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School of Hard Knox
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N 39° 55.954' W 079° 34.912' |
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Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania 15456 United States Near By Caches
Hidden On: 15 Jun 2006
Difficulty:
Comments:
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In honor of Betty Knox, and in recognition of her legendary grit, determination, and physical stamina, I hereby establish geocaching's unofficial 
Betty Knox is a real person from history and she is legend in this land of rugged natural beauty known as the Dunbar Mountains. Her intriguing story survives in the oral tradition of Dunbar folk who have told and retold the tale for generations. She had a very hard life in these mountains but she was equal to the hardship and went it alone. Betty Knox was born in 1842 on a farm near Kentuck Knob (N39° 52.135', W79° 31.168'). She was raised by her father because her mother died when she was just 3 years old. She grew up to be an exceedingly strong and capable young woman because the hard work on the farm demanded it. Betty loved animals and became skilled at handling oxen. When her father was tragically killed in a timbering accident, and she was left to live alone on the Kentuck farm, she began to earn a living by hauling grain to Young's Mill in Ferguson (N39° 57.552', W79° 37.369') which is on the outskirts of Dunbar close to where Pechins used to be. She was just 17 when she started making this 25-mile round-trip over the most wild and difficult terrain imaginable. The people in the settlement of Ferguson got to know her well. In the harvest season, she would emerge from the woods daily with her oxen laden with grain and return that same day to Kentuck with a full load of flour. She carried on this teamster business for many years and established a path that is said to have crossed Dunbar Creek at a place the locals call "Betty Knox Park" which also happens to be the jumping off point for some of the most challenging caches in SWPA. By all accounts, Betty was a ravishing beauty with long auburn hair and blue eyes. She was admired by men and women alike for her extraordinary stamina and independent lifestyle. Obviously, she had precious little in common with certain weanies in suburbia who hunt and hide microscraps on shopping cart returns and bus shelters! Nevertheless, she never married and steadfastly resisted the advances of many young men who wished to court her. The story goes that one day she happened upon a wounded soldier who had deserted from the army during the Civil War. Betty kept him in her house and nursed his wounds but her heart was broken when he ultimately died. She is said to have buried him next to her father somewhere on the Kentuck farm. I have heard that some of the old timers knew the whereabouts of the graves but nobody ever got the coordinates. Darn! Betty Knox mysteriously disappeared in 1878. Her neighbors organized a search party but they never found Betty or any clue to her whereabouts. She and her oxen vanished without a trace somewhere in the Dunbar Mountains. Some say that she was killed by wolves or a mountain lion. Some say that it was murdering thieves. Others speculate that she just got tired of her lonely routine and left the area. Still others say that she became a witch. The truth is not known and nobody really knows what happened to Betty Knox. It shall forever remain a mystery. The locals will tell you that the ghost of Betty Knox still haunts these hills and there are plenty of unconfirmed reports from persons who have claimed to have seen or heard something unusual. I don’t know about any of this but you need not worry about the ghost of Betty Knox. An enterprising local captured it in a mason jar and sold it on ebay for $2.51. No, I didn’t make that up! Directions: Turn from Dunbar-Ohiopyle road at N39° 56.678, W79° 34.764 and follow Betty Knox Road (unsigned, gravel) to a parking area at N39° 55.928', W79° 35.295'. The way to the cache is obvious but you’re probably not going to like what you see. I highly recommend following an unmaintained service road that runs roughly parallel to the pipeline on the right side. It’s a little less steep and significantly less overgrown than the pipeline. Follow this up to a footpath that begins at N39° 55.861', W79° 34.935'. This path will lead you through an impressive maze of crags and crevices that won’t be easy to navigate but it promises to be fun. Rest assured that you can get to the cache this way without doing any serious climbing. Do allow extra time to explore the rocks on both sides of the pipeline. Keep an eye out for snakes because this is prime habitat for them. Good luck! Note: This cache is on Pennsylvania State Gamelands. From November 15 