GCWBK5 Unknown Cache Pike's Cave
Type: Mystery | Size: Small Small | Difficulty: 2 out of 5 | Terrain: 4 out of 5
By: Phoenix2001 @ | Hide Date: 05/27/2006 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 44.222 W104° 56.367 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 8
Takes more than an hour  Scenic view  Available at all times  Not Recommended at night  Parking available  No Drinking water nearby  No Public restrooms nearby  No Telephone nearby  Camping available  Medium hike (1km-10km) 

This cache is located near a “cave” that Zebulon Pike and a few of his men probably stayed in on a failed attempt to hike to the summit of Pike’s Peak or, as Pike called it, “Grand Peak”. It’s not much of a cave and it's in the Pike National Forest.
In the early 1800’s Zebulon Pike was given the mission to explore the Arkansas and Red Rivers. He made a base camp where Pueblo is today and set out on foot with three others to climb Pikes Peak. They probably made it to the summit of Mt. Rosa before turning back. During this trip they spent a night in a “cave”.

Since this cache is in recognition of Pike’s exploration, it’s only fair that this cache be something of an adventure. Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and it's not impossible), is to gather a set of questions hidden in various caches in this area. When doing one of the other caches, you may be hiking close to the route Pike followed. The rest of the caches introduce you to more of the Pikes Peak region and are intended to be a bit of an adventure but nowhere near as hard as the early explorers had it.

The questions that need to be answered are found in the following caches:
Gray Back Peak contains questions 1 & 2
Mt Esther (Almost) contains question # 3
Howard's Rock contains question # 4
Ormes Peak contains questions 5 & 6
Mt. Arthur contains questions 7 & 8.

If you have common numbers related to Zebulon Pike, you should be able to answer the questions in the Gray Back cache and go on to do this cache since they are in the same general area.

The coordinates listed for this puzzle cache are just for a point on upper Gold Camp Road (also a hint), which is the general area of the cache. These coordinates in the UTM (not Lat./Long.) format should be modified according to the directions below to get the coordinates of the cache.

Add up the answers to questions 1 through 6 and call this the “sum”.
Subtract the answer to question number 7 from the “sum” and subtract this result from the UTM easting coordinate (505262) to give you the actual easting of this cache.

Add up the answers to questions 1 through 6 as above for the “sum”.
Subtract the answer to question number 8 from the “sum” and add this result to the UTM northing coordinate (4287597) to give you the actual northing of this cache.

Some points along a suggested route to or from the cache:
Add up the answers to the odd questions and add that sum to each of the following eastings. Add up the answers to the even questions and add that sum to each of the following northings to get the correct coordinates.

Point 4: 491469 4277148
Point 5: 491048 4277453
Point 6: 490938 4277538
Point 7: 490741 4277333 (To use coordinates see paragraph above)

The route above isn't all that difficult and is the recommended way, the direct route is another matter.

I've done three different "direct" routes to this cache with the GPS receiver in my hand which means I didn't get into class 3 terrain (scrambling) but I don't recommend this steep route. If you can do it, you don't need hints from me and you might get into class 3 terrain (meaning hands are required for climbing).

Gold Camp Road is suitable for cars and side roads can sometimes be driven a short distance; however, side roads are often water cut to the point that a high clearance vehicle or 4wd is required. You can park at point 4 if you have a high clearance vehicle to get there.

This cache is at a high elevation where thunderstorms are frequent. Be aware of the possibility of lightning before setting out on foot. Ground currents can arc in caves so don't hide from lightning in a cave or mine.

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 Logs

10 Logs: Found it 9  Write note 1  

Found it 09/20/2015 By hartsdale
Wow!!

What a fun set of caches and some great local history!

This all started with - Ormes Peak on 5/11/08, Gray Back Peak on 8/19/08, Mt. Esther ( Almost ) on 11/7/08, Howard's Rock on 12/12/08 and just last month Mount Arthur on 8/29/15 all very fun hikes and hides.


Thanks for a good one!

HD

The Cave....

Retake of 07/20/2006 picture today....

Found it 10/12/2011 By estes01
Lots of memories associated with this series. Mt. Esther was the first…what a wonderful trail! Ormes Peak followed with its incredible views. For over 10 years I have been staring at a view of Mt. Arthur from my house. I had no idea that what I was looking at was Mt. Arthur, but once I’d identified it, it needed to be climbed. This entire series was just one spectacular hike after another. But I think that I enjoyed the final the most of all. WingsAndTales (who had already done the final, from another direction) accompanied me. We chose a challenging approach, although I’m quite sure there was no other approach that would have been easier. Absolutely spectacular views and we spent some time investigating the cave. This was/is a classic. Thank you.

