GC27RP3 Swarmin' Over the Bobcat
Type: Multi | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 04/30/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 33.807 W105° 05.667 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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CONGRATULATIONS TO CLAN MROCZKO FOR FTF!!

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Swarmin’ Over the Bobcat is a “bee” micro container obtained from the Swarmin’ multi (GC1RQVZ) in Fort Collins. It is a challenging cache from both the cache Difficulty and the Terrain perspectives. You will have a satisfied feeling of accomplishment when you sign the cache log sheet! Finding the cache requires map and compass bearing work, as well as an understanding of how to plot stage coordinates accurately on a 1:24,000-scale map and how to establish accurate coordinates to enter into your GPSr from a specific point on a map. Before you begin this quest, make certain that you have a concrete plan to deal with these issues.

As a recommendation, it’s useful to have the following items in your cache-finding “tool kit”:

1) The Fort Collins and the Horsetooth Reservoir U.S.G.S. 7.5-minute quadrangle maps. Alternatively, you can use mapping software (such as National Geographic TOPO!), and print out the needed map coverage at the 1:24,000 scale. The mapping software can be of assistance in your locating Stage 4, but you can also do this in the field using paper maps.

2) A protractor and a ruler straightedge

3) A UTM RetroROAMER or equivalent grid tool

To reach the final cache, a hike on the trail system of Bobcat Ridge Natural Area is necessary. Dogs are not allowed in this Natural Area. Limited off-trail travel is required near the end of your hike to the cache vicinity. The cache is NOT within the Natural Area; it is located on a U.S. Forest Service inlier tract surrounded by Natural Area land, so it is a legal cache placement. Trails take you very close, and directly on to the U.S. Forest Service property. Expect to spend several hours before you return to parking, and enjoy your hike into this neat area of the foothills. Take a day pack with necessities including food, fluids, and clothing suitable for potential weather changes.

In order to learn the final cache coordinates you will need to visit four stages of this multi. At Stage 1 you will obtain specific information that will allow you to locate Stage 2. At Stage 2 you will obtain coordinates for Stage 3 AND a True bearing from Stage 2 to Stage 4. At Stage 3 you will collect the distance from that stage to Stage 4. With this information in your hands, do your map work to determine the location of Stage 4. When you find Stage 4, record the coordinates for the Final, and prepare for your hike.

Stage 1 is a black Bison tube that is "hanging".

Stage 2 is an Rx vial that should be easy to locate. “Reach in” to grab it.

Stage 3 is an Rx vial placed in a location where I found the signal to vary in providing an accurate GZ. Look on or near the ground on the north side of the line of seven trees in the GZ vicinity.

Stage 4 is a regular-sized container. Look for it close to an isolated tree that has a nearby rotten log to its south; this tree is west (not east) of the trail .

Final Stage is a micro container (the “bee”) that should be fairly easy to find. It was originally hidden on the ground on the downhill side of the base of a solitary pine tree but has been relocated (with identical coordinates) to a position under some rocks on the uphill side of this tree. Be careful to replace it where you found it and secure it with rocks to avoid possible downhill "migration".

Enjoy the challenge. Completing this cache is good preparation for Mac’s Mountain Delight (GC13648). Have fun!

Additional Waypoints

05/27/2016 By Path Pacer
I made the projections and ended up on a trail near some trees and a stone memorial bench. Searched all of them as thoroughly as I could in thigh-high grass, but no luck.

08/05/2015 By Denali41
Recently I was informed by phone and e-mail that the second stage container was missing. Today my puppy Orizaba and I went to the coordinates and verified that the container was not in the cavity where it was supposed to be. I found it very close to the cavity, on the ground in the grass. The tree hollow where the container has been since the cache sequence was placed has slowly deteriorated as cache seekers have removed items from it.

Today I took two actions at the second stage: 1) I substituted a slightly larger container for the one that's been at the location in the past. 2) I hid the stage in a slightly different place (but still at the basic coordinates that are calculated from the information given in the first stage). The container in this new placement is more difficult to find than was the original. As before, you will need to "reach in" and feel around. But the cavity is smaller and more difficult to search than was the original (close-by) spot.

06/13/2015 By ArkF
Thanks for the educational multi! I started working on this way back in October of 2013, 20 months ago. After I found stage 1, I sat on the hillside and spent some serious mental effort determining the coordinates for stage 2, including using my phone to calculate the arc-tangent of a number. When I got home that day I researched some navigation topics that would have made things much easier. It took me three tries to find stage 3, eventually needing some detailed help from the cache owner. I mis-read the description and went to the wrong place for stage 4, but eventually figured out my mistake and re-did my map work.

Today I finally made it to Bobcat Ridge for the first time in order to find the final. It was a great day out hiking in a really pretty area. Everything was very green and lush, with many insects and birds flying around. Pretty hot in the morning, but clouds rolled in around noon and cooled things down a bit. Thunder boomed in the distance all afternoon, but never amounted to anything. Found the cache easily in good condition.

10/24/2014 By Denali41
I took a hike today and checked on the final stage of this multi. It's in fine condition and in its correct hiding spot.

05/01/2014 By Denali41
Based on the DNFs and a conversation with Niblet Sr that demonstrated she and ShamRider were at the correct location and searched the right area, I made the hike up to the final today expecting that the cache was missing. It indeed was. That kind of disappearance of a mountain cache that's well protected from possible "migration" is always a huge surprise! I replaced the cache and it is now attached to a tree branch above the spot it was originally hidden at. The coordinates given in Stage 4 are still accurate.

Because Niblet Sr and ShamRider searched the correct spot when the container was absent, I signed their names to the replacement log. They have my permission to log this cache as "found".