Animas Cache

05/31/2019 By Rvatornate&Fatcleo
Like others have said, the hike was a bit of a challenge. We took the long way around, and a direct path down. Spent a fair amount of time reading the log entries, many were truly hysterical. Took nothing, left nothing, signed the log. Thanks for the cache!

05/23/2019 By AutumnEB
FOUND! Oh my gosh this climb was insane. I don’t even know how to begin to get back down. What a beautiful hike, thank you so much for maintaining this!!!

10/21/2018 By Whashoshe
My first cache, and it was great! Good hike up the trail and we trail blazed a little bit, lol

10/16/2018 By Utahcolor
Absolutely loved this cache. As others have said, the approach does require a bit of fitness and, no matter how you go, a modicum of agility. We don't know what the best route is, but the one we chose seemed to work out OK. From the parking area we took the lovely trail through the Douglas firs, switching back up to the ridge top. At the first junction is a sign where we stayed to the right, but there is no sign at the junction with the Ridge Walk. It is in a little swale just before the main trail takes a dive down to the south. We went to the right again and quickly up a little bit of exposed and steep Mancos Shale. The path eventually gets to the bottom of the last rise to the mesa top and really gets steep. The cache location is on the flat to the right. We climbed to a bit higher than that and then did a slightly descending traverse over to it, staying just above the top of the drainage. The distance was short and there wasn't much exposure at all. This worked for us, since we studied that drainage for the return. Once on the flat it was a very pleasant stroll to the cache which is in great shape, and it was fun to read about all the old finds. The views over Durango from the cache, and into the snowy La Platas from the other side were spectacular. After lunch we strolled back over to the drainage, dropping a bit as we did, and found an easy way down into it. It should be noted that recent rain left the slopes a little soft, which made the descent much easier and safer since we could dig our feet in. Don't know how it would be if it was dry and hard. Once in the bottom it was an easy walk without too much vegetation to slow things down, and no significant pour-offs. When we got to a private land sign, we stepped out of the wash to the right and onto the trail in about ten steps, and then less than ten minutes back to the car. Many thanks to Sabina and Matt for this one, and to the cachers who have respected it in the past.

09/02/2018 By YamaGypsy
Lemonheadmafia and I tackled this one first this morning. We followed the trail until it ended and then came across the ridge. Afterwards we went straight back down. Not a bad hike. Almost 3 miles round trip. Tftc!

09/06/2017 By DustyKat
Quite a hike but we were rewarded with the beautiful views. Trees hadn't changed color much yet.

08/19/2017 By SprinklesB
Ohhhhh boy. First of all definitely a level 4 terrain. I also wish I had of read the "hint" (not a hint- parking instructions) first instead of driving around Ridge Rock.... go to the Hidden Valley Trailhead! About a 1.25 mile hike to the cache (gps keeps giving you a happy 0.33.... don't believe it!) the only reason I pursued was because I A- Wanted to get this older cache and B- Didn't want to ever attempt it again. And believe me I live here and am no stranger to hiking. I will say this was my 3rd hike of the day after Smelter & getting an ACM cache (the 3 oldest La Plata Co caches I needed).... but anyhow... WHHEEWWWWW........... call my International Caching Day 2017 COMPLETE. This was also my 250th cache!! Hooray!!!

Close to Animas Cache

11/27/2016 By Back Country Horsemen
What a hike! Started at .3 away but had to go in a circle to climb high enough. Probably far more than a mile so far. In town to meet our son for Thanksgiving. He is stationed in Yuma. When I found out this was one of the ten oldest I had to get it. Got one more to go now. Dropped a TB.

10/28/2016 By Echo&BadBrad
Animas Cache! We found you! :)
We had a little bit of a tough time finding parking for our setup but after a little driving around we found a spot.. Enjoyed the hike up, took in the views, inked the log (yay!) & headed on back down to explore this neat little town & do a little shopping. Thanks so much for the cache! We are loving Durango!
Echo & Brad

Animas Cache

10/18/2016 By KJKlock
Animjason and I made last-minute plans to take a quick road-trip to Durango, The Spanish Peaks, and back home in order for both of us to complete the Colorado Escoffier Challenge which requires finding the top 10 oldest caches in Colorado. He just needed GC3DF, while I needed that one plus GC19. We left early on Tuesday morning and got back in the early afternoon on Wednesday. We worked very efficiently but also made the most of our trip by finding other significant caches along the way including two Wherigos, a few Virtuals, and several EarthCaches. We also made sure to get cache finds in as many counties as we could.

