The above coordinates ARE NOT the location of the cache but are one of several places you might park to find it. Not recommended for small children - difficult in snowy or icy conditions.
In January 1822 Thomas J. Beale left a locked strong box in the care of Robert Morriss, the hotel proprietor of the Washington Hotel in Lynchburg, Virginia. Twenty-three years later after Beale never returned, Morriss opened the strong box. Inside the box were three sheets of enciphered characters and a note in plain English.
The note explained that Beale and his companions had found a large amount of gold and hidden it. The first of the enciphered sheets was said to describe the treasure’s location, the second, the contents of the treasure, and the third the relatives of the men who should receive a share of the treasure if Beale and his companions did not return. Morriss was unable to decipher the code. Before his death, however, he gave the information to a friend who published a pamphlet in 1885 describing all of the above.
The first and third sheets have never been deciphered. The second has been deciphered and describes the contents of the treasure, which is worth some $20 million at today’s prices.
Many people have spent a good part of their lives trying to decipher the two remaining Beale papers. Hopefully, that won’t be the case with you and deciphering this one . . .
Version 1-866-325-7208. Hyphenated words count as two words.
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06/26/2019 By Kerewin0430 Out for a nice hike after work tonight! These summer nights sure are beautiful! Have had this on my solved list for quite a while, it was time to go get it! Last time I hiked this (4 yrs ago!?!), either there wasn't a trail, or I missed it entirely... I distinctly remember scrambling up on all fours for most of it! So glad there was a trail to follow this time :-) The wooden box is in rough shape, but the cache is doing well. Thanks for this puzzle!
06/14/2019 By TheBrecks Yama Gypsy texted me last night and asked if I was interested in a hike to Mt Muscoco to get a few caches that she targeted. We met at 8 this morning at the Mt Cutler trailhead parking. This was our third stop on our hike. This was quite the hike up. My first time on this section of the trail. We spotted the wooden box while explaining Geocaching to another group of hikers. Yama Gypsy made her way down the side and hit a fire ant mound. Since I was waiting for her to descend they got me too. I did the ant dance as I brushed them off. There was no container at the final, so I opened the wooden box and discovered that it was the cache. It had traveled over 100 feet to the top of the hill. Yama Gypsy and I took it back to the GZ as pictured. Signed log and on to the next one. Thanks for placing this cache for us to find today.
06/14/2019 By YamaGypsy We were in for a surprise when we got to the summit of Mt Muscoco and found the cache about 100 feet from it's hiding location. Lots of non-caching logs in the log book now and the outer container is very fragile. Returned it to it's original hiding spot according to the spoiler photo. Tftc!
08/11/2018 By Pohka Decided it was time to do a few old puzzles that have been sitting waiting for me. Had a great hike to it and fun getting to the location (beautiful view). Loved the double cache container, nicely played. Appreciate the hide and the puzzle.
06/23/2018 By Back Country Horsemen Solved this one this past winter & used the hiking event as an excuse to get out and up to find the final. Plenty tough & earns its 4 T rating!
06/02/2018 By kenyansherpa Another wonderful geocaching day' Thanks to the considerable assistance from Ernie66 and Estes01 I was able to log this excellent cache in the very clever container! So thanks to ColoradoPaul for creating and maintaining it! All is well with the cache. IN - Team USA lanyard OUT - nothing TFTH!!
05/04/2018 By gampa&gamma We enjoyed working on this puzzle together and are looking forward to solving more puzzles in this series. We went out to look for the cache this morning and we were thankful for the spoiler photo provided by the CO. The container was as nicely done as was the puzzle! Fave from us for sure! Thanks for a fun puzzle cache!
05/27/2017 By GhostSoldier TFTC that trail was much longer going up than it actually was. But got some good pictures.
05/26/2017 By DustyKat Caching with Ghostsoldier and K9jayhawk on our way to and from 4 paws we stopped to find and sign this log but some in our party had already logged this cache. TFTC
11/15/2016 By billkat Loved deciphering this puzzle! And the hike was beautiful. TFTC!
08/20/2016 By k9jayhawk My normal caching partners were otherwise engaged today so made a solo trek up Mt Cutler and Mt Muscoco. Been looking at this route for a long time so today was the day. After signing the log for Four Paws Cache, I looked at the GPSr thinking that I was done for the day and then saw a blue question mark nearby. Brought up the name and thought, "well, I guess I'm climbing up that way after all" because there was no way I was bypassing it. I solved this one in 2010 while deployed to Afghanistan....TFTC SL
06/01/2016 By thecampcook Enjoyed the puzzle. Was not entirely prepared for a hike like this one... I am sadly out of shape... but the weather this morning was cloudy and cool, so I went for it. By the time I got to the top, the clouds were beginning to clear, so I got to enjoy the lovely view. Took a roundabout route to scramble to the final, as the direct route was blocked by an ant's nest. Signed log; left an American flag pin and a compass. Thanks for the fun cache and great hike.
04/03/2016 By MikeAndJuli After getting only one find and two DNF's on the Cutler trail, we decided to try our luck on the Muscoco trail.
Today's adventure begins with one of the roughest work weeks I've had in a while. Between long extra shifts and loosing a few great coworkers and tough decisions, I needed to spend my first day off out having some fun. I posted a time and trailhead coordinates on Social Media, a vague invite for anyone to join me. Well, only one person showed up, but it's been a while since I've cached with Shamrock, anyway - so I was glad to have him with me. OfErad recommended this cache on that social media post, and assisted with the solution - but didn't join us for the hike.
So while on mount cutler, we looked this cache up - and it seemed too far. However we decided at some point to try the other peak in the area which brought us to this cache. Upon getting to GZ, we found a few teens enjoying the views with their recently-legalized means of intoxication. They didn't seem to mind as we searched for the container.
When we did find the container, we admired the placement. Very cool looking cache! We both signed the log - taking note of the last log being just days away from 2 years ago!
Thanks for the memorable find and the fun hike. Very nice Geocache!
Crypto Cache # 4 - The Beale Papers
| Difficulty: 
| Terrain: 
beale back
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