GCGG0X Mt. Sneffels Summit
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Yankeeboy4 @ | Hide Date: 07/19/2003 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 00.232 W107° 47.534 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 13
           

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Just outside the town of Ouray, Colorado. The altitude at the cache site is 14,150. This is a class 5 for both Difficulty and Terrain. It’s a micro cache (metal 35mm film canister), containing a piece of paper for logging. Bring a pencil.

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There are many routes up Mt. Sneffels, but the best and easiest by far, starts at Yankee Boy Basin

Go to the amazing web site www.14ers.com to learn how to drive to/hike/climb this peak. http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?route=snef1&peak=Mt.%20Sneffels

• Just south of Ouray on Colorado Route 550 (going uphill out of town) you’ll find a Dirt Road marked 361. at 38 01.057N, 107 40.89W
• Drive this Jeep trail 9.7 miles (or as far as you can make it in your vehicle to get to the trailhead.
• Route 361 is incredible, but be careful. At one point it becomes a true “Shelf Road” with a 500 foot sheer drop to your east. Further south the granite actually overhangs the road like a huge breaking wave. Take a camera for some shots of this.
• To make the drive all the way to the trailhead you will need a good quality, high clearance 4WD vehicle. You can get within about a mile and a half with most SUVs and/or pickup trucks. This road is not suited for the family car. There are lots of outfitters in Ouray that rent Jeeps to take this road and the Alpine Loop further south of Ouray. If you are adept at driving a Jeep, you will probably be able to make it in one of the rentals if you take your time. If you can rent a Jeep Rubicon, you will not have trouble making it to the trailhead.
• Follow Rt 361 to approximately 37 58.543N, 107 43.308W. You will occassionally see some forks in the road. If you keep to the right (the uphill side) you will be headed in the right direction.
• Continue into Yankee Boy Basin and find the other Geocache hidden there: GC1BD6 at 37 59.045N, 107 45.822W
• You will eventually see a wooden, Forest Service outhouse on the left (south) side of the road. It is in good repair, but is not in the location shown on the USGS Topo Maps for this area.
• The trailhead is very near 37 59.359N, 105 46.659W. If you can’t drive the entire way, park and walk the road.
• Follow the route description from www.14ers.com from here.
• When you get to the summit, look due east at an outcropping about 50 feet east and 15 feet below you. Notice there is a boulder with a large crack it. The film canister is hidden under a couple of rocks in the middle of that crack. Don’t spend a lot of time looking. If it’s not there when you can see dirt under the rocks, then someone took it.
• Given the propensity for this cache to get lost, I would really appreciate it if you would carry a replacement film container with you in case it’s gone.
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  Have fun, but please be careful. Mt. Sneffels is a short “14er” hike, but it is very steep with scree and talus. It gets a 2+ rating for the one notch you have to pull yourself through.

09/22/2018 By getoffmycache
Looked for this one after a tough climb up, but did not find it. The cache spot is very obvious, so I assume it went missing. Since I had read the description before leaving home I had brought along a replacement container. The cache is now a small plastic military decontamination kit container. Since it is just large enough for small items I left a trackable.

09/16/2018 By jrj1980
My girlfriend and I climbed Sneffels today from Blue Lakes. We really enjoyed the class 3 ridge route. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the cache. I did find the one down at the lakes, however. I always have trouble with summit caches since there are so many hiding spots in the rocks.

09/01/2018 By SALMON-629
Pretty decent climb if your not used to hiking much!

07/24/2018 By J.a.x.l
TFTC, by far the most difficult 14er I've done so far

09/25/2017 By tudorsbiscuitworld
Wow! That V notch was so scary!

09/16/2017 By MissPiggyBacker
Probably the most rewarding and beautiful summit I've ever been on with Desert Romantic. What an insane hike. Snake Couloir is terrible, btw. TFTC!

09/16/2017 By DesertRomantic
Woohoo!! This was an adventure to get to! Up from New Mexico with MissPiggyBacker and Sneffels was the primary reason for our trip. We parked at the lowest trailhead, near the junction of another dirt road, and started our hike up through one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! We were a little unnerved by the amount of snow already present, but pressed onward anyways. We took the standard Lavendor Col route, which wasn't too bad aside from all the people hiking it, which just increased our awareness of rockfall. Upon reaching the saddle, it finally looked more attainable! Then we began the trudge up the gully, which I found more enjoyable with overall more stable (larger) rocks. We had to avoid ice falling off the sides, which added to the sense of adventure, though we were pretty safe. Upon reaching the V Notch, we found it covered in snow and ice...we tried to work our way up into it, but the exposed move (class 3 instead of 2+ now) felt insecure and not worth the risk. All the easy 5th class options were snowy as well...so we accepted that we wouldn't summit less than 200 feet from the top. On the way down, however, we learned of another potential route, and we made our way up a gully full of mud, snow, and some terribly rotten rock...but it was well worth it! After that gully, we made the 2+ scramble up to the summit and reveled in our success! Because we tried the second gully so late in the day, there wasn't another soul on the summit :) We spent probably close to an hour on the summit just eating and resting and enjoying the views. Thanks for adding this cache up here to add to our already amazing adventure! TFTC!!!

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread." -Edward Abbey

09/05/2017 By GeologyJohn
That was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. I started at the trailhead with the bathroom and enjoyed the warm-up hike along the southern spur trail towards Wrights Lake before reaching the talus slope. Then it was a lot of slipping and sliding. The summit view was amazing. It even started to snow a bit. I scoured the area where the cache should be hidden according to the photo on the cache page, but couldn't find anything. I had a replacement film canister with me for this purpose as per the cache description, so I placed it where the arrow indicates. Then time for a long descent. Thanks for a great cache. 14er #16.

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07/26/2017 By DrPowercat
33rd 14er with my son, but the last 14er of this summer hiking season. Have to go home and start working again tomorrow. Not much snow left in the couloir, but that last little scramble through the notch took some concentration. Overcast day, but still had a great time.
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10/02/2016 By marmotandgoatcachers
Not exactly a crack of dawn start for us considering our sore legs from the Tour of the Moon bike ride on Saturday but I just couldn't resist the fall colors and a geocache on the summit of one of my favorite scrambles! Thanks for the hide - lots of snow hiding in the cracks already so suspect the season for this cache is near an end! Thanks for the smilie - both virtual and on my face upon reaching the summit !
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08/13/2016 By Libertarian Lad
My third 14er in 5 days (Wilson Peak, El Diente). I left this for last because I thought it might be "easy." Not at all; physically tough and challenging through all that scree and boulder scrambling. Found the spot for the cache and explored it thoroughly but did not find the film can. Like you said, it could easily be gone. I can easily imagine someone finding it, dropping it, and not retrieving it from "below." Great weather, probably over 100 people here today, fantastic views! Truly! This is why we do 14ers. TFTC.

07/24/2016 By mn88
What a great trip.
Exhausting and wonderful.
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07/22/2016 By TeamLPS
It was my bday today so i decided to hit sneffels for my first 14er it was one hell of a adventure!
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