GC23FPX Wild Blue Yonder
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: estes01 @ | Hide Date: 01/29/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 50.351 W104° 56.765 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
           

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This cache is dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. Air Force

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The cache is located in a fairly flat wooded area. The high terrain rating is due to having to approach from the Gog/Magog Trail which originates west of Manitou Springs at the end of Ruxton Road. If you are lucky enough to know someone who lives in Crystal Park and will grant you entry, you can access the cache from that direction. Either way, this trip will take you into the Wild Blue Yonder.

The cache container is a small camouflaged plastic container - large enough to hold small items.
Don't forget to discover the Air Force coin copy pasted inside the lid.
There are some incredible views of Pikes Peak and the surrounding foothills, so it is well worth the hike.

Here is a more detailed description of the trail and caches along the way:
The trail head is very near the "Englemann Canyon cache," GC9F12, but the trail can be hard to follow heading up the base of Eagle Mountain and crossing Shady Spring Gulch. The hike gains about 1500 feet in 3 miles with plenty of switchbacks and some boulder scrambling. For reference, the route is shown on the Pikes Peak atlas. Try to limit your bushwhacking, keeping Magog Rock in sight to the Southwest as you hike up this steep terrain. Once you get to Magog Rock you will be very near a puzzle cache in the area. The steep climb continues another third of a mile and 400 feet vertical to Gog Rock where there is another puzzle cache. It's easiest to traverse the slope to the front (north and then east side) of Gog Rock and continue your trek uphill past "Just Do It!" GC23F1W. From Gog Rock the trail becomes a mixed Jeep/ATV dual track. It is a very easy walk from here to find my cache and then continue on for "Rock Hound" GC1JC2Z.

***Congrats to Mr. jjasks for his FTF on 2/05/10***

10/17/2015 By Bokmeow
Wow! What a trek! You weren't kidding about the "steepness" of the trail! Thanks for all the references to the the other caches.. We found the puzzle cache we were looking for and really enjoyed this trail. We thought the way up was hard, but the way down surely was harder on our knees. Lots of scramble and the grade just about did them in! Ha. Beautiful beautiful day in the wild blue yonder. Attached some pics. Fantastic day to be alive in and geocaching in Colorado. Cache was in great shape, thanks for getting us up here.

11/09/2014 By MountainBear
Found with JavaChip on the way to the top of Cameron Cone. TFTC!

08/08/2014 By OR85OR450
I knew I shoulda' stuck to the dirt road ... didn't... and came out on the dirt road again !!!

03/16/2014 By spiffysam
It was a beautiful day and this was a fun cache! It's still in good shape and made it through the winter just fine. The trail was pretty icy/snowy on the way up, as expected for early Spring but the cache was still very accessible. Found this one and "Sauce Robert", but no luck with Just Do It!. TLNL TFTC!

07/13/2013 By K Trackers
We were out on a fun Geo-run with GoMRT today, trying to go for a group of caches we called "Tough Terrain Objective 4." The site selection here was awesome, the CO's reputation for good site selection and hides remains intact. We also appreciated the extra effort the CO put into container construction and camouflage. Hhmmm...for a Air Force cache, there is definitely some Army influence in the camouflage; I guess the CO is a master of Joint Ops too. We appreciated the nice hide and the geocoin was a great bonus as well, thanks for the cache!