GC28Q5P Mason Gulch Fire
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: chasclifton @ | Hide Date: 05/17/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 11.865 W105° 05.354 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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The container is an ammo box.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Inside the national forest, road 388 is one-lane, two-way dirt road. Low-clearance vehicles and two-wheel-drive vehicles should not use it in muddy or snowy conditions.

You may park at the bottom of the hill at N 38° 11.923;, W 105° 05.668; and walk to the cache site.

If the road is clear, you can park at N 38° 11.788’, W 105° 05.400.

The hike is steep and brushy but short.

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The cache is located just outside the perimeter of the Mason Gulch Fire, which burned this area in July 2005.

Shortly after the fire, the Forest Service erected the framework for some interpretive signs on an overlook—and then never completed the job! The nearby cache, therefore, contains a map and brief account of the fire. placed to mark the five-year anniversary. Some animal-theme trade items are included for the kids.

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Coming or going from the cache, you may have followed a faint “trail.” It is actually a fire line that was dug a couple of years before the Mason Gulch Fire, when the Forest Service planned a prescribed burn on the south-facing slopes to the east of the cache site.

After the big fire, plans for the prescribed burn were shelved.

FTF: mtnbirders, May 21, 2010.

UPDATE: It is probably just coincidental, but about a month after the cache was placed, the Forest Service took down the blank interpretive sign board that prompted the cache in the first place!

07/02/2016 By dkcraig
Rainy day to go bushwhacking. Definitely bushwhacking. Thoroughly soaked but found. Thank you for the history lesson on the fire. Tftc

07/02/2016 By rbcraig
Tftc. Nice rainy day. Got back to the jeep with wet pants.

08/22/2015 By chasclifton
I replaced the old plastic box with a standard .30 cal. ammo can and added some new swag. Lovely morning for an walk to the cache site.

08/09/2015 By Dean & Chris
This is not a cache for Flip-Flops and shorts! Wished there were Band-Aids in the cache for our scratches.
We loved the view from this cache! Dropped off TB. TFTC!

07/17/2015 By Room1009
I parked at the pullout 0.1 mile from the cache. I found a game trail to follow part of the way, but mostly I just bushwhacked through the Gambel oak. Glad I didn't wear shorts today. I didn't need the hint because the cache was completely out in the open. Upon opening it I saw there was water inside, and several items were saturated. Amazingly, the log and map were only damp. I laid everything out in the sun and sat in the shade enjoying the quietness. A couple of items could not be salvaged so I removed them. I was able to sign the log, and I added an old wheat straw penny and some Get Out of Hell Free cards. I tucked the cache back up where I think it belongs and used some natural camo to conceal it. There are several small cracks in the corners of the lid, but if the cache stays where it belongs it should stay dry for a while. Thanks for this series and the history lessons.

I came across a gravesite on the way up. In case you want to add a waypoint the coordinates are:
N 38 11.808 W 105 05.407
I'll upload a photo.