CONGRATULATIONS TO icezebra11 FOR THE FTF!!
Eight years ago I published a multi-cache located in the Elkhorn Creek watershed of Poudre Canyon–“St. Brendan the Navigator’s Multi”, GC3A1WD. It’s a challenging cache because it involves rugged terrain, difficult creek crossings, serious bushwhacking, and the need to understand and employ many features of GPSrs. Today, as my puppies Orizaba and Chimborazo and I were hiking in Hewlett Gulch, I considered hiding stages of a comparable multi, while realizing that in this area, the terrain challenge would be much lower than it is in the St. Brendan’s series.
In the end, I decided to hide a much easier multi-staged cache along Gordon Creek than the navigational instruction one that’s along Elkhorn Creek. Instead of seven stages, it has only three; instead of serious bushwhacking, it is almost all on-trail; instead of challenging water crossings, it has easy ones; instead of long off-trail stretches between cache stages, each stage is near a good trail and involves little special effort to reach. Nonetheless, this sequence DOES necessitate basic familiarity with changing settings on your GPS unit, so don’t attempt it until you can quickly adjust position formats, etc. It is best to use a hand-held GPS unit instead of a smart phone for this cache.
There are many caches in Hewlett Gulch, but only one is presently located in the upper part of the Gordon Creek system. The first stage is close to the trail junction well up the gulch. Most hikers take the left trail at this fork and ascend up and out of Hewlett Gulch above this junction. In this case, you will use the right fork and get a nice tour of the upper part of the gulch, with the final stage positioned near the top of the watershed where the national forest land abuts the private land to the north. Have your lunch or an extended snack at this special place and appreciate the views down the gulch from this final stage location!
Although this is a much easier multi than the St. Brendan’s sequence, you should still be prepared for a good hike and for changes in weather. Bring food, fluids, sun block, extra clothing, and rain gear. Be prepared for a hike of approximately 7.3 miles round trip with a cumulative elevation gain of about 575 feet. The hike involves 15 un-bridged crossings of Gordon Creek each way, so be prepared for a total of 30 crossings–these are easy crossings unless stream flow is high. A marvelous facet of Hewlett Gulch hikes is that dogs are allowed off-leash if you have them under voice control. This factor is a major reason that Hewlett Gulch is one of my favorite hiking destinations, and a reason that I own many caches in the gulch and on the peaks rising above both sides of Hewlett.
Enjoy your outing.
Additional Waypoints
P089HN2 - Parking
N 40° 41.365 W 105° 18.620
Parking and trailhead
Upper Hewlett Gulch Multi
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