GCA8KYB Unknown Cache The Lost Cache of Forgotten Gulch
Type: Mystery | Size: Micro Micro | Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 3 out of 5
By: The_Travel_Bugs @ | Hide Date: 05/14/2023 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 48.378 W104° 54.123 | Last updated: 06/01/2023 | Fav points: 0
Dogs  Medium hike (1km-10km)  Att72 

This cache is named after the song “The Lost Cache of Forgotten Gulch” by The Travel Bugs

“Back up in hills where the dark secrets keep
In a place called Forgotten Gulch where the signal will not reach
Where latitude and longitude don’t mean nothing at all
Legend tells of a cache no man has laid hands upon”

THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES.  THE ACTUAL COORDINATES ARE:

  

To find the true location you must read the saga below.

NOTE:  True to the song lyrics, the signal is a bit wonky in this area so plan accordingly.  To help you on your quest, the cache itself is NOT camoflauged, so if you are in the right vicinity, it's in plain sight.  
 

Thanks to Hans from Team Lejeune (and the drummer from Bugsy Travels) for the consult!
And congratulations to ernie66 for the FTF!

Saga Vilhjálms finnandi

Vilhjálm hét maður.  Han var kallaður Billy Finnandi.  Hann var besti landkönnuðurinn og stýrði mörgum fjársjóðsleitum.  Hann var í siglingu landa í milli og tókst það honum vel. Hann fann marga fjársjóði og varð mjög auðugur.

Einu sini fór Billy að leita að týndum fjársjóði gleymdra gljúfrinu en fann hann ekki. Hann leitaði í mörg ár, en fjársjóðurinn var of erfitt að finna.

Hann sigldi til Íslands með mörgum mönnum að ráðfæra sig við norn sem bjó í helli við sjóinn við Vík.  Þegar hann kom, stóð hann fyrir utan helli hennar og kallaði: “Norn! Komdu út! Ég hef ferðast langt og þú verður að svara spurningu minni.” 

Nornin kom út og spurði: “Hver raskar ró minni?”

"Ég er kallaður Billy Finnandi", svaraði hann, "og ég leita að hinum týnda fjársjóði gleymda gljúfrunnar"

"Þú verður að sanna gildi þitt til að finna þann fjársjóð," sagði nornin.

"Ég er besti fjársjóðsveiðimaður í heimi. Ég hef leitt þrjátíu og fimm leiðangra og fundið hundrað fjársjóði.  Ég stýri tuttugu og fimm langbátum hver með fjörutíu mönnum og á þrettán syni og dætur. Segðu mér nú! Hvernig get ég fundið þennan fjársjóð?"

"Þessar tölur segja ekkert," hló nornin, "til að finna þennan mikla fjársjóð verður þú að svara spurningum mínum.”

"Ég mun svara spurningum þínum auðveldlega, norn," hló Vilhjálm, "því ég er frábær maður!"


Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn

“Hversu margar rætur styðja þennan heim?”, spurði nornin.

Vilhjálm svaraði, “Fræðimaðurinn myndi segja að það séu óteljandi tré í þessum heimi, og svo eru ræturnar líka óteljandi.  En ég er gáfaðri en fræðimaðurinn.  Ég veit að hið mikla tré Yggdrasil styður alla heima og rætur þess eru taldar.”

Vilhjálm skrifaði svarið í svartan sandinn með sverði sínu.

Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn  

“Og hversu oft hálshöggaði Þór jötunn, Þrívaldi?“ spurði nornin.

“Einfeldningur myndi segja að jötunn megi bara hálshöggva einu sinni,“ sagði Vilhjálm, "En ég hef kynnt mér sögur Þórs og ég veit að Þrivaldi hafði fleiri en eitt höfuð og því veit ég að svarið er meira en eitt."

Vilhjálm skrifaði svarið í svartan sandinn með sverði sínu.

Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn 

“Á hve mörgum fótum reið Óðinn í bardaga?”, spurði nornin.

