This is a historic aircraft crash site near Port Hardy B.C.
Total Hike time is about 40 Minutes each way and distance of 1.8 Km
The hike will take you to the crash site of Dakota 576 that crashed during 1944 while on approach to Port Hardy Airport. From the dedication of the memorial came these details of the flight:
"On April 19, 1944, an RAF Dakota 576 — a military version of the venerable DC3 — took off from the Pat Bay airport in Sidney on a simple navigation exercise. The young British aircrew, pilot officers Tom Wordlow, James Talbot and their wireless air gunner Sgt. T.R. Moss, were barely out of their twenties. A few hours later, in thick Port Hardy weather and low on fuel, the plane tragically crashed into the densely wooded hillside just above the shoreline as they were making a second final approach. Only Sergeant Moss survived."
The aircraft is relatively intact as it literally appears to have fallen flat into the forest with little forward airspeed.
The above coordinates are for the actual crash site. To log the cache you have to do the math!
PARK at 50.43.410N and 127.27.364W or any where close to the paved logging road that heads up the hill and walk from there. You are just following the old logging road until the trail-head.
The trail portion comes off the logging road, is roughly marked and begins at 50.43.535N and 127.26.863W
The trail is rough but easy to follow. There is significant altitude gain from the starting point and you need sturdy shoes or hiking boots. There is also mud in the spring!
On the aircraft structure you will need to locate the numbers and letters that follow the phrase "ALCLAD 24ST". There should be three letters and a two digit number. Convert the letters to the alphabet numeral (ie A=1, B=2, etc) and you should come up with a six digit number. Add this number to the lat and long below to get the final cache coordinates for the log book container. (Off-site in order to respect the site!)
LAT 49 29 293 LONG 126 13 238
+ X XX XXX X XX XXX
Please be respectful of the site and I hope you enjoy the history.