Eleven-mile cache

06/18/2019 By K Trackers
I’ve managed to get to some pretty remote and difficult to get to caches, but this cache and the string along this road are definitely are somewhere in the top ten, if not top five. Coupled with some traditional “K Factor” Murphy’s Law drama, it was quite a mis-adventure. This was my first time to Eleven Mile State Park. This cluster was supposed to be my first targets, but wound up being my last because it was so difficult to get back here. I eventually stopped trying so I could focus on my hike targets (GC6W8M4 Almost Half Way There and GC289NW Flyin Raisin), and then resumed until I finished sometime as it was getting dark.

I came to the area traveling directly south from Highway 24, and based south of the lake from the west. I quickly found out I had serious navigation problems, and in retrospect, that is not the optimum direction to come to get to this area. I was relying on an auto GPS (Tom, Tom) and handheld Garmin 64ST. Neither GPS correctly showed the road layout for the plethora of dirt roads in this area. To make matters worse, the Tom Tom constantly tried to pull me off the dirt roads and have me take a highway bypass, requiring a 1 – 2 hour detour. I was slowly moving thorough the area by using dead reckoning and the handheld to plot “dirt road stages” on the Tom Tom. The concentration required for this reminded of trying to drive around Bosinan and Iraqi IED infested roads. The number of roads that ended in dead ends or private property significantly complicated my navigational efforts. The most significant was the rancher who has now closed off Black Mountain Road because he can. I got to within a mile of this cache before I had to turn back. I eventually worked my way around to the SE and grabbed GC6W8M4 Almost Half Way There, and GC289NW Flyin Raisin since I was there. Good thing I did. At some point I finally got on the road for these caches from the western approach. The road on this side has degraded at some points, while a tractor or something has dung some explainable “dips.” These dips and slippery mud from the intermittent rain and hail along some of the narrower road portions ensured some “white knuckle” driving experience to keep things interesting. If all of this drama wasn’t bad enough, twice I was held hostage by cow herds. Despite the ranchers here so jealously guarding their private property, they have no qualms about letting their cows graze on the public land and blocking public roads. I don’t normally mind that expect for the fact that each herd seems to have at least one cow that decides it doesn’t feel like moving. This is a pretty frustrating situation when the only reason you are here in the first place is because you are trying to find a bypass from rancher closed off roads. Like any good military unit, the cows planted their ambushes at chokepoints so that I could not turn around and had to wait until they m oved. I’m not sure of the total “cow downtime” I had since I fell asleep at one of the incidents, but the cows had me blocked in for somewhere between 30 – 60 minutes. All told, I probably spent about 3 – 5 hours trying to get to this area. Definitely not my most fun geocaching experience. I would suggest a cattle attribute for this cache, if not a modest DT buff if anyone other than me has this kind of road, cattle, and GPS difficulties.

I managed to make the find on this one with no drama. The cache is in good shape despite its age. Thanks to the CO for placing this cache for everyone to find.

08/23/2015 By <>
Spending our 6th summer in Buena Vista, Colorado. Spent the day doing our 2 favorite things: Jeeping and geocaching with friends. We just love to find those out-of-the-way lonely caches, tfth.
We worked our way to this from CSP - Thirtynine Mile Mountain, GC3Q176 and continued on to CSP - Howbert, GC4H50W. It took all of our off-road sense to manage it. Love the oldies!!!

S*W*A*G member

This entry was edited by <> on Monday, 24 August 2015 at 17:48:33 UTC.

08/23/2015 By two much fun
We drove half way in on 890. Then we rode our bikes in to get a few caches. Cache is dry and in good shape. Beautiful area. Road is ok but a little rough for a car. Not recommended. Tftc sl tnln

08/30/2014 By aufaa
Love finding big caches in the woods!...not too rough a drive...and we were in street tires, but we also had good clearance, which was necessary in spots....beautiful day in the back country...TFTC....

07/10/2014 By ngrrfan
What an adventure getting here. The directions I got took me down Black Mountain road (CR 116), only to find I was entering private property and the CR 116 no longer is a through road. So I back track out and figure out that I should have used FS 890 instead. The first 2 miles are rocky, no cars, you need at least a pickup. Then you start going through the various stock gates and the road gets real interesting.

The road is deeply rutted and is dirt. Dirt with some rocks. Rocks and ruts. If it rains... forget it. You're either stuck in and can't get out or you're crazy for trying to play in the mud trying to go in. I crossed a couple of streams, not rocky bottomed but mud although not very deep.

I came across a herd of cattle... Now I have cow manure under my Xterra but I kept at it. Finally I got to the cache and it is in great shape, very well protected. I picked up the TB and then after looking at the map decided to try a different way out. Uh, uh.... nope. after about 1/4 mile beyond the cache FS 253 is closed. If it were open it should have met up with CR 116, south of the private property. Taking 253 out the other direction leads you on a merry goose chase that, if everything is going your way, meets FS 270 and intersects with CR 116 down around Three Mile Mountain.

From the intersection of FS 890 and CR 59 to the cache the distance is 7.5 miles. It took me almost an hour to drive those 7.5 miles. What a good time I had.

TFTC

This entry was edited by ngrrfan on Thursday, 10 July 2014 at 22:28:32 UTC.

11/03/2013 By colorado gypsies
Lots of hunters today but no elk. It was a gorgeous day. TFTC SL dropped the mountaineer travel bug.

06/15/2013 By Anthony & Cindy
Beautiful day for a drive. Left a toy pirate token, took a J23 coin. Also took the trackable, which I have never done before....will relocate it as quickly as possible.

11/29/2012 By 9-rushman&farmgirl79
WOW, for and old cache this one is still in great shape. Dropped a TB so maybe some other cachers will check this one out. SL TFTC

09/09/2011 By campcaching
Out with some friends on some 4 wheelers and thought I might grab a couple of caches. Found this one with no problem. I was even using my sell phone app and found it. TFTCSL

04/04/2010 By radar60
DO NOT ATTEMPT IF ROAD IS SNOWY, MUDDY OR SLUSHY!!!!! Middle of nowhere, almost got stuck after first bridge. We will try again in the summer months.

01/29/2010 By Mountainboy72
Well I went up rd116. I ran into a locked gate 1.5 miles from the cache. It was dark so I just gave up for the night. I will return with the given instructions. Maybe if I take the right road I might get a bit closer.