GC131B8 Portal to the Underworld ( Lodore )
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: cocoalminer @ | Hide Date: 05/19/2007 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 44.189 W108° 50.364 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                   

---

Location is best accessed by a high clearance vehicle for maximum fun, but careful driving should get you close in a normal passenger car in good weather. It requires a short walk on sandy terrain but the ground is mostly level. Cache is well hidden This will normally be a year round cache.

---

This is one of the best views on BLM property of the awesome “Gates of Lodore“. Be sure and take along your camera for this one! The name of this canyon on the mighty Green River comes from the youngest member of John Wesley Powell’s expedition http://www.powellmuseum.org/MajorPowell.html in the first government survey of this vast area. It is in honor of his favorite English poem the “Cataract of Lodore” http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/lodore2.htm in which the author, Robert Southey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Southey goes to great lengths to describe how the waters come rushing, gushing, swirling, twirling, down from the “Lodore”. It proved to be prophetic as less than a mile into the trip the team had an encounter with a stretch of rapids they named “Disaster Falls” in which they capsized. I named the cache “Portal to the Underworld” because I’m sure that is what the expedition thought they had entered. Remember at that early time they had large unruly wooden boats, and were outfitted for a long 3 month expedition. Today’s Kayak experts and rafters, find great fun and adventure in this stretch of water in the spring runoff.
Be sure and visit the campground, boat launch, picnic area in the park, a remote part of Dinosaur Nat. Monument. http://www.nps.gov/dino/ There is a ranger in attendance during most of the nicer seasons. And while you're there take the nature walk. Some excellent views and family fun can be found along it's scenic route. The trail is a bit difficult but more than worth the effort.
Have fun, don’t forget the camera. Post some of your best shots.

05/22/2019 By Pjham
TFTC. Container is broken. Needs new container

05/18/2019 By Westfind
TFTC. Fantastic views and lots of beautiful chert. Container is completely broken and needs to be replaced.

06/24/2018 By cachemonster2015
Very nice place! Cache needs to be replaced soon. Very cracked and brittle. TFTC TFTF Oh and seen a beaver skull odd

02/19/2017 By momcheers
Been awhile since anyone found this one! Log was last physically signed in June 2013. Great day for caching!!

09/01/2012 By Cx4
Found well scouting for Elk.TFTC

07/08/2012 By Koivusaari
Out for a caching outing with FinnDaughter and FinnTeckDiver. Like the history. It does feel a little Lord of the Rings though. I wanted to shout "You shall not pass!" FinnTeckDiver probably would have left me there though and it would be a long walk home. TFTC.

08/28/2011 By bonepiler
Looked a little like the underwold today, with three different fires burning around the area. Luckily two of them were only small one tree fires, but the other one was burning a bunch of cheatgrass! TFTC!

07/15/2011 By 2oldgoats

TFTC. Great view, Thank-you for bringing us to it!

Logged from my android phone

09/11/2010 By cacheshoe nut
TFTC

09/11/2010 By The Masked Bandit
TFTC

09/11/2010 By electronicsgeek
First find of the day, thought that we would find this one finally, tftc.

09/04/2010 By MorrisonHiker
#11 of the the 40+ caches we found on an 850 mile geocaching trek this Labor Day weekend. We had planned on getting another cache nearby but saw a sign for The Gates of Lodore and ended up the road heading into Dinosaur National Monument from the north. After snapping some pictures, we headed back for this cache. The coordinates seemed off by 30 feet or so but we eventually the cache. Thanks for the view. TNLN. SL. TFTC!

Portal to the Underworld