through December 15, except Sundays, you are required to "wear a minimum of 250 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange-colored material on the head, chest and back combined or, in lieu thereof, a hat of the same colored material. The material shall be worn so it is visible in a 360° arc". Additional gamelands use regulations may be found here. Bonus! If you complete the four-cache program consisting of this cache and three others that may be reached from Betty Knox Park, you will receive an honorary degree from the School of Hard Knox and be enshrined on this cache page. Graduates will also receive a commemorative diploma suitable for framing (if you can be bothered to print it out) and other perks to be named later. The caches that must be found to complete the program are: Iron Center by Quest Master The Lost Crag by Captain Crash Betty Knox 2: The Revenge by Trailer Park Boys School of Hard Knox by Quest Master GRADUATES -- Mooman56 -- K SQUARED -- Nellsnake -- 4MRnutz -- blitz_8255 -- |
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CACHE LOGS - May contain hints(spoilers)! decode | |
18 Jul 2008 by
blitz_8255
(Finds: 51 Score: 244.5)
(Hidden: 3 Score: 10)
Open Log: Unrestricted Well after a few fairly easy playground/park caches, I was in need of a real challenge. I think I picked the right one! It was a heck of a hike on a hot and humid day. 625 feet of elavation change in a little over 1700 feet horizontal, that's what I call a hill! It was worth every step, to see and explore the rocks and the spectacular veiw from the campfire ring! Heard a turkey scratching around in the leaves below as I stared off into the mountians, I swear I could see "The Nursery Tree", hehe! Very nice cache that needs more people to go see it. Seems it gets found by more hunters than cachers! Do yourself a favor and take the hike, you won't regret it!
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29 May 2008 by
blackbeardsnewf
(Finds: 2 Score: 11)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Unrestricted
What a beautiful place! Fayette Co. takes a lot of grief, but, one has to admit, it's one of the most beautiful places in PA. Thank You QM for taking us to these places. Caches like this is why I cache, I want to see why someone else would take me there; QM never seems to disappoint.
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04 May 2008 by
sherpes
(Finds: 5 Score: 19.5)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Personal use only
found this cache while on a quest to explor numerous rock outcropings in the area with veteran spelunker Norm Snyder. The log book reveals a lenghty log by a bear hunter who in great detail reports his day and season from a hunter'perspective.
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10 Oct 2007 by
Klatch
(Finds: 15 Score: 71.5)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Personal use only
The lead off cache on this day of our annual pilgrimage from the Land of Many Micros to the 'Cong. Yep, it sure looked like the service road was the way to go - except we picked the wrong one! We got further and further from the cache, but we were seeing neat things, like waterfalls and cool rock formations. So, in spite of the distance we eventually found a four wheeler trail that led up up and back to the trail coordinates that led us to the cache site. Very nice view and a fun time was had by all. Thanks for the hunt! TNLNSL.
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10 Oct 2007 by
Vertumnis
(Finds: 11 Score: 48)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Unrestricted Our first of 2 on our second day of our annual OSP Caching trip from Eastern PA (You know - Microville Lebanon County). Klatch and I arrived early and , NO, we didn't like what we saw. We took what we thought was the described service road. Well, we headed... hell I don't remember, but it was a 'corkscrew' approach. It was a long hike and I had a blast. Uphills, wet grass, more rocks like Elk Rock that we did last year, crags, mud - and after all that we entered the pipeline about 100 feet from the top. After a short 'uphiller', we found the cache and I left another 'biner, and adjustable wrench and a roll of duct tape, all from an archived cache back east - took nothing. Enjoyed the view both ways and we found an easier way back. Thanks for a great scenic hike. Now it's off to Iron Center - it's close - it should be easy.
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13 Aug 2007 by
AndyShissler
(Finds: 38 Score: 190)
(Hidden: 6 Score: 30)
Open Log: Unrestricted After doing the Lost Crag, I decided to hike up to the School of Hard Knox. What a hike! Of course, I had to learn the difference between MAINTAINED and UNMAINTAINED service road. That's why the Lost Crag cache was first. Anyways, thanks for a cool cache!
