GC2B38R Cliffside Lime Kiln
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Flutiste @ | Hide Date: 07/01/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 37.592 W106° 44.214 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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Do you ever stand in awe of the people of the 1800's, and wonder how or why they did the things they did out in the middle of nowhere?! This lime kiln, on the Gunnison Spur of the Colorado Trail, is in the middle of a tangled forest, accessible by 4WD or by foot. Elevation at the cache: 9945'

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Upper Lost Canyon Road is closed in the spring until May 15th. The cache is by the side of FS Road 586, which is a spur off of the Lost Canyon Road (CR 743). The Lost Canyon Road is accessible from HWY 135 via CR 10. The Lost Canyon Road is a rough, dirt road which requires a high clearance, SUV-type vehicle. The FS Road is absolutely a 4WD road. There is a good spot near a bench mark where you can park and turn around (see waypoint chart). However, if you prefer to avoid the 4WD road, you could drive to the junction of the two roads, park, and then hike on the 4WD road about 3/4 mile to the cache.

The lime kiln dates back to the 1800's, and is built into the base of a limestone cliff. All the kiln-operators had to do was quarry the rock and roll it downhill into the kiln -- very clever. The limestone was baked into lime, which was used for concrete, chinking for log cabins, and flux for the smelting process in some mines. What was this kiln doing all the way out here, so far away from everything?!

The cache is in a blue plastic water-bottle.

There are at least two other lime kilns in the Lost Canyon area. One of them can be seen from the Lost Canyon Road -- you'll probably see it on your left, on the way back to the highway, and there's a geocache there.

Hunting season advisory: Colorado hunting season is in September and October. If you venture out during this time, wear some blaze orange and be noisy.

Additional Waypoints
PK2B38R - GC2B38R Parking
N 38° 37.429 W 106° 44.285
Good spot by a bench mark to park and turn around, about .2 miles west of the cache.

07/13/2017 By skiinxs
Found the cache, was in great shape. Took .40cal bullet and put in Matchbox circus truck. TFTC!

07/27/2016 By barklr2
I visit this one every few years glad it's still here

06/16/2016 By cb_beauty
TFTC!! This was a really big kiln. I would have loved to walk around the kiln and check out the cliff too, but the mosquitoes were eating me alive and we had a fairly long walk left to go back to the truck. In fact, we walked 7 miles in the last 2 days, so my legs are a little tired too.

06/16/2016 By SoldierGrrrl
CB_Beauty and I started our "Summer of Lonely Caches" yesterday in an attempt to update/liven up some lonely caches that have not been found in at least 2 years. Today we saw two lime kilns and Gunnison from high elevation.

In our excitement we started out on foot from Lost Canyon Lime Kiln without verifying where we were going. Needless to say, we started up the wrong road and had to bush whack .3 miles to fix the error. We could have driven the forest service road in our high clearance truck, but the walk did us good. Bring bug spray! Those skeeters are vicious. I love geocaching and other cache owners who bring me to such awesome places. In the middle of the forest, bam, lime kiln. How did the miners find these locations before the road system that is in place?

09/16/2014 By 3cacheteers
Beautiful day for caching! Fall colors are really beautiful and the weather is perfect. It was an awesome drive down to the cache site! Thanks for another great cache.