GC2BX4A Vort's Triumph
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: vorticity @ | Hide Date: 07/17/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 38.291 W105° 03.248 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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Vort’s Triumph is my tip of the hat to smullis who had the good sense to place a cache in one of the most amazing places in Colorado. A tiny piece of history frozen in time.

Please be careful. Best plan is to spend the night in the vicinity of ”Vorticity’s Demise.”

If you can't swing that, you need a very early start on a day when there are no thunderstorms in the area. This canyon is steep and narrow in places. You do not want to get yourself in a spot where you are unable to climb out in the event of a flash flood.

The Skaguay Reservior should help control the flow of water, but you will notice clear evidence of high water all along the route.
I recommend no young kids on this one. And Do Not Attempt this Alone

Take along a lightweight pair of closed tennis shoes to help you with 7 stream crossings. I can send you the .gpx file with the approximate coordinates of the crossings if you shoot me a request.

Look for the pink markers along the way (graciously left by smullis) when you feel like you have reached a dead end. Be careful on the return paying special attention to your GPS track in. You do not want to make a right turn up the wrong stream bed. When ernie66 and I placed this cache, the round trip took us 8 hours. There are other good hikers who have taken over 12. You need to plan for 12 hours. I carried and drank 5 liters of liquid. Recommend you take a portable water purifier or at least purification tablets. You should not drink directly from the stream since there are cattle in the area.

We had a pretty easy time riding a mountain bike (and hiding it) for the first 2 miles from parking

This cache is probably inaccessible when there is snow on the ground.
The Embedded Photos Will Show You More

Additional Waypoints

S22BX4A - Stream Cross 2
N 38° 38.824 W 105° 03.016

S32BX4A - Stream Cross 3
N 38° 38.808 W 105° 02.953

S42BX4A - Stream Cross 4
N 38° 38.763 W 105° 02.895

S52BX4A - Stream Cross 5
N 38° 38.751 W 105° 02.955

S62BX4A - Stream Cross 6
N 38° 38.645 W 105° 02.869

S72BX4A - Stream Cross 7
N 38° 38.171 W 105° 02.888

TH2BX4A - Skaguay Reservior Parking. Trailhead
N 38° 41.310 W 105° 03.185

02/06/2018 By vorticity
Just worked to get the cache page right. This one needs some love. Vort.

08/17/2014 By colorado gypsies
A triumph indeed :-) We wisely hiked down to the power plant and camped near the stream (see our log for Vorticity's Demise) and I appreciate the stream crossing way points but I believe Stream Cross 5 to be spurious, you can see that it's not near the stream on the satellite photos. It should be very close to 6. At that point you cross and then re-cross a few hundred feet down. Doing that worked quite well for us on the way out- the way down was another story :-) In fact, due to the high water this summer, we had to cross slightly up-stream of #s 2,3 and 4 on improvised logs and such and thoroughly failed to keep dry feet either way (still totally worth it). At any rate, after camping overnight, The Lady Gypsy packed up camp while I began the ascent towards Triumph. I found the cache before I found my breath due to the photo and then continued through the tunnel and over a slightly rotted trestle to what seemed like the end of the pipe until I squinted. It was the end of the line for me and I turned around and headed back to camp. SLTNLN TFTC Fav for the Triumph

This entry was edited by colorado gypsies on Monday, 25 August 2014 at 02:34:30 UTC.

05/18/2013 By TANZ!!
Out caching today for a few targeted caches! Had a blast though I am extremely exhausted right now. The hike to the powerplant from Skaguay was NO JOKE. I am in decent hiking / endurance shape and my route ended up charting over 13.6 miles and an elevation gain of just over 4000'. 9 hours and 20 minutes later, I was back in the car needing a beer!

This one was originally on the list. It would REALLY help out if there was a way point at the best spot to turn up. Though, after looking for two other caches for over an hour, I am pretty certain I wouldnt of had the legs to get this one. All the more reason to come back and get it!

DARN!

05/28/2012 By WingsAndTales
This was the first triumph of the day. The other was getting back to the car at the end of the day. It was 14 miles and about 9 hours total(including a significant amount of time spent looking for Gun Shy). It's incredible to think how hard it must have been to build and operate the plant. We had a great day and I appreciated having awesome companions for the hike. TFTC

05/28/2012 By kenyansherpa
A triumph it was! Way to up the ante, Vort. We ( Wings and Tales and Estes and I ) enjoyed every step, wade, hop, pedal and even stumble along the way. Not to mention the scenry! Pictures to follow. TFTH!!!