GC5K3PP Sheep Series: SheepRock
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Colorado Gypsies @ | Hide Date: 02/14/2015 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 09.770 W105° 19.628 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
     

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A cache on a prominent part of SheepRock and the fifth cache published in our Sheep Series.

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A series celebrating the proliferation of Sheep Mountains and other Sheeps of prominence in the Pikes Peak Region.

Make sure to copy the puzzle piece stapled to the log and save it for the Sheep Series: Final.
Either:
Bring a pen and paper and draw the blocks and letters or
Take a picture or
Write down the link URL or
Scan the QR code with your smart phone.

This cache is in an absolutely spectacular spot with stunning views from Lost Creek Wilderness to Pikes Peak and from Wilkerson Pass to Devils Head. Besides overlooking Cheesman Reservoir, you can see Sheep Nose and (barely) the Sheep Mountain above South Platte, CO. Totally worth the trip especially if it's clear and not too windy.
Some maps show SheepRock as a point slightly north west of our cache but the forest service map seeps to indicate the entire massif is SHEEPROCK. Many sites identify SheepRock as the more prominent point almost 2 miles north and call this area SheepRock South. People also refer to a Sheep Dome in the are. As there are already caches on the north end of the massif, we decided to place one on this end. Our route was about 3 miles each way with about two thirds on some sort of trail.

As always please feel free to disregard my directions and find your own way to the cache especially since I included a ridiculous quantity of waypoints this time.
You can access this area from either the Lake George side or the Deckers side. It takes around an hour and a half either way from downtown Colorado Springs to get to where we parked and I included waypoints for the turn off on either side. From our Parking waypoint we hiked out a gated road until we turned right onto a trail (WP1). Next we took a left that almost doubles back onto another trail (WP2) and continued until we left the trail at (WP3) and headed NE to (WP4). Eastward from there down and up to (WP5) where it's down again and left to (WP6) and on to the final.
No rock climbing is necessary on this route but there was lots of scrambling around boulders and negotiating steep terrain. We had to do some brief backtracking a few times.

Finally, one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. One the trip to place the cache I found a male big horn sheep skeleton. That's right. On SheepRock. On the way to hide a cache in my Sheep Series. And it had a radio collar. And mugglepaul spotted another collar (sans sheep) not too far away. I took the skull and the collars to Divison of Parks and Wildlife and they have indeed been introducing big horn sheep from the Rampart Herd (on the scar above Glen Eyrie) into the SheepRock area and they are going to email me when they get the data off the collars.

Container is a large micro with some room for small trackables.
Special thanks to mugglepaul for coming on the hide trip.
Congratulations to hartsdale for being FTF.

The other Sheep Series caches are Here.

Additional Waypoints

ET5K3PP - Turn off on the Deckers side
N 39° 14.512 W 105° 15.668

PK5K3PP - GC5K3PP Parking
N 39° 08.993 W 105° 21.950

W15K3PP - Turn right onto trail
N 39° 09.259 W 105° 20.724

W25K3PP - Almost double back to the left
N 39° 09.318 W 105° 20.474

W35K3PP - Leave the trail. Head North East
N 39° 09.694 W 105° 20.315

W45K3PP - Head East. Down then Up
N 39° 09.897 W 105° 20.072

W55K3PP - Head down to the East then Left up to the saddle
N 39° 09.854 W 105° 19.873

W65K3PP - Now on to the final
N 39° 09.879 W 105° 19.739

WT5K3PP - Turn off on Lake George side
N 39° 04.789 W 105° 24.960

04/09/2016 By -E T-
Sheep Series: SheepRock was transferred from colorado gypsies to user -E T-

07/12/2015 By estes01
My hiking partners and I are no strangers to difficult caches. Both ernie66 and WingsAndTales are my strengths when it comes to what we call "sketchy routes," but I don't mind the difficult ones as long as there are no drop-offs. Having said that, I must be getting too old, because this was one difficult circuit for me. It's quite possible that our rainy weather has created problems where none existed before…in this case, thick bushes – many with large thorns that ripped my skin and clothes. The boulders were actually a welcome sight! Your Cameron's Cone cache was easier than this one. But we are stubborn (and fill-in-the-blank) people and would never think of quitting. When we got to the top, I kept saying to myself that I should enjoy the spectacular views, but my brain was numb. I believe this was a 4.5 rating for terrain and cache location. Bed will feel very nice tonight. You guys are crazy. Thanks.

07/12/2015 By ernie66
As I write this, I'm imagining being immersed in some kind of warm healing gel being rejuvenated for the work week ahead. Alas, it looks like I'll have to wait for my normal healing processes to work their magic. As hartsdale said, the cache is only a little over 2 miles from parking and there isn't much elevation difference between parking and the cache. But unless you're a bird, you'll see - those innocuous stats hide a really tough hike. We logged over 8 miles round trip.

Estes01 and I followed the waypoints on the way up and had significant trouble plowing through the head-high vicious vegetation at several points, not to mention loose rock and steep grades. But we eventually made it and got our names on the log. Lucky estes01 was there or I would have forgotten to record the clue for the final. It was only 400 feet back to the cache at that point .

We tried a different way back, but I'm not sure it was any easier. Maybe fewer prickly bushes to barrel through, but I think it ended up being more up-and-down elevation gain as we crossed the closest gully much lower down. By that point, I was on autopilot, out of water, confronted with 2 miles of uphill hiking back to the car. All that kept me going was the thought that the bouldering was behind us and that there was an abundance of fresh cold water waiting in the car. And the abundance of ripe wild raspberries!

I left a Generation Nature Trackable - this is about as natural and unspoiled a location as there is anywhere. I'll add a favorite point on the assumption that healing gel works .

03/08/2015 By hartsdale
The weather got nice for a few days and I wanted to get out and about.

So this morning I went for some fun driving in the snow and hiking in some too.

Must be a few live ones back in here, because two bedded down not far from GZ two days or so ago.

This is one tough hike, it is 2.25 miles as "crow fly" from the parking spot with alot of ups and downs, so I would guess it like 5 in and it feels like about 6 out.

Thanks for the fun series to hunt for!

FTF - HD

02/28/2015 By Alpine Reviewer
Published