Write note 01/12/2011 By Hockabee
Was checking on my SeaStar geocoin that was left in this cache. Looks like it isn't visited very often, being a challenging one to reach and a puzzle cache, as well. This is just a request that if you do get to go to this cache, could you pick up my SeaStar and move it on? That would be so great. Thinking it just needs a nudge to get it going again, to a safe, but active cache. Thanks! Hockabee, landlocked in Kansas!

Found it 07/24/2010 By JR&B
I did Gray Back Peak, Mt Esther (Almost), Howard's Rock, & Ormes Peak last year, and then Mt. Arthur this June. For me Mt. Arthur was the hardest climb. Took the suggested route for most of the way to Pike's Cave. Tried staying at a lower elevation between points 6 & 7, but that did not work out too well. The slope there is too steep. Great view at the cache. The cache was on it's side and damp. The log was very damp. I dried it all out the best I could while eating my lunch there. Traded Geocoins. Then took the fast way down. Thanks for setting this one up.

Found it 07/12/2010 By oldmanhiker
I found Pike's Cave through the use of my GPS, but with coordinates supplied by a friend. It was difficult enough getting to the cave without going to all the other sites listed by the person who set up this geocache.

Found it 10/19/2008 By titocache
Well, it's bittersweet to wrap this one up. I've been chasing Zebulon Pike all summer, and have enjoyed the locations, the new trails, and the puzzle. A very well done series, so thanks for the work that went into this! It looks like 2008 will go down as the largest class of the "Zebulon Pike's Cave Club". Dropped coin, SL

[This entry was edited by titocache on Monday, October 20, 2008 at 7:40:05 AM.]

Found it 10/19/2008 By kwbforest
Today Titocache and I were going to check this one off the list. We found and completed all the other caches to get us here. We took the long route and followed the published recommended route. Wow, that was a long hike even though I parked on the road right below the cache. So after logging the cache and checking out the cave, Awesome I might add, we headed straight down the hill to the truck. 45 minute hike up and 15 minutes back down, just as it was getting dark. This was a fun journey all the way to the end. TFTC SL.

Found it 10/01/2008 By WingsAndTales
I did this one after getting the last of the clues at Gray Back Peak this morning and doing the math while I had lunch. I was running out of time so I did a direct approach to the cache. It was pretty steep but after chasing the other clues this fall I was I better shape than when I started this adventure. I took the NM coin & left a T.S. Elliot quote for the next cacher to ponder. There was water in the cache(I'm not really sure how it got in since the container looked fine). I dried things out while I explored the area a bit and put the log in a baggie to help keep it dry if the water gets in again. Thanks for taking me to some great places!

Found it 09/06/2008 By jmpdelos
Finally! I started this one when it was first set up in 2006 and was chasing Happy Trails To You around all of the points.

It took me three trips up Mt. Esther. The first was before it had been found. I got down and was going to ask Phoenix2001 about it but saw Happy Trails had found it so I figured I'd just missed it and tried again the next night. I still didn't find it so I did ask Phoenix2001 and it turned out the coordinates were incorrect at the time. I don't know how Happy Trails found it with the wrong coordinates; the third time was a charm for me (and great exercise climbing Mt. Esther three evenings in a row).

I dragged my parents up Ormes and Arthur since they were visiting at the time. They're more careful about where they're willing to go hiking with me now... :-)

Happy Trails beat me to the final and I had already climbed the Mtn. where the it's located a couple of times that summer before I had finished the clues. I got busy and didn't make it back up there. Last summer I made one trip up and had screwed up the coordinates and then didn't get a chance to make a second trip. I've been trying to finish up the caches I'd started and not finished this summer (I finished Falcon Challenge this spring as well) but I overscheduled myself and hadn't had a chance until today.

You couldn't have asked for a nicer day to be up there. The cache had some water in it so I hung around for an hour letting everything dry in the sun. The log was still a bit damp but not bad. The container appeared to be in good shape so I'm thinking the moisture was probably from it being open on a rainy day.

I took the WA geocoin and left a NM geocoin and white Jeep TB.

Thanks to Phoenix2001 for a really great series of caches!

Found it 08/10/2008 By F3
This series easily ranks as one of the best in the area, and is a defining moment in our Geocaching experience. We can't thank you enough for all of the trails and mountains (with well laid out with child points) that this encouraged us to explore. Very happy to have our name alongside the usual short list of cachers that dont mind putting in an extra mile or two. Thanks again.