt
Well, actually, the real treasure is the hike to find it! There’s not much in the cache except the logbook and a few old goodies from my shop, but anyone who finds this cache should have both a challenge and fun experience. A good book that describes the trail to the Tubal Cain Mine is the Olympic Mountains Trail Guide by Robert Wood.
To get to the cache, you’ll start out near Sequim, Washington, and find Palo Alto Road off of Highway 101 (48 03.499N, 123 03.078W). You’ll need a map to drive your way back into the Dungeness River watershed on numerous forest roads. There are lots of forks in the roads, and a bridge is out if you take a wrong turn, so if you need help getting to the trailhead, email me first and I can send you a .gpx file with lots of waypoints along the route. The idea is to cross the Dungeness River about 10-12 miles beyond where the pavement ends, then wind your way another 3 ½ miles back up to the trailhead of the Tubal Cain Mine hike. One of the three trailheads for climbing Mount Townsend is also near here.
Once you park your car, you’ll have a nice 3 ½ mile hike up a great trail to a beautiful spot on Copper Creek. When you get near the mine, lots of little trails go here and there, so stay to your right and you’ll find yourself at a really nice picnic spot right on the creek. (The mine is actually about 0.1 miles east of this area, up a hard scrabble hike to the tunnel.)
Set your GPS for these starting point coordinates:
47 degrees 50.933 N
123 degrees 06.153 W
Here you’ll find a large flat boulder (nice place for a lunch stop), right next to the stream and a small fir tree. You MUST find this starting boulder or you’ll never find the cache.
From the boulder, walk north (approx. bearing 355) about 17 steps and you’ll find a wooden sign on a tree saying “Stoves Only Beyond This Point”. Continue on this trail another 22 steps and stop when you get to a forked tree on your right. Turn left (bearing approx. 290) and hike straight up the old trail another 22 steps. Stop when you see a tree on your left with a metal tag about 7’ high. Now look up and left again (approx. bearing 250) and you’ll see a flat moss covered boulder about four feet across. Walk about 12 steps to it, and you’ll find the cache hidden among some small rocks right next to the boulder.
All you will see is small black square ABS plastic cap that screws into a black 3” ABS plastic plumbing drain fitting. There is some silver duct tape sealing the cap. Carefully remove the duct tape and unscrew the cap. Inside, you’ll find a small log book in a plastic baggie, some pencils, and other goodies. Please write something fun and leave your name for others. Also, please use the duct tape to seal up the cache (deep snow will otherwise leak in).
Because of the remoteness of this cache, this one isn’t for casual traveler driving his Lexus sports car. But if you’ve got a day to kill in nice weather and you’re looking for a beautiful hike, you’ll enjoy this geocaching experience. Plan your trip well, though, because it’s easy to get lost.
UPDATE as of 8/13/12:
The pipe container that has been there since 2003 wasn't as waterproof as I had hoped, so I replaced the container with a traditional ammo box which ought to seal pretty well, even in the snow.
I couldn't save hardly any of the contents - even the original log book was wet, so I couldn't salvage it. I left a new log book with lots of pencils and pens in a ziplock bag along with other goodies.
I also noted that the "Stoves Only" wooden sign was no longer there, nor was the metal tag on the tree. So the revised directions are as follows:
From the starting boulder, walk about 40 steps in the direction noted and look for the forked tree on the right of the trail. There are no other similar forked trees, so you must find this one. Turn left up the hill as noted and go the same 22 steps - you don't really need the metal tag anyway. Look left to the mossy boulder. You'll find the cache behind it under some rocks.
UPDATE as of 2/21/13
I came across an excellent article about the history of the Tubal Cain Mine in the Peninsula Daily News. The author, Pam Clise, generously consented to me reproducing the article. Click here for a neat story:
(visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx ng gur fcbvyre cubgb bs gur sbexrq gerr.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures