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GC48ADZ
Lady MoonType: Traditional | Size: Small 
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| Terrain:  By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 03/14/2013 | Status: Available Country: United States | State: Colorado Coordinates: N40° 46.025 W105° 31.853 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0 
This cache is located near the summit of Point 8722, a Ranked Peak in Larimer County. This mountain is often referred to by locals as “Lady Moon Peak”. It rises directly above the southwest side of Lady Moon Lake; Lady Moon Trail traverses along its western flank. The cache is a jar wrapped in silver duct tape, hidden about 50 feet from the highest point of the peak. Reaching the cache site is a challenge. I suggest parking at the trailhead for Lady Moon Trail. It’s west of Lady Moon Lake and south of Red Feather Lakes Road. There is a conspicuous U.S. Forest Service sign showing where to turn off the road for the parking area, which was constructed in 2012 and has restroom facilities and nice informational signs. A trail runs south from the parking area; it can be followed for a short distance before you start off-trail work to ascend Lady Moon Peak and reach the cache. Some moderately serious bushwhacking is necessary to attain the summit area. With proper route finding, the cache can be reached keeping the difficulty level to no more than Yosemite Class 2+. If you find yourself trying to scale more difficult terrain review your options and you can find an easier way. On the other hand, if you’d like to do some interesting rock scrambling on your way to the cache site, this peak provides plenty of opportunities! I suggest you mark your ascent route using your GPS track function and then retrace this track during your descent. Be careful. Have fun with this one! Now a bit of Larimer County history...who was Lady Moon? Catherine (Katie) Gratton Lawder was born to Irish parents on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 1865. She was orphaned when she was 12 and lived for 6 years with her Aunt in Iowa. When she was 18 she came to Colorado and found work in the Elkhorn Lodge near the now ghost mining town of Manhattan between Rustic and Red Feather Lakes. She met and married Frank Gartman, a miner who was several years older than she. Subsequently an English nobleman, Cecil Ernest Moon, came to Colorado seeking mining treasure; he enrolled in a ranching school in Katie’s neighborhood. Cecil became ill and Katie was hired to care for him. Romance blossomed, Katie divorced Frank, and in 1888 she and Cecil were married. From that point the true history becomes somewhat muddled because her life story became fictionalized in a novel and it’s unclear what the sequencing and details of actual events became. But the common story that’s recited is that soon after their marriage they went to England, where she insisted on wearing her western riding and other odd clothing and refused to conform to the aristocratic expectations of the family. She was not well received, as she was boisterous and ill mannered. They soon returned to Larimer County. Sir Cecil inherited the baronetcy when his grandfather died in 1899 and they again returned to England so Cecil could receive the title; they remained for a couple of years and then returned to Colorado. They acquired a ranch and mining property near Manhattan, while living for a time in Denver. They again traveled to England, but Katie returned to Colorado within a year while Sir Cecil remained there. She is reported to have spent much of her time on the ranch drinking whiskey and hanging out with the ranch hands. Lord Cecil, an Oxford graduate, preferred time reading in his library. Sir Cecil eventually filed for divorce and sued Katie to recover funds he claimed she owed him. After the divorce, Katie could not legally use the title “Lady” she was so proud of, but she expected the local community to refer to her as Lady Moon, and they obliged. She remained flamboyant until her death in 1926. Lady Moon’s life has been captured in several interesting writings and productions. A novel entitled The Lady from Colorado was written by Homer Croy and published in 1957. In 1964 an opera by the same name premiered at Central City Opera, created by Robert Ward, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. Emerson Buckley conducted. The opera was based primarily on the novel, containing the same deviations from the factual history–but making for a grand production! Fifteen sold-out performances occurred. The opera was revised in 1993 and played in opera houses in the eastern United States as Lady Katie. Further, the real-life adventures of Katie Lawder Moon were the inspiration for a Broadway play, Sunday, and also served as the basis of Our Gal Sunday, a radio soap opera broadcast from 1937 to 1959, one of the longest-running programs in radio history. Finally, a one-act biographic play, Lady Moon, portraying Katie as a strong, fairly eccentric and compassionate Colorado pioneer and rancher, was performed by Openstage theater in Fort Collins during their 2002-2003 season. In spite of the novel and all these production forums, most residents of Larimer County are unfamiliar with this interesting figure of our county’s history!
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