Quick Summary of The Virginia Cache

[Jenny]

Quick summary of Cache 2:

Historical Topic: None
Skulls: 1 (Skull rating of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult)
Date Hidden: Spring of 2014
General Location: Near Otter Creek, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
Cache Contents: Pearls (hundreds of carats) and Over 1000 old coins
Clues Provided: Video (showing images of surrounding landmarks for the hidden cache)

Learn more about this cache on MW: The Virginia Cache: Cache 2 of the Buried Caches of Treasure Man


In order to participate, you have to register on the TreasureIllustrated forum to download the FREE PDF booklets he provides clues in. UPDATE: HCB has now created a FB Group here:
www.facebook.com/groups/493357311250882/

[GeneticBlend]

It was revealed, and confirmed by HCB, that this one is (or was) at Otter Creek Campground. I say was, because the area has been thoroughly searched. This cache was not buried because metal detecting is not allowed. So the cache was only hidden by possibly putting it in a depression and covering it with debris or possibly rocks. Because it was hidden in a campground, and the area has been heavily searched, it is believed that perhaps someone came across it while walking their dog, or maybe kids found it.

[ironwill]

If it is there, I will find it soon. I've been biding time to search it. Those who do not understand why I'm waiting, do not understand the intelligence behind an objective. We'll see what happens.

[TxTH]

Feb 7, 2019 12:32:12 GMT -5 ironwill said:

If it is there, I will find it soon. I've been biding time to search it. Those who do not understand why I'm waiting, do not understand the intelligence behind an objective. We'll see what happens.

Good luck ironwill!  I hope you find it!

[treasureseeker]

Why does everyone say that it is at the campground? I saw where he said it is located "near" Otter Creek but the actual trail spans 3.5 miles. Not necessarily just right around the campground.

[vahistorydigger]

The dots are connected. Soon to see the light of day.

[TxTH]

May 4, 2019 16:12:33 GMT -5 treasureseeker said:

Why does everyone say that it is at the campground? I saw where he said it is located "near" Otter Creek but the actual trail spans 3.5 miles. Not necessarily just right around the campground.

I agree. "Near" could also be 1 to 15 miles away from my past experience.

[treasureseeker]

The Virginia one is going to be harder to find than what people give it credit for, being that it is just pictures to lead the way. Those pictures span a huge area. However knowing the area, I fully believe that it is still exactly where he put it.

[vahistorydigger]

I agree, this one may be more than a 1 skuller !
Several days off, countless hours invested in BOTG as well as research.
To the plus side my calves are now twice their original size and I’m a few ponds lighter, billy goats wouldn’t like some places I’ve been.

Keep on hunting, it’s the TOTC that counts!

[Jenny]

Jun 13, 2019 8:25:48 GMT -5 vahistorydigger said:

I agree, this one may be more than a 1 skuller !
Several days off, countless hours invested in BOTG as well as research.
To the plus side my calves are now twice their original size and I’m a few ponds lighter, billy goats wouldn’t like some places I’ve been.

Keep on hunting, it’s the TOTC that counts!

Sounds like a great time! Although sorry no Cache found, it definitely seems you experienced other treasures!

[vahistorydigger]

Ok , it’s time to put some collective effort together along with some collaborative thoughts ! So far I have had BOTG for a total of about 75 hours, not counting drive time.
Searched with and without the aid of a metal detector, encountered bear, deer, turkey as well as copperhead and rattlesnake, but no cache. Used GIS, Google earth, topographic as well as my 1862 Gilmer maps, local info as well. My search area has cast quite a wide net, I’m not giving up just thought it would be better to share at this point. This one needs to be found or proven that it has been.

[vahistorydigger]

VA CACHE, SOLVED OR NOT ?

So lets start with the basic details.
Text taken from Mysterious Writings posts, my comments in bold.

Historical Topic: None
Skulls: 1 (Skull rating of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult) I QUESTION THIS, SEEMS MORE LIKE A FIVE WITH THE LIMITED CLUES, NO ACCESS TO THE TREASURE ILLUSTRATED WEBSITE, OR MAYBE ITS JUST NOT THERE ANYMORE.
Date Hidden: Spring of 2014. 5 YEARS HAVE NOW PASSED, CACHE IS STILL NOT CONFIRMED FOUND
General Location: Near Otter Creek, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia. KEY WORD HERE IS “NEAR” , HOW NEAR , 1 FOOT OR 15 MILES ?
Cache Contents: Pearls (hundreds of carats) and Over 1000 old coins
Clues Provided: Video (showing images of surrounding landmarks for the hidden cache)

The Virginia Cache is not buried either, like some others are.  At least not in the way a shovel is required. It was buried on the surface under leaves in the Spring of 2014.  You can see a bit how in the video.  And although HCB has stated the actual GPS location of the cache is not hidden in the National Park of the area, where metal detecting is strictly forbidden, one will not be needed anyway.Maybe take a small rake instead, and be very observant.  The cache container has been camouflaged.

