Even though I wasn’t really supposed to, I had the day off from work—and what better way to spend it than to go for a ride (and hunt benchmarks) in Jim Thorpe.
Rich and I took a few hours to ourselves in the morning to recover some local benchmarks. We parked in a small gravel lot just off the road to the Carbon County Correctional Facility (I was, um, familiar with this facility from our first Death Hike back in 1999) and adjacent to Route 93. We then walked northward along Route 93 less than 1/4 mile to the point where old Route 93 once intersected from the west, as was evident from little more than a high berm along the shoulder, some asphalt pieces, and an open area beyond.
With the beautiful view of the town of Nesquehoning as our background scenery, we searched the clearing for the azimuth mark. The chunks of asphalt that remained were of little help in determining the original route or size of old Route 93, so it was impossible to take any measurements from the road. No witness post was found at this site, so we had very little to go on. After a lengthy search, the mark was found in good condition atop a small outcropping boulder. We determined the location of the six-inch maple tree and were surprised to find that it is now a group of three trees, and the trunk of the largest bears red painted marks which appear to be surveyors’ notations.
We followed the slight remnants of Old Route 93, still distinguishable but little more than a path, northwest toward the station. The white boulder mentioned in the description has now been painted a brilliant yellow-orange. We viewed it from the base of the rock pile and hiked the steep, slippery slope toward it. Fifteen feet from the boulder’s base, ringed in yellow paint, we spotted the station mark set in outcropping bedrock. After a short search, the two reference marks were found in good condition as described.
Rich and I incorporated the search for N 192 into our ride on Switchback Trail, which we eventually rode all the way up to the Mt. Pisgah Summit Overlook. We were especially excited about this mark because, according to the information found on the geocaching website, this mark had last been reported Not Found by the U. S. Power Squadron (we didn’t discover till later that two subsequent Found reports have been submitted by PennDOT). Nothing was apparent at first glance, but Rich kicked some grass aside at just the right spot, and there was the mark!