GC4FVA5 RM ORS #20-03: Big Valley
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Team Red Rubicon @ | Hide Date: 07/05/2013 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 24.940 W105° 42.095 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0

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Rocky Mountain (RM) Off Road Series (ORS) #20: Twin Cone
A series by: Team Red Rubicon.

This is the third of six caches in the #20 series of Rocky Mountain off-road caches located along the difficult Twin Cone trail. The Twin Cone Trail starts along Highway 285 at Kenosha Pass where the Colorado Hiking trail crosses the highway. The trail offers a lot of great scenery, including views of the surrounding mountains with Red Cone to the North.

Cache Information
This cache is located at the base of a large valley that runs between North and South Twin Cone.  The trail starts to become more difficult at this point.

RM Off Road Series #20 Compete Cache Listing

1. Kenosha Creek Cache
2. Quiet Spot
3. Big Valley
4. Hill Climb
5. AGV (Another Good View)
6. The Girlz

Trail Information

Rating/Description
The trail starts near Kenosha Pass just off of Highway 285 about 60 miles from Denver.  Take a left off of the highway at N39 24.749 W105 45.487 while heading west.  The trailhead is just south of the highway inside the campground at N39 24.826 W105 45.267.   There are pit toilets and and a good parking area to air down next to the trailhead.  Shortly after starting the trail, you will come to an unlocked gate that you must unchain and open to proceed.  Make sure you close and chain the gate behind you.  The trail travels through some private property for a while before you come to another similar gate that you must open and close.  After passing through the 2nd gate, you will be on National Forest land. You will travel about 7.2 miles total up to the top of North Twin Cone at 12,300 feet elevation and then return via the same route.  The trail starts getting more difficult at N39 24.968 W105 42.056 and there is a steep hill climb at N39 25.253 W105 42.292.  Make sure you spend some time to enjoy the scenery along the way and plan to spend some time at the top of the mountain.

The Twin Cone Trail is rated difficult but if you take the easier routes, the trail is on the high side of moderate.  There are also plenty of optional difficult sections if you are up for more of a challenge.  You will need a decent vehicle with 4x4 low range and good ground clearance, preferably lifted, to run the trail. The trail is rated a 5 (easiest routes) to 6 (most difficult routes) out of 10 on the traildamage website. Disclaimer: You need to decide for yourself if it is safe to run either of these trails in your vehicle and if you have any doubts, don't do it.

Note: All coordinates in the above description are included on the waypoint list on the first cache page.

Winter Months
This trail is not accessible in the winter. The Twin Cone Trail typically is passable early in the summer because most of the trail gets full sun exposure. It's usually one of the first high mountain trails to open in summer around mid June.  Conditions will vary from year to year.

Time/Distance
The total distance to run the trail is about 14.4 miles round trip. The trails can be run in about 3-5 hours with a few stops thrown in, but make sure you leave extra time to have lunch on the trail, find the caches and to do some exploring. To reach the trailhead from the Denver area takes about 1 to 1.5 hours.

Trail Waypoints
See waypoint list on the first cache page.

09/30/2018 By FlyingBug
Caching season coming to an pretty quickly up here and I'm only second one to find this one all year. Beautiful spot Amazing there isn't more activity.

09/11/2018 By ibgpin
I bagged a total of 14 finds today but the six on the Twin Cones trail were my primary objective today. This trail has two distinct personalities. The first half is fairly mild and the second half is fairly rough. Glad I had the Jeep as it made easy work of the rough areas. I found this 35 feet from where my GpS indicated GZ, but it was easy to spot since it was sticking out of it's cubby hole. TFTF

06/10/2017 By jaamrode
TFTC

08/27/2016 By Inghean A'ay
I found this cache while hiking the jeep trail with my brother.

07/05/2016 By splashman
While us girls were working our way thru the rocks, John went up and found the cache.
Our spotter got us right thru these with ease., nice that the Jeeps do all the work!
Thanks for the fun,
The Splashes

10/19/2015 By Team Laxson
Out caching with Team Red Rubicon and lots of others. We wound up being a big group on the trail, but that just means more fun! We all stopped for this one on our way up to the summit. We parked in the little pull-off that's here, but the line of 11 wouldn't fit. Getting back on the trail proved a little more interesting for us.

SL
(2902)