The Cougar Country Challenge

02/20/2016 By estes01
Second time I’ve been up to the final and something tells me that I’ll be back. It’s not easy, finding the best route to approach the final, but the worst part is approximately 50 feet from the cache. Scary for me and that’s why I covered my eyes while ernie66 did it for the second time. My task was to watch the nearby cave on the preferred route to the cache. We heard significant rustling noises inside the cave and decided to get the heck out of there. Oddly enough, large limbs appeared to have been placed at the opening of the cave and as cats don’t have thumbs, it probably wasn’t a cat that did it. Nevertheless, it wasn’t worth the risk, as surely the name of the cache has some basis in fact and we did see cat prints in the area. Amazingly enough, a hiker and his dog passed right by us and not far away we passed 4 teenagers in shorts! They were smart enough to acknowledge that we had the right gear on for the hike (spikes, waterproof boots and long pants). This challenge has been on my “must do” list for many years. Memorable one and obviously worth a favorite point. Thank you.

07/04/2015 By SnailMan1
Today I thought I would give stage 2 a try. I followed the trail towards the cache and it kept getting thinner and thinner. About 0.6 miles for the WP I needed to cross a rock field that was covered with moss, very wet and slick so I decided that perhaps I should look for another route. I crossed the creek and head up to the top of the ridge thinking that I would a approach the WP from above. Once I arrived at GZ I found some very big rocks that I would need to search. I search high and low to no avail. After a good long hour I decided that it wasn't going to be my day. This WP/cache wins the award for my longest hike resulting in a DNF. My GPS said that I covered 7.5 miles and the last two were sure over some difficult terrain.
Intesting Rock on way to WP2 (GC116QW)

Rocks I managed to avoid (GC116QW)

More rocks I managed to avoid (GC116QW)

08/18/2014 By OR85OR450
It's a quarter 'till midnight my (central) time...and both at home, & here in Co I've been beating my head
against this puzzle for weeks. Turned out I needed a modified resource ( I don't really know what was wrong with what I had been trying??)... but I just read a nice little bit of 'get started' info at last.
Whee! Now we still have a week here; I'll pick one of those days and Challenge Accepted!

Holy a**-wallping, Batman!! That was a huge day! I can't imagine if even super- familiarity with the region would save a person. I got a route suggestion from a previous finder, but between NOT knowing the area and vagueness of topo lines on the gpsr screen and the cheat-sheet I printed, I felt like I spent 12 hours beating up & down the steep, congested, vegetated ravine sides!! Slowed a bit more by weathering/ muggle issues at a couple stages and whaddya' know - I WAS out there 12 hours!!
Well anyway, apart from a pair of minor tidying-up issues the CO may get to, the cache has come through the years of non-visitation in super shape ant the stupendous views await you !!
I snagged a Green Jeep, and left the nicest coin I had at the final... it hardly has room for more !!

This entry was edited by OR85OR450 on Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at 04:42:51 UTC.
Adding a note much later- Thanks Ernie66! I got the log caught up for the coin I forgot. I hope your hike was a good one !

One of many great views (exif gps info WONT help!)

09/29/2012 By pngpooh
We looked everywhere for the first clue. It doesn't look like anyone has tried this challenge since 2010.

05/06/2010 By Buzz Lightyear I
Teamed up with Bhob on this hide n seek. I checked that I first printed this cache 10/2007.
We might be slow but we do finish the job. Tough hiking to some of the caches.
Some took longer to find the best way to get to. Climbstuff you out did yourself this time
Traded some trackables.
TFTC SL

05/06/2010 By Bhob
Fun puzzle, nice areas, excellent hikes, cool hides. Went searching today with "Buzz Lightyear I" - we have been working on this monster ever since it was first published - the puzzle was solved early on, and then the real work began - WP one was a pleasant little jaunt - it took us three excursions to get to the second waypoint (the toughest for us, by far) - we actually managed to get stages three and four on the same day - and at long last the logbook in the final has our names in it - no cougars were seen in the progress of doing this geocache (and that is probably a good thing). TN-LN-SL. Thanks !

03/07/2010 By F3
Stopped and picked up the first clue and gave the second a distant look. A ways to go for sure, but happy to not be staring at the puzzle anymore.

09/25/2009 By TatteredShoes
Done! I finished the puzzle recently and really enjoyed it. As much as I would have loved to do all of the stages in one day, I don't think I could have made it. I took four separate trips to complete all of the stages. Today was slow at work, so I took off thinking I would finish the cache today. As I approached the last stage, I wasn't sure if I could make it! I was quickly running out of steam. There was some tough bushwhacking involved and I think I made certain parts a lot more difficult than they needed to be! I guess the lesson is that the shortest way isn't always the easiest way. The leaps at the final were a bit scary, but I managed.

This is the toughest cache I've done but also the most gratifying. The views were awesome and I got some much needed exercise. I signed the log with a bit of a shaky hand, so it's sloppy, but legible. Thanks for a wonderful and memorable challenge!!!

09/20/2009 By sleuthers
TB drop.

09/20/2009 By sleuthers
9/20/09
Yay! Finally! Surprisingly, I was much more comfortable doing the final stage than I expected. For me the toughest was stage 2. This was definitely the hardest cache I've ever finished. I've set a new record for the longest to finish! I solved the puzzle shortly after it came out and thought "well I've climbed over 300 mountains - how hard can this be". Well it was certainly humbling. Thanks for the challenge and taking me/us to some beautiful locations.

9/12/09
This is quite the epic challenge. Made it out to stage 4 today. Took a while to get there, but found easily enough. Nervously awaiting an attempt on the final...

9/7/09
Climbed and found stage 3 today. That was fun. Slow but sure progress. It's so beautiful in there.

6/21/09
Didn't have much time today. It had been so long since I was last back here that I had lost the coords for stage 2 So I reclimbed Stage 1. I set out way too late (8PM) from the Upper Reservoir (not giving away anything here!), and made it to stage 2 just as it was getting dark. I'm climbed that sucker with a headlamp and found it this time. Didn't like the rock much but it went ok. Then I slowly dragged myself out of the area. Bushwacking through that mess at night was night was quite the adventure. At the rate I'm going I'll finish this in 2012. Thanks for the fun - I think!

9/30/07
This cache was humbling! I solved the fun puzzle by myself a few weeks ago and was waiting for the weather to cool a bit. Today I thought I'd finish it. I found Stage 1 easily enough and bushwacked to Stage 2. I then spent 3.5 hours searching all over for the elusive next coords :-( I eventually gave up. Oh well, maybe another day! Great puzzle BTW. Thanks for the tough challenge.

[This entry was edited by sleuthers on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 10:17:10 AM.]

[This entry was edited by sleuthers on Monday, September 21, 2009 at 9:13:17 AM.]