Iron Alliance

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Hidden On: 14 Mar 2003
Waypoint (Landmark): N022B6
Open Cache:  Non-commercial use only
Cache type:  Normal
Cache size:   Normal

Difficulty:  (easy)
Terrain:  (moderate)

Misc:

Comments:

Clues:    decode

• Clue 1 
  haqre ovttrfg obhyqre

I had plans to do something else but answering the call to check on this cache promised to be way more fun than that would have been. Here was my chance to explore around the Creek Hills to see if I could find a route in from the north since crossing a very swollen creek was not an option. This turned out to be relatively easy because the weather was decent, the gate was open, and there's a brand new network of gas well access roads running all over the place in this area. I actually didn't like that I didn't even have to get my shoes dirty until I was less than 1/4 mile from the cache but that's progress, I guess. The last bit was a long way around on switchbacks criscrossing a very old strip mine so that was fun. The cache was gone as I expected. I think that an animal muggle or the forces of nature stripped away the rock-o-flage and then one of Henry Winkler's assassins took it. I suspect that there was an incursion into my home county from one of those nefarious congsters from that other (wrong) side of the creek but I have no proof. Irregardless (is that a word?) of what happened or who made off with the cache, it's back up and running again. I wonder if it will be found again before next Christmas...

Merry Christmas from the Valley of Jacob's Creek. Hiked in from "Rambling". While there is mention of the Circle Trail being an easy passage to Iron Alliance I am quite sure I never saw it. Instead I traversed steep slopes, loose talus, cat brier and a semi-frozen mud that seemed to have a sense of humor. Arriving at the cache I searched on all fours for quite some time before throwing in the towel. Re-reading the previous log I'm still pretty sure I gave it more than a routine college try, I dunno.... Great area, will go back, there's more secrets to be revealed in the valley....

   Fossil onLarge Boulder
  That aint Right

2nd find of the day with Breakfastchief on the COLD Sunday in the Valley of Jacobs Creek.

Way back in the summer of 05 we attempted this cache but the creek was running too high and fast after a recent rainstorm so we abandoned the hunt till a later day. Well today was that day.

We were in the Valley to took for the "Rambling in the Valley of Jacobs Creek" cache and this one. We parked at the spot for the other cache and made the LONG roundabout way to the cache. Looking back the creek is a more direct route but today we switchbacked all the way down the hill till we reached the cache. After all was said and done just getting to the cache took about 2 1/2 miles and it was worth every second!

Found the cache exposed so after signing the log I covered it back up really well for the next visitors.

Thanks for brining me to one of the most scenic places in this area.
TN/LN
SVC
TEAM:HILLJACK

P.S. After finding the cache we went and checked out the furnace from across the creek. It still amazes me that it still stands. A true testament to the fine crafts men of the day.

I figured that I'd sign up for Navicache so I can log this one properly as well...

We parked at the parking coords and headed down the gravel road. We took trails the whole way to the cache. I'm sure that there must have been an easier way to hike it because at one point in time, we were .14 from the cache and followed the trails until we were almost .8 and then looped back around a couple times before finding the creek crossing and making our way to the cache.

We probably looked directly at the cache a bunch of times while we were looking for it in other places. I'm glad we found it when we did because it was a little after sunset and the sky was clouded over and unforgiving to people hoping for moonlight. Luckily we made our way back to the car and didn't miss a single trail which I was stressed out about. The whole trip took about three and a half hours (mostly due to us picking a bad trail and doubling back on the way in). Excellent cache. TFTC and the hike!

After posting a DNF on that other site awhile ago, we decided to spend the day avenging that today. We had a ball driving down to the old furnace, where we got out our picnic basket and had lunch before starting out. The creek felt great today! Courtney wanted to stay there and play the rest of the day. But off we went. Had a nice hike to the cache, and Courtney made the find pretty quickly. We made some trades, signed the log, and headed up to find CJ's Dead in the middle of nowhere cache. This is another great area we would have never found without caching! This is what it's supposed to be about. Thanks for showing us this place, and keeping this litled here. By the way, what is the foundation up on the hill before you get to the furnace? Looks cool. Thanks for the adventure!

  It felt so good!

JimBat found it along with Mooman56. Drove my 2 wheel drive Chevy S10 clear down to the tracks then walked the rest of the way from there. Probably could of drove the whole way to the furnance if I wanted. After checking out the furnance ruins it was on to the cache. After zeroing in on the cache location we saw a couple possible hiding spots when I turned and looked and there laid the cache container in plain view. We signed the log and I took a small hand bag and left Squirmy the Wormie TB and a poker chip key chain. We then rehid the cache and headed back to the truck. TFTC

Found this one at 5:55PM while caching with JimBat.
We found a township road on the map that looked like it would take us right to the furnace. When we arrived at the intersection, the "road" looked like a driveway. We pulled in and asked a man who was working in his garage within feet of the "road" if we could drive down that way and he told us we could. We asked how far the road went and he told us it went a good ways down. He looked at JimBat's 2-wheel drive S-10 and said, "I don't know if you'll get very far in this". Huh! JimBat drove the whole way down to the railroad tracks with no problem at all! I think we could've went the whole way to the creek.

We walked along the tracks and checked out the trestle and tunnel before heading to the cache. Of course, being a QM cache, the GPSr was pointing across the creek!

