You will be rewarded with outstanding views as you ascend the road to the west rim of North Table Mesa.
By the time you find the cache, you will be about 550 feet higher than the parking spot near highway 93 below. That's quite a climb! Its difficulty rating is more accurately described as 2.5, 2.5. I’m keeping this cache free by “down-rating” it.
The cache is located above a rock quarry. As you stand near the cache, look carefully at the cliffs to the west. This is a most interesting geological formation. Click here to see an aerial view of this mysterious hole. I bet you'll ask yourself, "How did that happen?"
Keep a close eye on little cachers. Sometimes it's very windy up here.
The easiest way to approach this cache is to hike up the steep gravel road that rises from highway 93 from the northwest. The road's a favorite of hikers and cyclists--watch out for bikes quickly descending.
Local History Trivia: A week after I placed this cache, I met Harald Drewes, a retired geologist who wrote a booklet about North and South Table Mesas. He told me that this mysterious hole was probably a "glory hole" into which miners dumped rock, then extracted it from a tunnel, which exited to the gentler slope below. Ore would then be carted down the gentler slope. Harald said that the rock on North Table Mountain is very hard, so instead of breaking up upon impact (after being dumped into the glory hole), it clogged the hole. Clearing these obstructions is very dangerous, as they need to be blasted from below. He speculates that this is the reason the glory hole stayed plugged up. One day I'll take a hike along the base of the cliffs on the west rim, to see if I can find the tunnel that leads to the glory hole.
A view into the Glory Hole.
Harald said that the Henderson Mine west of Denver has an amazing example of a glory hole. In 1980 the underground cavern formed by ore removal collapsed, producing a huge glory hole which can be seen on the side of Red Mountain. For details, and a picture, click here.
Feb. 1st, 2010 Update: I returned to the area and hiked the trail below the Glory Hole. I discovered a concrete anchor which must have been used by equipment that shuttled rocks down an obvious man-made grade that slopes down the hill perpendicular to the rock curtain wall.
Looking east:
Looking west:
Rock Quarry & Mysterious Hole
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