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22 Apr 2007 by
4MRnutz
(Finds: 30 Score: 151.5)
(Hidden: 12 Score: 53.5)
Open Log: Unrestricted
Well it was a beautiful day, and we figured we might as well continue our education. We took along a friend of our youngest daughters, for her first caching adventure, and start her off right we did! We hiked up the maintenance road, and it was a nice little climb. The scenery along the way is great. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks everywhere! Cool rock formations are favorites of mine, and these were some of the nicest I have seen yet. The view from the top was unbelievable, as we looked to where we had to go next. Betty Knox 2! No one said that School was easy, but after a micro disappointment on Friday, this was heaven! (Or close to it.) Quest Master, thank you , again!
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24 Nov 2006 by
Lj
(Finds: 29 Score: 135)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Personal use only
With the Master himself on this climb finish the course of study for both Scruff-a-pot-amus and myself.
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16 Jul 2006 by
Nellsnake
(Finds: 69 Score: 316.5)
(Hidden: 12 Score: 62.5)
Open Log: Personal use only Ah, finally, a new QM cache to hunt. I decided to go out on a 'Neanderthal Run' and enrolled in the School of Hard Knox today. Just to add insult to injury, I picked the most hot and humid day so far of the year for this challenge. It was a good excuse to break in my new Camelbak with the 100 oz. bladder. Fortunately, I had already found 'Iron Center' a while back, so I just needed to complete the three newer ones on the list from that same parking spot. This was my first stop. I misinterpreted the description to get to the trailhead and walked along the better groomed road for quite a while before I realized I wasn't getting much closer to the intended target. So, I then decided to just bushwhack up the hill toward the trailhead. This tactic actually turned out pretty well in the long run because the undergrowth (i.e., wet, dew-laden weeds) and mud by this route was much more benign than with the intended route (which I took to get back down the hill). I enjoyed the rock formations on both sides of the gas line cut for a while before searching for the cache in earnest. My initial pass put me at the wrong altitude, which I learned after decrypting the hint. After a steep climb through a narrow passage, I was in the correct area, and I found the cache in good shape fairly quickly. I enjoyed the view from near the campfire and surveyed my next intended target, 'Betty Knox 2: The Revenge'. Thanks for another fine cache that brought me to a very interesting location, Johnny!
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25 Jun 2006 by
K SQUARED
(Finds: 18 Score: 90)
(Hidden: 0 Score: 0)
Open Log: Non-commercial use only 9:32am - Dean and Ryan teamed up with us for this one this drizzly morning. We calorie packed at Sheetz first, then headed to Dunbar... We made it to the parking area without any problems, and, yes, we dreaded the direction the arrow on the GPSr was pointing, but that was expected. I even ran into one of my patients who was fly fishing! We made our way up the service road, that even had some small water hazards and log hazards to navigate. Ran into a big garter snake just as we were starting. It was a nice hike up, up, up. We found the foot trail and absolutely loved all the huge boulders and rock formations. There were huge cracks and crevaces. We made it through and found our way over to a fire pit by some hemlocks and then the cache. KJ grabbed a mini-flashlight and a calendar and left a first aid kit and a snake. I grabbed the geocoin and left a TB. This cache is worthy of a K-SQUARED geonickel, which I left with the log book! We explored around this cool area. We even had a little campfire at the fire pit. The kids caught a couple of toads. We looked across the valley at the location of Betty Knox 2 0.6 miles away and decided that was our next destination. TFTC Johnny! This, as yours usually do, ranks among my favorites! The walk back down was uneventful. No ghost sightings... BTW, KJ and Ryan did a great job!
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25 Jun 2006 by
Mooman56
(Finds: 35 Score: 162)
(Hidden: 3 Score: 16)
Open Log: Unrestricted
Second of three today. Found it at 1:45PM. Started at the bottom and followed Quest Master's suggestions to make my way up to the cache. Spent some time checking out the rock formations. Man, those are cool! If you're gonna do this one, be sure and go this route! I never knew that there was anything like that up in this area. Heck, I bet over half of the people that live in Dunbar don't even know about this area! Thanks for showing it to me, Quest Master!!! That's what I love about geocaching! Especially a QM cache! After spending a good bit of time checking out the rocks, I finally decided to look for the cache!
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