Explosion! Disaster! LbNA #15686

Last checked on April 21, 2006

"Until the early 1960s, outskirts of this city drew city folks looking for underground adventure and a chance to cool off on hot summer days. (Caves stay around 50 degrees year-round.) This site contains abandoned quarries that supplied the limestone used in the aqueducts, retaining walls and other structures for the original Erie Canal.
Today folks go over the yellow barrier at the end of the road to hike, jog, pick mushrooms or see the historic site where an explosion near the end of World War I killed 50 men. Only part of one original structure remains from the old plant that supplied TNT to America's allies during the war, and is located on the quarry's south wall.

The whole place sits on an underground maze. Vents in the ground throughout the area emit the inner earth's cold, pure breath. Most are too small to enter. Underground passages large enough to explore are located on the rim. Unfortunately, this area is private property and off-limits to the public.

A web of crevices etches the forest floor on the ridge around the quarry. The vast majority are shallow, anywhere from 1 to 10 feet deep. Staircases of muddy, broken rocks lead to moss-covered talus floors splattered in last autumn's leaves. Stretching for varying distances, bridged in spots by boulders and fallen trees, they offer a roof over an animal's head in a pinch--during a rainstorm, for instance--but they're not true caves.

However, a few of the holes here descend much deeper, anywhere from 15 to 100 feet. One has an opening large enough for a grown man to enter while stooped over. Inside, the entrance quickly tapers to a tall, V-shaped passage just wide enough for a skinny person to squeeze through. Piercing the hill for a length of about 50 feet, its floor, the dull edge of a sheet of limestone that peeled off the wall and fell into the abyss eons ago, is only about 10 inches wide. Like a serpent's tongue, it's bordered by deep, dark spaces on both sides and runs straight down the center of the tunnel, ending in an open chamber so dark that you can put your hand in front of your face and feel its heat but never see your fingers.

Another cave's opening is a hole in the dirt just barely big enough for a small man to fit through. Concealed by thick brush, the best way to find it is to follow the stream of cold air it sends wafting through the thickets. Like a slanted chimney with a kink, it slides down for about five feet, hits a rock shelf that reaches laterally for a couple feet, then drops vertically for a distance no one has plumbed yet. Remember: Anyone who goes beyond the posted signs without permission of the owner risks being busted for trespassing."


There is a First Finder's certificate with this box.
Once you solve the mystery location, here are the directions to the box. Answer the following questions and you will know where to look.


Dwayne Johnson is known as “The ----.”
Metrokane’s Ice-O-Mat is an ice -------.
A southpaw throws a ball with his ---- hand.
Another name for a submarine sandwich is a ------.
Peter Benchley’s 1976 novel was called “The ----.”
If you don’t want your sweaters to “pill”, turn them -------- out when you wash them.
A 2000 movie about cheerleading was called “---- It On.”
Maglite is a popular brand of ------------.
China’s most famous landmark is the Great ---- Of China.
Microsoft makes the -------- operating system.

Have Fun! Please let me know how your search went. lockwench@yahoo.com