SO IF YOU DO YOUR RESEARCH USING AMHERST, BEDFORD , AND ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY GIS DATA THERE IS VERY LITTLE PROPERTY ASSOCIATED WITH THE SEARCH AREA CLUES THAT IS NOT NATIONAL FOREST OR BLUERIDGE PARKWAY.

While chatting with one of the searchers about the treasure cache,  HCB let it known the cache would be found near(?) Otter Creek.  To keep things fair to all searchers, this specific information was posted on the TreasureIllustrated website (Not Functional)within the cache #2 section.   Other images detailing the location are also on site there.

On the MW Facebook Page, TreasureMan had posted the following information about his hidden caches:

I always try to place my treasures on public property where you may use metal detectors but I do have 2 that are in or near National Parks (I'm not certain where the park boundary is and therefore didn't bury them) (SO THIS STATEMENT CONFLICTS WITH THE ABOVE STATEMENT OF NOT BEING IN OR ON PARK LAND AS MARKED WITH GPS) In these instances you will be looking for a PVC tube about 16-18 inches long and 4" in diameter that is painted camouflage. I want to make sure that everyone stays on the right side of the law when hunting my treasures. When looking for treasure it is important to know that metal detecting in a National Park is illegal. If I ever place a treasure in a National Park it will be placed in plain sight where no metal detector is required.

So lets visit the video clues.

In the video you have still photos of the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance sign, the restaurant at the Otter Creek campground (now closed), the parkway sign of the Otter Creek trail system, the welcome sign for Natural Bridge, and a shot of a creek (OtterCreek ?)
All of these are within a national park boundaries.
H is fond of old ruins, the old cabin site at Otter Creek is also in the park boundaries, I searched this are and around it for other foundations, hog lots, corn cribs, out buildings, none found. Also looked for natural rock overhangs that would have been used by the cabin inhabitants.

In the video the live motion portion shows the James river overlook just before entering Amherst county, the rock cut out is where the road was cut. I have been to the bottom of the overlook to the river, and to the top of the mountain above it as well as the second ridge shown.

H concludes the video by showing the camouflage tube being covered, the soil is dark indicating years of decaying vegatation along with what appear to be red or white oak leaves and pine needles, a combination which isn’t everywhere.

Last but not least H states in the video that the cache is hidden in a “ very distinctive place”, Definition: marking as separate or different : serving to distinguish.

So wherever it is or was should stand out like a sore thumb from its surroundings.

Hope this helps anyone else who may be searching, I’m not done, this one has gotten in deep and i want to see it found or confirmed MIA.

Good luck to to all !
Remember its the TOTC, and trust me there is plenty to see in this area of VA. Treasures that are not buried or able to be captured in hand.

[TxTH]

Good post vahistorydigger. The skull system is more about the land and the environment and not about the books and videos and their difficulty in being "interpreted". I think, from personal experience, "near" is more likely measured in miles than feet.

[vahistorydigger]

Thanks TxTH, sometimes putting thoughts to paper will help reason things out or at least help develope a better plan. I have my wife hooked now, we hiked a portion of the area yesterday and all she could think about was spotting something “very Distinctive”. Like most geographical areas you can be air dropped in and wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where you were, a creek is a creek, forest is a forest so on and so forth, so there has to be an anomaly that says you are here (x marks the spot).

Getting out and exploring is great and the largest part of the reward factor, but lets be honest, treasure hunters want to find treasure. That being said conformation that caches are still in place should be factored in when these hunts are conceived, either by electronic means when possible, trusted third parties, or by the developer of the hunt remaining autonomous thus allowing them to personally confirm the caches condition. And maybe none of these ideas for conformation are feasible, after all I have only looked for caches but never hidden one.

That’s about to change though.

I am currently assembling a cache I plan on placing soon, I have the location picked out and the clues are written that are based on the history of the region. Hopefully the autonomous method will serve me well, but being a newbie to the development and conducting of a hunt this method may prove more difficult than anticipated, we will see.

[vahistorydigger]

VA cache found or not, here I go again..........

So after another day of searching for the elusive VA cache lets put a few things together. Thanks to a fellow treasure hunter and super nice person I have the posts from Treasure Illustrated. If you are not already a registered user on the Treasure Illustrated site this option is still not functional as of today, H is supposed to be resolving this but I have been trying for three months with no luck. Below are some posts that were copied and sent to me with my thoughts after over 100+ hours of searching plus hours of research and drive time.
Disclaimer;
It’s hid better than H thought
It’s been found and not reported
The clues are contradictory
I’m a really bad cache hunter............. take your pick

NP= Nation Park
AT= Appalachian Trail
NF= National Forest
BRP = Blue Ridge Parkway

.Charles  
TREASUREMAN
 
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Post: #5
RE: The Virginia Cache: A New Buried Treasure by H.Charles Beil 
(04-04-2014 11:18 PM)Frankn Wrote:  You do realize that it is illegal to use a detector in a National Park, don't you? Frank...

