GCJBBD THE FALCON CHALLENGE!
Type: Mystery | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: USAFA05 @ | Hide Date: 05/02/2004 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 59.942 W104° 55.947 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 18
         

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A challenging 15-kilometer, 10-part trek through the Rampart Range between Woodland Park and the Air Force Academy. All of it is between 8000 and 10000 feet MSL, running up and down over varied rocky, forested, and marshy terrain. Very difficult, but very fun.

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This is an 11-leg multi-cache. You are searching for 10 tiny metal dog tags in a big forest and you have to find them in order. The last point is an ammo container.

The first dog tag is located at the coordinates listed. Use the UTM coordinate system on your GPS when hunting for the rest of the tags.

The final point is a .30 caliber ammo container and is extremely difficult to find. No requirement to trade items, but you may if you really want to.

Because this is now a standard multicache, it is possible though difficult to complete in one day. The most direct paths between the points will take you at least 15 kilometers from start to finish. Expect significant elevation changes on almost every leg.

A mountain bike is recommended, though not at all necessary, for legs 6 through 11. But for the first 5 legs, you'll be better off on foot. Vehicular access to the points is limited.

There is some excellent scenery along the route and at many of the points. And you will be well rewarded by the scenery at the final point.

I have done this hike several times in each of the 4 seasons. Plenty to see no matter what time of year you go.

In addition to some first-class scenery, you will be treated to a couple hidden secrets of the Rampart Range, including at least 2 abandoned mines and an old stage road. Take the time to explore and fully enjoy this area.

Additional Waypoints

10/10/2015 By Rob14erGuy
This cache has been on my "to do" list for as long as I've been geocaching. I've spent years getting stages and today, I finally made it to the final. I figured an ammo can would be easier than all those dog tags, but it still took me over an hour to make the find. Luckily, the weather was great so I persevered and finally saw what I had been looking for. Love the sound of that ammo can! This completes my D/T grid too!
Thanks

07/18/2015 By COpackrat
Thanks for taking me on such an interesting tour of the area - lots of obscure trails (when there was a trail!), great views, and not real crowded :-) a couple of the tags were missing (will write to CO) but was able to continue with some help and finish up. That final was certainly interesting - very thick vegetation in the vicinity and could have used a machete to get to GZ! Picked up some other caches along the way, which added to the adventure. TFTC - I sure got to see a lot of that area!

12/06/2014 By Death from Below
Started this series today, I was unable to locate the 2nd leg. I did get some good pics though. Thanks anyway. Dipping my coin.

10/26/2013 By SnailMan1
I started this cache a couple of years ago and today I finally made it to the final. The cache required a ton of hiking before this day came to pass. I saw the cache, but I couldn't reach it and I didn't think I could fit in there to make the grab. I went ahead and tried to squeeze in and YES the container was in my hand and now the log has my name. Thanks for the puzzle challenge!

03/29/2012 By SwimFin
SwimFin couldn't even find the first dog tag ... rats! I looked for about 20 minutes, but no joy. I suspect the dog tag is there as I often have a hard time finding small items in the big woods. Cheers, SwimFin.

04/16/2011 By kenyansherpa
Larry and Kevin said it well. I only have a few things to add. They were technially the first to do it in one day. Even though I was with them every step of the way today, I had done the first 4 stops last fall. FYI, I provided them no assistance on those first 4 stops. Finishing this one ranks way up there in my geocaching highlights. It was a very rewarding day. We had a great team, the hikes were wonderful and the views spectacular!
It was quite the honor to be with Larry as he got his 3000th. I really appreciate he and Kevin allowing a senior citizen to tag ( pardon the pun ) along today! IN - Olympic pin OUT - a great adventure! TFTH!!!

Bushwacking

My teammates and one of the many views!
I think it's just over the edge!
Tag check! And we're off to the next one
1 of 2 mines we saw, looking for quartz?
What's left of a cabin
Near the final

04/16/2011 By Egnix
Not a whole lot to add that Sax didn't say...
This cache as been on my radar since I moved to the area. Every year I've meant to do it, but it never happened. So, when I saw Sax was looking for people to join him, I jumped at the chance.
I'm very glad I did. It was a great adventure. Weather was great, views were wonder, and the final was worth it!

Thanks to Sax for organizing this, driving, and loaning me a trekking pole!
Thanks to Sax and Kenyansherpa for being great hiking/caching companions!
And like Larry said, thanks to LukeH for placing the cache and Vort for maintaining it!
The gang

04/16/2011 By Team GPSaxophone
Find #3000 - FTF this cache in a single day!

This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

This was certainly a challenging cache and deserving of the 4.5/5 D/T rating. I made plans to find this cache for my 3,000th find at least a couple of months ago. I didn't want to get up here too early in the year and get turned back by snow, so I paced myself to hit it in the spring. That sure paid off. There was still snow in spots, but it wasn't deep enough to even cover my shoes.

I invited other cachers to join me on my quest and was joined by Egnix and Kenyansherpa. We met for breakfast at 4:45am, then headed up through Woodland Park in my Jeep. It seemed to take a long time to navigate the forest service roads, but we managed to find a good parking spot a short hike from the posted coordinates. By 6:45 we were on the trail and found the first waypoint just after 7am. It was a bit chilly that early in the morning, but we had all dressed appropriately for the weather. By the time we got to stage 2 we had warmed up considerably, but the wind kept us from shedding our jackets. We seemed to go uphill more than down, but before we knew it we had found half of the waypoints and headed back to the Jeep for lunch. By now it had warmed up enough to leave some layers behind and we started on the second half of our quest. We got very close to a couple of other caches, but since this was to be my 3,000th find we had to skip them. Along the way we were treated to wonderful views of Pikes Peak and the US Air Force Academy. It's good three of us made the trek since that cut down on our searching time. Our GPSrs would all point in the same general direction, but we could cover more ground by looking in slightly different spots. Stage 4 was the first to stump us, but we read the previous logs and once I got in the right position I spotted the clue and off we went. We did some pretty heavy bushwhacking on parts, partly because we didn't have mountain bikes with us. If we had, we could have stayed on trails for the second half. Since we were hiking though, we tended to go straight from one waypoint to the next, and that meant we didn't always take the easiest path. Oh well, scratches and pokes from tree branches build character, right? Anyway, we got to the final and spent some time navigating to it. There really wasn't an easy path by that point. I'm glad I came prepared for this cache because I was able to use one of my tools to figure out where the cache was. Kenyansherpa made the grab and we all signed the logbook.

We're now the first finders to have done THE FALCON CHALLENGE in a single day, and it was in a total time of 7 hours and 25 minutes!

Big thanks to LukeH for placing this cache and Vorticity for maintaining it.

04/09/2011 By hartsdale
I came back today and it is a hard one to find and get to.

( I would plan on three days and a DNF or TWO )

Out with the Maintenance Man grabbing a few.

Thanks for a very fun cache to hunt down!

#4300 for me so far.

HD

04/09/2011 By vorticity
I went out today to do some maintenance and to ensure the final is still there. It is. Still a tough hide. Vort.