When we got near the creek, it was a busy place! Tons of muggles in 4X4s and even more on ATVs!

Instead of trying to find a way across the creek without getting wet, we just jumped in and walked right through it! It sure felt good, because it was extremely hot out anyway. When we arrived at the cache, JimBat spotted it, just laying on the ground, right out in the open! That took a lot of the fun out of this hunt. We hadn't looked at the clue, but I checked it out when we rehid the cache to make sure we were putting back where it belonged. I took nothing and left a blue and white bouncy ball. We signed the logbook and rehid the cache in it's place. Thanks for the cache, Quest Master, it was an interesting one!

After logging Iron Alliance (GCE4BD), Dagger41 and I drove the short distance to go for this one although, if I were by myself and had all day I might have tried a direct route between the two. I'm pretty sure there's a way that doesn't involve taking the tracks.

A township road? You've gotta be kidding me.

At the ford we traded our boots for sandals. On the other side I decided to keep the sandals on for the rest of the search rather than changing shoes a second time.

Dagger41 saw the cache first. I had picked up a travel bug at Iron Alliance with the intention of dropping it at the next cache but this one was so full of bugs I decided to keep it for another. I took a Pennsylvania Flower bug.

@12:08. This was a cool cache stash! QM where do you find these loc's? SL. Son T Jimmy Neutron Compass, L blue carabiner light. I dropped off Daisy Duck TB. We were out with GoldenSnitch82 again.

This was my fourth stop of the day on a hot and muggy day in June. I looked forward to this cache and the nearby Creek Falls cache on this day because the water hazards would serve as bonus refreshments along the way. I parked at the S.G.L. lot because I didn't want to put the Outback through any abuse. I'm glad I left it there. I had a nice stroll down the trail and on the "road" to the Alliance Furnace. There were a fair number of cars and ATVs out and about in the area today. I checked out the furnace ruins for a bit before crossing the requisite water hazard, which featured nice cool water up to my calves. This felt quite good, acting as a salve for the hives and welts that were developing on my lower legs and thighs due to some stinging nettle and thigh-high weeds that I trudged through near the parking area and the furnace ruins. After dodging some ATVs at a couple points on the trail beyond Jacobs Creek, I made it to the area of the final cache, where I was able to spot the hiding spot for the ammo can after a brief survey of the area. I signed in the logbook at 2:45 p.m. and traded TBs there before retracing my steps back to the car. Thanks for a great cache and a bit of history of the area, QM!

Team Rambo consisted of Don and Russell today. We ventured out to score a find on the Lonely Cache Challenge List. We left Beaver County around 10:30am. Our plans were to use Russells jeep and drive to the cache. Its got six inches of lift and 33" tires. Too bad russell had to work late on friday and had to work until 10:15am today. He was too tired to drive out here so we decided to take the Dodge! Full size '03 Dodge Ram 4x4. We made it across the creek and ended up parking about 40' form the cache.
If you're planning on driving through the creek, we took the upper crossing. It got a little deep, I'd recommend 4 wheel low. There were some people camping at the crossing and we asked them if it was cool to cross. They said they've been crossing on their quads so we figured if they
crossed in quads we'd be safe.

This was a great adventure! I'm definately coming back here to camp and fish soon!!

We left George the ape TB out here. We figured he'd enjoy his time out here. His owner would like him to go back to California. We stuck him out here because LL Cool J says "Going back to Cali, I don't think so!"

Picked up the rescue truck travel bug. It needed rescued alright! its been stuck out here forever.

Thanks for the adventure Quest Master!! After this we decided to hit the Creek Falls Cache.

What can I say? A day late and and a dollar short. The kids and I were the 3rd group of geocachers behind D@nim@l and WVPackmule last evening, unfortunately we got to the parking coordinates late due to bad co-pilot navigation. With 3 anxious kids and against my better judgement we began our quest around 7:30 from the State Gamelands parking coordinates. After walking quite a ways and then taking our own route off the old road I finally convinced the kids that unless we headed back to the car that we would be walking in the dark with no flashlights. (I didn't tell them that we were only .16 miles from the cache just down the steep hill and over the stream or I would have never gotten back to the car before dark.) My oldest saw the taillights of a vehicle going around the sharp bend on the old road heading back up, and I knew that someone had probably beaten us to the cache for the LCC honors, and my decision to head back and return another day was the correct one. Now this story does have a happy ending, as my youngest and I returned much earlier this evening and outside of collecting every spider and web on the trail in my hair, eyes and mouth, we had a nice hike to the stream and waded across about 2 1/2' at the deepest point. (I'm sure it was higher today due to the rain last night) The trail to the cache was much better after crossing the stream. My son thought that I had been to this location before, as I walked right up to where I would have hidden the cache, found it in the second place I looked, although it was nicely hidden. SL, took globe candle, penknife, left $2 bill, plastic fish, level 7 Yu-gi-oh card, and some little costume rings and necklace. Replaced the cache and hid it as well as WVPackmule did. We decided to take a shortcut and bushwacked part of our way back to the car, I won't mention the way we went, but I bet I'll be sore tomorrow. This was a very enjoyable cache hunt and we love the location, very peaceful. Just make sure that you allow plenty of time to do this cache. Special thanks goes to Quest Master for providing me with the means to lose weight and get back in shape.