All required answers have already been sent to the cache owners, pictures will be added to this log as needed, and the Wherigo finds have also been logged on wherigo.com.

This cache was the primary target for the first day of our trip. With this find, Animjason completed the Colorado Escoffier Challenge and I became one cache away from completing it. Favorite point awarded for this oldie.

This is day 1194 of my current daily caching streak. Thanks for helping me to extend it by another day.

TFTC!

10/18/2016 By animjason
Went on an impromptu trip with K of KJKLOCK to Durango to complete my Escoffier Challenge. He has able to also finish his with GC19 on the way back.

We left early Tuesday, and grabbed a few caches on the way. Then spent the majority of the day in Durango and Silverton. Then drove to the Spanish Peaks, of course caching along the way. Caught some sleep near the arch, then cached our way home. Super busy, but fun!

Found a fossil on our way. We took a direct route, and it wasn't incredibly bad. Did some skiing back to the car. This was the main target and now I have the Escoffier Challenge completed!! Thanks for keeping this active!
Thanks Sabina and Matt! Logged Animas Cache using a seventh galaxy!
Love the view

10/07/2016 By BugRanger
On a multi-day geo-road trip with EstesLynne, getting caches for our DeLorme pages & Colorado counties, with several high-value caches added in. Since this is one of the ten oldest caches in Colorado, we had to make the hike up. We planned the route, printed & studied the maps - and really glad EstesLynne downloaded the new app :-)
Starting the hike early, we followed the trail for a ways, attempted to bushwhack through the scrub-oak, then chose to follow the trail again as it looped & did switchbacks up the hill. Looks like the "game-trails" are now bike-trails for most of the way to the top. We eventually ran out of trail, but there was just a short bush-whack downhill along the ridgeline to GZ where EstesLynne made the quick find.
Glad to get such an oldie! SL, took in the views, then decided to hike along the contours back to the main trail for the easy walk out. Thanks for maintaining this oldie!

10/07/2016 By EstesLynne

Bug Ranger and I are on a multi-day caching binge to get needed counties and De Lorme pages, but also targeted some high-value caches along the way. Since this is one of the 10 oldest caches in Colorado, we wanted it for a challenge cache, and just because it seemed cool.

We pored over maps, and then started out at the Hidden Valley Circle south trailhead in below-freezing weather at 8 AM. There is a regular trailhead there, just to the left of the rather intimidating driveway, and it's not on private property. After a few wrong ideas (bushwhacking through scrub oak is generally a bad idea), we pulled up the new "trails" map on the geocaching app. What a bonus this addition is! We followed some large switchbacks up to and along the "Ridge" trail (clearly a mountain biking favorite, judging from the tire tracks), and ended up actually having to descend to Animas. It was also much longer than the direct route--maybe a mile and a half one way--but it certainly decreased the bush bashing and exposure. By the time we got to the cache we were in shirtsleeves--that's Colorado in October for you. We did a little shortcutting on the way back to avoid having to ascend again, but we got the cache and didn't die in the process. Woohoo!

The views from the top are wonderful, too. A favorite for an oldie; it's a bit of a stinker of a climb, but it's worth it. TFTC, of course!

08/29/2016 By ngrrfan
Oh what an adventure this turned out to be.
1 - Never go after this cache when it has rained or is lightly raining.
2 - Be prepared to end up with dirty clothes and shoes.
3 - Have spare writing utensils.
4 - If anything can go wrong.... it will. Murphy loves geocaching. LOL
5 - GOT IT, but couldn't sign the log. ugh

07/14/2016 By HendrickClan
First finder of 2016! It took me two trips to the area, once to scout the terrain and think about possible approaches (then I studied Google Maps carefully) and then a second trip to make the hike up the hill/mountain. Even though it was only a third of a mile, it was REALLY tough and very steep in some areas. I suggest that the terrain rating should be a "4" instead of "3". I was really happy to find the container and sign the log. It's great to see an older cache still active and well-maintained. TFTC!