GC6FAK7 Wintersteen Should Be A Beer--Reprised
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 04/09/2016 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 42.821 W105° 16.145 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                             

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In April 2003 a cache was hidden east of Greyrock Mountain by Dan_Edwards along the Wintersteen “Trail”. It was GCF7AE, “Wintersteen Should Be A Beer”. I found it with my puppy Teewinot in November 2005. That find will always be memorable for me because it was the first backcountry cache that I found in Colorado. Soon after the find I “discovered” Tahosa and Sons caches on Crosier and Round/Sheep Mountains that really hooked me on this sport, but “Wintersteen Should Be A Beer” really cued my initial interest in geocaching in mountainous terrain. I worked hard for ”Wintersteen”, and felt great when I reached the coordinates and signed the cache log. In the Description for the cache Dan_Edwards wrote: “This cache will test your cache research and GPS skills”. By “cache research” he meant the use of topographic maps to plot out a realistic, safe route to the hide location. Soon after its placement the cache fell into disrepair, repeatedly being ravaged by one or more local animal resident(s). Finders kept it “alive” by occasionally making repairs and replacing the cache log. Years later, it’s fun to read the interesting Found it logs written by those cachers who reached the location. In October 2009 High Country Administrator appropriately archived the cache more than a year after it was reported missing/chewed to bits by mammals. The “spot” has been vacant ever since.

From time-to-time I’ve considered hiking up to the original cache location and reprising it. Today, in conjunction with a Colorado Mountaineering Club hike that I was co-leading, I decided to make the reprise hide. The cache is located about 150 feet south of the original geocache. Be persistent, and you will find it. The hide location is slightly off the faint Wintersteen Trail. The entire area was burned in the High Park Fire. The absence of living trees now opens the viewsheds so that spectacular scenery is seen in all directions from the cache coordinates.

Most topographic maps of the region actually show the original Wintersteen Trail on them. Be aware that the trail is at best very faint, and even the rock cairns that mark the trail here and there are often far apart and difficult to see. So do NOT assume that you can simply follow a “trail” to the general cache vicinity. That’s not possible! Take time and carefully study a 1:24,000 scale USGS map before heading out for this cache, so you have a realistic route mapped out for your adventure through this rugged terrain. Also, keep in mind that mountain lions are seen in the vicinity from time-to-time, and rattlesnakes are not uncommon. With those provisos, this can be a very fun, memorable backcountry geocaching adventure. To make it even more so, do some internet research on the old Wintersteen Trail so you can relate its purpose/location to historical activities in this interesting area.

After your return relax with a beer or other libation--perhaps a "Wintersteen". You've earned some rest and reflection.

06/16/2017 By Pixel Magic
I was hiking on Greyrock Trail to find the new Profile cache recently published by Denali41 so I decided that as long as the weather was stable I would hike over to get this cache. I have never been on the Wintersteen Trail so it intrigued me to see if I could find it. With help from my GPS device I located the trail so I used that as a starting point to hike east to find this cache. I was amazed that not a single tree was alive along the mile or so I hiked from Greyrock to get to this cache. Trees were strewn about making part of the walk challenging. Once I got to the top of the trail ridge the walking was easier. I was pleasantly surprised to see the glistening Seaman Reservoir off in the distance even further to the east. By contrast, the area around the reservoir looked surprisingly green compared to the downed wood all around me. Thanks for bringing me to this spot.

10/31/2016 By jrj1980
I set out this morning with the goal of hiking the Wintersteen Trail from the Greyrock area and caching along the way. I managed to find parts of the trail and a few scattered cairns, but I feel like I was mostly blazing my own trail. TFTC!

05/21/2016 By tinytuttle
A few days before our adventure to Greyrock, ArkF and I were planning a caching hike over a couple of pints at a local brewery in Fort Collins, Old Flowers Rd was an option till were heard that area wouldn't be open for awhile probably closer to June, So Greyrock was our intended plan. Early Saturday morning brought heavy fog cover, that cleared quickly by 8am, it was a beautiful sunny day with still a slight haze in the mid morning air. ArkF and I decided that this cache would be number #2 on our days hike, I had initially thought about grabbing another cache North of the Western Profile "Aiguille du Greyrock but wasn't sure I had enough "gas in the tank" to get three caches placed by Denali41 so we passed on that one. On our way to this cache we had to back track just a bit before we realized we needed to take a slightly different angle, along the way we bumped two Big Horn rams towards the top which seemed like they were leading the way which was pretty cool. We initially hiked a little to far down on the hillside towards the cache having to deal with a lot of navigating downed timber which took a beating on my poor knees. I enjoyed the entire days events and felt like I got a good workout today, thanks Steve for the placement of this cache and bringing me to a place with more awesome views. Much appreciated!

05/21/2016 By ArkF
Thanks for the interesting cache. I went on a hike with tinytuttle around the Greyrock vicinity today. After tackling our primary business to the west, we headed across and made our attempt at finding the Wintersteen trail. Didn't see anything resembling a trail on the way to the cache, and caused some extra trouble for ourselves by trying to avoid some of the up/down of the terrain. Saw some suspicious holes / lumps that could have been remains from the Brinkerhoff mine, with lots of mica around them.

Found the cache easily and signed below SilverTrekker and icezebra. We had better luck on the way back towards Greyrock, finding several cairns and even following an old road bed for 100 yards or so before it petered out. We were thoroughly tired by the time we got back to the parking lot, after what my GPS recorded as 11.7 mi of hiking, with more than 3,500 ft of elevation gain.

04/23/2016 By icezebra11
Well this Wintersteen cache was quite "tasty" so I'm sure a stein of Wintersteen beer would really hit the spot! Last night I was trying to decide what caching hike I wanted to take today and I recalled our discussion of this cache at the OCB event this past Wednesday. I checked the page and it still had not been found as of last night so that sealed the deal, Wintersteen is was.

There are two primary ways to come at this cache, from the Greyrock trail or from the Gateway Natural Area. While it looked to be shorter from Gateway, I chose to go up Greyrock trail. I arrived at the parking area at 8:15 this morning and the parking lot was nearly full, only a few spots left. I slapped on some sunscreen and headed up the trail. On the way up I only saw four people, two coming down and two going up. Once I got to the point where I left the Greyrock trail and tried to find any remnants of the Wintersteen trail, there was no one on the ridge with me. I followed the ridge to the cache site and I was able to find signs of the old trail. There were places where I could discern some furrows from long ago blade work but it was overgrown enough that it wasn't all that obvious. And I found only about 3 cairns along the way.

Once I arrived at GZ it was a very quick find as the coordinates were spot on. I signed my name right below Silver Trekker. I know Terri was on the hike when Denali placed the cache and when she has done that on other caches she has not claimed FTF so I will. After signing the log I took a few pictures and then headed back down the "trail." Once back on the Greyrock trail I met a lot of people heading up the trail, it was a very busy Saturday.

Thanks Steve for reprising this cache and luring me to this nice high point with some pretty awesome views!!!