“Óreyndur kappi myndi svara fjórum, fjölda fóta á hesti.”, svaraði Vilhjálm, “en ég er mikill kappi og veit að Sleipnir, hestur Óðins, var enginn venjulegur hestur, og svo veit ég svarið”.


Vilhjálm skrifaði svarið í svartan sandinn með sverði sínu.

Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn  

"Hvað hefur úlfurinn Fenrir margar hendur?" spurði nornin.

"Barn myndi segja að úlfur hafi engar hendur, en ég er ekkert barn. Ég veit um bardaga Fenrirs og Týrs og veit því svarið!“, hló Vilhjálm.

Vilhjálm skrifaði svarið í svartan sandinn með sverði sínu.

Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn 

Nornin brosti og spurði: "Hversu margir hlutir vantar í þennan heim?"

“Heimspekingur myndi segja að ekkert vanti, að allt sem vantar var ekki ætlað þessum heimi.  En ég er vitrari en heimspekingurinn.”, Vilhjálm hrósaði sér, “Dvergarnir bjuggu til keðjuna Gleipnir til að halda hinum volduga úlfi Fenri.  Þeir tóku hluti úr þessum heimi til að búa til keðjuna, og svo þessa hluti vantar í þennan heim”.

Vilhjálm skrifaði svarið í svartan sandinn með sverði sínu.

Nornin dró rún í svartan sandinn

"Og nú lokaspurningin. Hversu margir menn hafa fundið týnda fjársjóðinn í gleymda gljúfrinu?" hún spurði.

"Enginn hefur fundið það, norn! Það er sagt að það sé ófinnanlegt.“, svaraði Vilhjálm.

"Þú hefur þitt svar," sagði nornin og hvarf inn í hellinn sinn.
 

Additional Waypoints

01A8KYB - High Drive Trailhead
N 38° 49.173 W 104° 53.552

P0A8KYB - Parking
N 38° 49.309 W 104° 53.450
Parking
 Custom URLs

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 Additional Waypoints (2)

CodeNameTypeCommentsDateCoordinatesDistance
01A8KYBHigh Drive Trailhead Trailhead  05/14/2023 N 38° 49.173 W 104° 53.552 1.69 kms NE 
P0A8KYBParking Parking Area Parking 05/13/2023 N 38° 49.309 W 104° 53.450 1.98 kms NE 

 Hints

red bison tube about head level on bare branch. The witch left you a "sign".

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Driving Directions

 Logs

8 Logs: Found it 6  Write note 1  Publish Listing 1  

Found it 05/31/2023 By WingsAndTales
The cache is lost no more. Estes01 and I had time for the trek to this one this morning. The witch seems to have been busy in the area since we discovered even more bones in the vicinity. Yes there is some signal bounce in the area but the location is unmistakable once you lay eyes on it. TFTC and the songs

Found it 05/30/2023 By kenyansherpa
Rob14erGuy and I had independently solved this puzzle and once we realized that a hike together to hunt down the cache became a priority. We made that enjoyable excursion today and as we approached ground zero, we assumed the witch, Fennir, Vilhjálm Thor, Odin or a combination of those mighty beings, created a nether world disturbance as our modern world navigation tools seemed worthless. However, our geocaching tradecraft proved to be enough to get us to the container with its surrounding tokens :-) The Travel Bugs have created an enjoyable geocaching experience with their story line, puzzle and hike to a "forgotten" location ;-) ????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?????!

Found it 05/30/2023 By Rob14erGuy
Figured this was one of a few languages I had seen before. Once I figured that out, got the coordinates a short time later.
Kenyansherpa and I made the hike up there on this beautiful Tuesday morning. We got a little signal bounce but the coordinates are reasonably accurate. We wandered around a few minutes before kenyansherpa found it.
Overall, this was a fun and well-done mystery cache. Thanks for the fun!

