GC70V8G Find the Benchmark G 431, Find the Cache
Type: Multi | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Room Ten-O-Nine @ | Hide Date: 02/20/2017 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 28.450 W105° 15.517 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                 

---

hartsdale got the FTF

---

This is the third cache in my "Find the Benchmark" series. The others are:

GC6C8JM Find the Benchmark E 179, Find the Cache
GC6C8R5 Find the Benchmark S 337, Find the Cache

You can get a "twofer" at these caches by logging both a cache and a benchmark. Logged benchmarks show on your Geocaching statistics but do not count toward your cache totals.

This is a multi-cache. The posted coordinates are the coordinates posted for the benchmark JK0949. You will not find anything at the posted coordinates, but that is the area to begin your search. You will need to locate the benchmark JK0949, designation G 431, to find the information you need to proceed to the next stage. You must sign the log at the final stage to claim credit for this cache.

Benchmarks were placed before the days of GPS satellites. The coordinates were usually scaled from topographic maps and can have significant error. Carefully read the information page for Benchmark JK0949 to get an idea of where to look.

The benchmark is not on private property so please do not cross the fence.

The terrain rating is for the final. The final is not close by and involves a short, but steep hike. There will be some scrambling, loose rocks, cactus, and the other usual Colorado hazards. The final is well hidden and wedged in tightly. Please replace as found and also replace all the natural camo so it stays out of sight of passing muggles.

Additional Waypoints

P070V8G - Parking for Final
N 38° 26.020 W 105° 15.898

06/28/2019 By Room1009
I went for an early morning hike and stopped to check on this cache. It was already getting hot. All is well here. I swapped trackables--picked up GuteMineInge and left 50 States - Vermont.

03/25/2019 By Dean & Chris
Wow, stage one was quite difficult. The first time we spent a long time looking and kicking the dirt. No luck. The second time we came prepared (we thought). We had looked at all the comments and pictures on the Benchmark site prior to visiting. We brought all kinds of tools with us. Gloves, a metal poker and a small gardening spade. The cars zooming by were probably wondering about us. No joy, we were skunked again.
Finally we contacted the CO for some help which he graciously provided. Third time's a charm. Today, everything fell into place. Finally we were able to locate the Benchmark and stage one. So glad that we didn't need shovels and a metal detector!
Stage two was so much easier. Very steep, but doable. All is well with the container. We traded TBs and left a bit of swag. Tftc.

11/03/2018 By Room1009
Went on a maintenance run today and this was one I checked on. Both stages are in good condition. As d.digger mentioned in his log, stage 1 is very hard to find. I dropped a travel bug, Lonely Traveler # 12. It wants to spend time in lonely caches and this one is perfect.

06/16/2018 By d.digger
Aaaaand here's that smiley. I picked today because it's been the first overcast and cool(er) day since I found stage one. I'll have to say stage one was easy to get to and hard to find and stage two was just the opposite; hard to get to but easy to find. Big cache with room for swag, but all I had was a pocket full of fossil teeth. I left several, just to make the trip worthwhile for the next, and picked up the trackables.
Thanks for the exercise.

05/23/2018 By d.digger
[First attempt: Ah, I know what a benchmark looks like: easy peasy.

Second attempt: Oh, there's an related website. Aha, a picture, now I know what I'm looking for.
Third attempt: Actually read the description and logs on the benchmark website.

Fourth, Fifth and Sixth attempts; Dug here, dug there, wandered around in circles and kicked at clods of dirt, still no luck.

Visited with Room 1009 at the 2018 CITO and found out where I was going wrong.

Semi lucky seventh attempt: found the benchmark but couldn't find the numbers. Contacted Room 1009 again.

Today I went back and located the item with the co-ordinates for the final. Ants had buried it in the middle of their hill, I dragged it out and got a few nips for my trouble. Returned with a little Amdro ant poison I just happened to have in my car. There won't be any more problem with ants.] The witness post actually has the words "witness post" and other writing on it.

[Next log will have a smiley attached to it]

05/22/2017 By Room1009
Stopped by and swapped trackables. Cache is in good condition.

04/06/2017 By Room1009
This might be harder than I thought based on the lack of finds. I raised the difficulty a notch. Cache on and come find me!

03/01/2017 By 9-rushman&farmgirl79
When this one first posted I could not figure out what to do!! I kept looking at the cache page and finally contacted Room 1009 for a nudge. He quickly replied to my E-mail and I felt really DUMB. Now I'm glad that I got some help because after going to the GZ I don't know if I could have found the first waypoint!! So I got the coordinates for the final and I already had an idea where it was going to be since the posted parking coordinates were at the NEW Tunnel Drive Trailhead. I parked at the Trail Head and started up the road. I got about 80 feet away and I knew where it was going to be. The only problem was getting to it. I hiked on up the road to where the trail turns West. I saw a route up the hill that looked pretty good. So I started up the hill stepping and sliding as I went. I finally got to a narrow path that lead me right to it. What an EVIL place to put a cache. I'm glad I got up and back down without falling or getting into the VERY LARGE cactus plants. Nice EVIL Multi ROOM 1009! Signed the log and traded out the travelers to move along. [8d][8d] SL TFTC