INITIAL LOCATION HELPS AND TIPS
It would be very helpful to check at the Visitor's Center and ask for a map of the Edmunds Trail. It will cost $2 per vehicle to enter the park but well worth the investment.
There is also a "shortcut" to the cache at the intersection of Black Rock Parkway, Taylor Chapel Road and Lookoff Mtn Drive. You still might need the map. Start through double gate at N34 55.093 W083 24.116, hike up to Edmunds Trail and on to the overlook. You will also find two short (but more difficult) routes off Taylor Chapel Road via the east and west branches of the Edmunds Trail. Come back a different route than you went up for a more complete experience.
When you arrive at the cache you will find it has a combination lock which is a requirement of the state parks system. Its combination is 20-10-21. Remember these instructions when opening the combination lock:
*** Rotate clockwise/right three times to the 20.
*** Rotate counter-clockwise/left past 20 to the 10.
*** Rotate clockwise/right to the 21.
*** Pull the shackle.
When you trade, please respect the park rules and don't put any knifes, sharp objects, or food items in it.
SOME WOLF FORK VALLEY HISTORY
You will be looking out at one the most beautiful valleys in the Blue Ridge while searching for this "Lupine Overlook" cache. Please don't leave without taking a few minutes to sit and enjoy the valley and share your photos. The spot is not on any “most visited” Blue Ridge location - yet!. It is certainly a hidden treasure for those who enjoy little-known spots of beautiful isolation and who are willing to hike a moderate distance. The cache is just off the Edmonds Trail...
A lot of history can be seen from up here!
This valley, called Wolf Fork, was important to the overland travel of Cherokee Indians via their Hiawassee Trail. The trail runs through the center of the valley and was an major route for both Indian and pioneer, eventually connecting Charleston, SC to Knoxville, TN. It became a captured war route and used against the Cherokee nation.
Joseph Pinson purchased the first property in Wolf Fork Valley in 1823 for 50 cents an acre (250 acres). Pinson was an American revolutionary guard of British soldiers taken prisoners in the Battle of King’s Mountain. His military pension helped him purchase the property where he lived the rest of his years.
Now, fast forward more than 100 years to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Forestry Army”. FDR started the CCC’s in 1933. A Rabun County Civilian Conservation Corp camp improved this overlook but only the rock cairns remain and the site was abandoned until recently. It has now been added to the trail system of Black Rock State Park.
Looking directly north and at the largest mountain way in the distance, you will see Pickens Nose which is just over the GA line and into NC in the Standing Indian Wildlife Management Area. A cache can be found on that beautiful rocky mountain top and well worth the hike. To your extreme right, you can see the back of Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School (the complex that looks like a campus).
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School was the first institution of learning for poor mountain children in Rabun County and was the dream of Andrew Jackson Ritchie. His first classes were taught in 1905 to 135 students.
Seed money and grants invested by the Hodgson family, The Carnegie Corporation, John D. Rockefeller and Coca-Cola owner Ernest Woodruff took this once struggling school to the level where it is now recognized as a World Class college prep school that places 100% of seniors applying to college.