GPS says it's not in the National Park. We're ok!
1. H’s reply to Frank. So if its not in the NP this rules out all of Otter Creek from the campground to the James River lock. The Only exception would be a portion of private land that comes close to the creek where route 130 and the BRP cross near Terrapin overlook, but the “Man and dog” (more on this in a few)clue rule this out. If its not in the NP system then the search area starts when you leave Natural Bridge on route 130/501 till you turn on the BRP. This all goes out the window if A. The GPS was wrong or misread or B. If someone doesn’t consider the BRP or National Forest as part of the Park system.

2.
TREASUREMAN
 
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Post: #27
RE: The Virginia Cache: A New Buried Treasure by H.Charles Beil 
When my wife and I hid this in March the road was closed due to icy conditions to the area that we really wanted to get to so I had to come up with plan B; so it was sort of a hasty decision where to put it. It's in a much easier to get to spot than what I had intended .... no ankle biting rocks like in the Lost Cache of Wolf Run. 

You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find a good place to bury a cache! It's almost as much fun burying them as it is to find them!
There is a BRP pole gate just past the Otter Creek campground, more than likely this was locked and was the turn around and go back moment for H and his wife, just relevant to the search in that it gives an end point for reference.

3.
H.Charles  
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Post: #43
RE: The Virginia Cache: A New Buried Treasure by H.Charles Beil 
You guys are killing me!....I never gave it a second thought to the type of trees I caught in the video. You know there are geocaches in the National and State Parks to search for too. I guess they're legal as long as there is no digging.
Another clue that will help narrow the search, the clip showing the placement of the cache has Oak leaves and pine needles, this combination can be tough to come by next to water.

3.
H.Charles  
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Post: #53
RE: The Virginia Cache: A New Buried Treasure by H.Charles Beil 
I travel a bit and like to camp but I don't like to stay in campgrounds; I usually set up along a stream or trail when possible. It's always nice to see and hear the sound of the water gurgling. Hope everyone is having fun searching for this....it was a fun trip for me. What I do recall is that I had to wait a long time for a guy who was walking and playing with his dog to leave before I could hide the cache. After an eternity he crossed a bridge upstream from me and went to his car giving me just enough time to dig a hole with my hands and hide it under the leaves before more people showed up.

So here we have H’S “Man and his dog” clue.
If you take the term “Upstream” literally , meaning in the opposite direction from that in which a stream or river flows; nearer to the source, then we are looking for bridges, foot or otherwise that cross a river or creek, and if we accept the fact that the cache is not on park land according to the GPS here is what you get.

Leaving Natural Bridge the first bridge you come to is the one on RT 130 to go left to Buena Vista or Right to Big island, Large corn fields, trees are scarce and no pines, constant traffic.There is a park and ride here.

The next bridge is after you pass the James River overlook clue showing the deep gorge and the stone cutout from where the road was built, but way past as in at the bottom of the mountain other side where the Appalachian trail crosses the James River. This is a foot bridge, if you are on the opposite side from the parking area its all NP and the “ Man and dog” clue don’t seem to fit, if you are located where you can see the bridge leading to the parking area the man and dog would have to travel downstream and your still on NF/AT property, if you place yourself where man and dog travel upstream you’re still on NF/AT property and can’t see the foot bridge, or if you go far enough you’re on railroad property.

The next bridge is just past the foot bridge where rout 501 splits from route 130. It has a parking are on the Bedford county side of the James , this could work if H was at the portage/fishing (Balcony falls dam)area owned by Bedford county that is just past the bridge on route 130. This would place the bridge “upstream” and the “Man and dog” clue would fit. The two things that place doubt on this location are, routes 130 and 501 are extremely busy and pedestrian unfriendly, and there is plenty of parking at the portage/fishing area on both sides of the road.

This gets you to the Otter Creek area. All the wooden foot bridges across Otter Creek as well concrete foot bridge at the James river lock are on NP/BRP land. Using the “Man and dog” clue as well as the “not on NP land per GPS” seems to rule these out.

Some final thoughts, or my two cents which are worth that , two cents.

H says in the video that the cache is in a “very distinct location”. So is this a general or focused comment ? I.e. “ There is no other state like VA. “ or “ that bridge is natural “. After all a tree is a tree is a tree, a creek is a creek is a creek, you get it.

Does H not consider the BRP/AT/NF to part of the National park system ? The park rangers do!

The clues don’t seem to add up or at best the word play causes some contradictions, on NP land not on NP land, upstream vs downstream coupled with a bridge, hand dug with leaves placed over it vs just leaves , need a metal detector vs don’t.

This hunt is also made more difficult with no confirmation of it still being in place as well as a non functioning website with no additional clues as eluded to in the video.

And who is Clint and did he find this one ?

Hope this helps those that are also searching for this one, feel free to contact me for discussion and collaboration.

Last but not least, I have traveled and seen many new and interesting things while searching for this cache and that in its self i a treasure!

Happy Hunting, and remember its reallyTTOTC !