GCK096 Traditional Cache Desolation
Type: Traditional | Size: Small Small | Difficulty: 3 out of 5 | Terrain: 3 out of 5
By: USAFA05 @ | Hide Date: 07/18/2004 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 55.910 W104° 55.045 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 5
Scenic view  Cliff / falling rocks  Medium hike (1km-10km) 
Without having to travel too far from home, you will find your way to a remote and isolated location.
There are at least 4 ways to get here; probably many more. I will not give any suggestions: you need to grab a map, plan your own route, and write about your adventure in the log! The cache is located in a spot that, despite being surrounded on 2 sides by civilization, is surprisingly remote! If you're looking for a refreshing change you should like this one.

The cache is a very small Rubbermaid. Its size is in-between a regular and a micro, but it is not hidden in an evil way like a micro could be hidden. Thus the 'regular' designation.

At the cache site, go a few steps southwest until you have a clear view. Enjoy the scenery - you will not see hardly any signs of civilization in this direction - and experience the feeling of desolation.

At the very most, you might hear gunfire from the shooting range on Rampart Range Road, several miles away. But otherwise, it will be unearthly quiet.

Please be sure to re-hide the cache *exactly* as you found it in order to ensure the finding difficulty does not change.

You're in the middle of nowhere. Now get back! Brush up on your map reading skills, since you can get lost out here easily even with a GPS.
 Custom URLs

Add cache to watch list
Log your visit
Picture Gallery

 Hints

Small, almost insignificant rock pile/shelf. Well hidden by rocks. Panel-shaped rock snugly covers the opening to a tiny hollow in the rocks. Cache is behind it.

 Nearby Caches

GCATD29 Midday in Manituo (7.81 kms S)
GC30D98 Sir Francis Bacon (13.20 kms SE)
GC4GK2Y Woodland Park CHIRP ! (14.54 kms NW)
GC2C29X Frosty Park Cache (19.36 kms S)
GC1W63W Mason and McReynolds (19.57 kms SW)

    


Driving Directions

 Logs

11 Logs: Found it 6  Write note 5  

Found it 05/05/2019 By CVA64
Round-trip 5.72+ miles, 5 hours 48 minutes, 1,633 ft ascent

Out to Anniversary #4 from the Ormes Peak parking spot and back. Good hike, great weather, perfect day. I'm exhausted. Need a beer.  Grabbed this one on the way down to mountain. Picked up the trackable is well the move it along. Great great location. Definitely can see the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire which is interesting all the way along. Thanks for the geocache today.

Found it 09/25/2016 By SnailMan1
I walked the ridge today finding the caches along the way. This was the first cache along the way. TFTC.
Lonesome Pine in a dead forest (GCK096)

Found it 08/31/2016 By kenyansherpa
After being out of the country and away from any mountains fro almost 2 months, I needed a hiking fix. This served the bill well as I came over from Blodget Open Space to get a few caches. Thanks to LukeH for placing this one and to Ernie and Estes for rescuing it after the fire! All is well with it. IN - Rio Olympics sponsor pin OUT - nothing TFTH!!

Found it 07/11/2015 By SwimFin
SwimFin found this cache quickly and in good shape (once I got to the area). Picked up a travel bug and left a signature dolphin key chain. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache. Cheers, SwimFin!

Found it 11/22/2014 By hartsdale
Went for a hike to pick up a few back in here.

First time that I got back up this way after the fire.

Thanks for keeping it going!

HD

Write note 11/08/2014 By estes01
I don't know why, but I have to keep coming back to this spot. This is my fourth time. Found bzgcfj plastic bag and it was exactly where the cache used to be. Some animal had already started chewing on the bag. Anyway, it's good to go now and is really a worthwhile hike starting from GC27QJ8 - Buzz Along the Way. Ernie has the best route should cachers be interested.

Write note 11/08/2014 By ernie66
This is my fourth time to this cache. I originally found it in 2007 and have been there twice since then. Estes01 and I were curious about how well the area had fared during the fire, so we drove up to the trailhead on Road 302 and hiked in from there.

Although there were some unburnt trees on the slopes of Mt. Desolation, all the trees near GZ were burnt. The cache was missing, though we think not due to the fire. We replaced it once again - this time with a Nalgene water bottle weighed down with some sizable rocks - and replaced the camo panel as it was when I first found it. We also found the baggie and log left by bzgcfj and put their log sheet into the new container. Left a TB. This is still one of our favorite locations - we love the solitude and incredible view!
New container for Desolation

Write note 11/02/2014 By estes01
Wow...surprised it's not there as from our viewpoint it looked like the fire might have spared that area. Also, the cache was well stashed under rocks and all of the caches we've found that were hidden in rocks in the burn area survived. Guess we'll have to do this one after all.

Write note 11/01/2014 By MountainBear
Found the spot, but the fire was pretty heavy here. Great views! Put a ziplock bag with new log at the coords in case anyone else wants to attempt to find.

Write note 07/02/2012 By LukeH
This cache probably got destroyed in the Waldo Canyon forest fire, but since it was on the ground under rocks maybe not. It is not safe for someone to go looking for it until the fire is out, but once it is... next person to search please let me know if it's still there. If not I'll archive it.

Found it 03/04/2012 By SuperDolph
Second try did the trick, good thing too, because that hike is a bear! Left a nice Cache Wars geocoin. TFTC!