You'll need to head to the Baker's Run Camping area on the Sutton Lake to get started (town of Centralia). Follow the old county road past the entance to the camping area and continue along the Elk river. The road heading up to the tower DOES have a gate on it, but in the 6 years I've been here, it has never been closed. The begining of the road can be found at these coordinates: N 36 deg 36.9294' and W 80 deg 31.7705'. From here you will need a 4X4 but the drive up parallels a small stream with many water falls, laurel, rhodedendron, and hemlock. It will take about a half-hour to get to the top. There are not any terribly rough spots on the climb, it's just steep. (be careful at one washed out culvert) Once to the top, find the tower. Unfortunatly locals have painted on a few of the buildings surrounding the tower and have left some trash. The bottom set of steps from the tower have been removed since the last time I was here, but it's still quite easy to get to the first level via the side supports.
From the top: to the North is the Elk River in the first major drain with the Holley River past that. To the South, out of site, you're looking toward Webster Springs and McGowan Mountain. On a clear day you sould be able to see the towers on that maountain.
As you pass under the tower supports, there is a small grove of American Chestnut trees. These seem to be around 7-10 yrs old and will probably die out withen another 5-10 years due to American Chestnut Blight.
After you find the cache and return back down to the Elk River, take a drive and turn right at the bottom of the hill and continue on the road. This will take you into Webster Springs along a very scenic trail with laurel and rhodadendron thickits that I'm sure will be quite a site come the middle to end of June.
Current Cache Contents:
Temp. tattoos
WV history book
Ponytail holders
Mini-vice grips
Army Knife
Shop towels
Spinning top
Paul Bunyan movie
Scented glitter
Tattoo Necklace
Stamper
MISS CHEETAH (travel bug)