At the Train Trestle
Earlier this summer we had the opportunity to visit the geocache with the most favorite points in PA - which at the time was Raiders Of the Lost Cache. When I posted on You Might Be A Geocacher If.. that we were headed there, several commented that they much preferred the Train Trestle Falls Cache, and that is was the most scenic, beautiful, cache they had ever been to - with a tunnel, trestle, amazing view, and waterfalls. More than one person could not believe it had so few favorite points, compared to other caches.
So I immediately added it to my "want to go there" list.
It was only a few weeks later that we heard of a geocaching wedding taking place half way between this geocache, and where we live. A bike trail I had been wanting to do was also nearby (The Little Toby Bike Trail). So we loaded up the tent and the bikes, and made a week-end out of it.
We made a wrong turn headed to the cache and turned back a little dirt lane, which was then gated with a sign denoting private property. We had to back back out the lane to get out.
This is what the actual parking location looks like:
To the far right, out of this photo, there was a short, mildly steep, trail leading up to the top of this wall.
The view from the to of the wall. Not pictured here are piles of trash, a campfire area, and many other signs that made it clear this is a popular party location. I was glad to be back out of here in the afternoon - I don't think this is where I would want to be on a Saturday night - just not my thing. :-)
A very short walk back a pretty trail led us to the entrance to the tunnel.
The cache description is clear, and repetitive - BRING YOUR FLASHLIGHT. Probably not the one on your phone. We had our spotlight along, and were happy to have it, in the middle of the afternoon. The description is also clear that you might get your feet wet - especially if you don't have a flashlight. I didn't hesitate to wear flip flops, because I didn't care if my feet were wet - but if I went back I'd wear boots. Not because of the water, but because of all the trash floating in the water.
It's so cool in the tunnel. Almost immediately you escape the heat.
About half way through I had the fleeting thought that if this tunnel collapsed on us, no one knew where we were. The tunnel appeared to be pretty secure - but there was no cell phone signal anywhere in the area, and we really should have made sure someone knew what we were doing. This is true of so many of our trips...
The tunnel is long - much longer than it appears in photos. Maybe a quarter of a mile long?
You come out of the tunnel to a small area, right before the train trestle. In early spring, or winter, the view would probably be more impressive. Walking out on the tracks would have allowed us to see more of the creek - but it didn't feel smart, after remembering that no one knew we were out here.. and I couldn't envision the view being great. I was also thinking about all of the recent articles about being on these train tracks being tresspassing... it just felt wrong to be out there. I did venture out a few feet before deciding the view wasn't really worth it.
There were trails to the left, and to the right. We explored the one on the left, away from the cache, to see if there was a better view (no) and found a campsite and more signs of partying. Then we headed to the right, towards the "waterfalls" and the cache.
Spoiler alert - there were no waterfalls. Not even "cascades". Nothing of the sort. :-(
Other cachers talked about the view - I'm thinking they were there in the winter? In the summer, this is the view of the creek from the path -
The actual cache is easy to find - but hard to get to. It's STRAIGHT up a steep hill.
Then it was back to the tunnel -
All in all, it was just really disappointing, because I had the cache so elevatedin my head. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had NOT been told about it, if no one had raved about how awesome and beautiful it was, I might have been more impressed. For me, it felt a lot like tresspassing, was dirty, and not even close to one of the 50 most beautiful spots I've been in PA - let alone THE most beautiful.
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We only had a few hours to spend in the area, and there are so many interesting caches here. The ones we did really enjoy included:
Scripture Rocks - read the cache description. This is one of those PA Oddities that I love, and never knew about. I love that geocaching takes us to places like this!
This series of PVC caches area fun, simple, gadget caches that we enjoyed very much:
We didn't get to this one - but I really wish we had! It was raining a bit, and dark, so we skipped it. :-(
We did stop by this one - and although it's a pretty spot, and I enjoyed stopping there, I am unsure how it merited 72 favorite points? It must be on location alone - which was nice - I do enjoy caches taking me to locations like this.