Found it 05/20/2023 By gampa&gamma
This mystery cache posted on the heels of our return from Belgium where Flemish, French and German are spoken daily. This cache dialect had to be detected. gamma spent too much time trying to make this a five difficulty puzzle looking at rune charts until her eyes crossed
Once she remembered that following instructions is always beneficial, coordinates were quickly in hand.

gampa had spent his week trying to keep middle-schoolers busy during their second-to-last week of classes——no easy feat——so this foggy Saturday morning was perfect for hunting treasure. We were thankful that the eerie mist that had settled over the city overnight had not engulfed the Forgotten Gulch, but we loved seeing how fresh and moist this area was following many days of rain, rather than seeing the tinder box it usually is.

While trekking to GZ, we spotted runes in the sand looking suspiciously like horse shoes, mountain bike tires and dog paws—--thankfully we saw no witch drawing with a stick in the sand. Discovering the treasure wasn’t too dangerous or difficult thanks to the “signs” left by the gracious CO, as our GPS had us bouncing from spot to spot. Once the treasure was discovered, we added our g&g to the log and replaced as found. Took no bones, but left Fenrir’s jaw

Favorite point for the fun!

Found it 05/17/2023 By Kerewin0430
First of all, this song is hilarious and deserves a FP by itself!

I solved this excellent puzzle right away and was glad to let a braver cacher attempt it first. When he appeared to have found the cache and lived to tell the tale, I decided it would be reasonable to look for it.

I needed a reason to break up this busy week, and the forecasted rain for this evening appeared to be holding off, so I headed this way after work. Sure enough, my compass zeroed out somewhere several hundred feet from where my solved icon on the map was. Odd...

I then navigated the proper direction, found the forgotten gulch and followed it. Crossed the stream and headed deeper into the woods, catching evidence of footprints every once in a while on the damp ground. About 30' away from my coords, I spotted everything just as ernie66 described. I signed the log, left what I presumed to be a FTF prize for the next person, and stumbled my way back to solid gravel ground. I then realized just how usually humid the air was and hated the thought of the punch card going to waste if the rain did come down as much as is forecasted over the next few days, so I fought my way back to the cache a second time.

Here is where I offer my apologies. I retrieved the punch card and quickly headed back towards the car as the clouds closed in. Only then did I realize that the punch card was fully punched/expired and was thus probably one of the witch's warnings. Alas. I am terribly sorry for removing part of the setup. Happy to return it to the CO or any intrepid cacher who may be venturing this way soon...I left the attachment wire in the "shelf" of the skull (it will make sense when you're there).

Thank you for writing such great songs about our game, and for placing this great cache.

Found it 05/15/2023 By ernie66
FTF! at 2:00pm today.

As I decoded more and more of the saga, I realized the runes the witch drew in the sand meant just one thing -- this would be a long and dangerous hunt. Lunchtime arrived and I gathered supplies to last several days, then set out following my GPS toward the midday sun (had it been visible today). Of course, it was uphill but there was nobody else out there to see me gasping for breath.

I knew the witch would be crafty and finding the treasure would not be easy. Clearly, I am not as great a man as Vilhjálm, whose escapades are well-known the world around. I'm just little old me, a desk jockey out for a midday stroll.

Great boulders and huge fallen trees littered the path. Someone must have made Thor angry. I dodged those, and once I arrived at the place the witch described, the search began. It's true that GPS signals from the heavens are of limited use in Forgotten Gulch where just a sliver of sky is visible. I ventured further. GPS said 35 feet one way, then 40 feet the opposite way. I just put away that infernal gadget and used the skills Vilhjálm would have.

I saw the punchcard first, then the sign, then -- yikes -- another kind of sign. I had found the treasure... but at what cost? Would I make it out of Forgotten Gulch alive? What's dead to GPS is also dead to cellular, so I was on my own. And I was starting to hear Thor's rumblings in the distance.

Fun puzzle, great writeup, and a chance to see the fabled Forgotten Gulch. I left the punchcard for the next finder. Definite favorite! Takk fyrir skyndiminni!

Write note 05/15/2023 By Kerewin0430
This song reminds me of several ambitious cachers I know!

Publish Listing 05/14/2023 By IgnotusPeverell
Published