GC1EHD9 Perfect Porphyry
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Alpenhorn and Dustybluff @ | Hide Date: 07/24/2008 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N37° 53.189 W107° 44.967 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
         

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Welcome to our family-favorite basin. You can make this hike as easy or difficult as you want. A 4WD or high clearance vehicle is recommended. The terrain is not difficult but depending on where you begin, your hiking altitude gain is 300 ft. (from trail head) or 1100 feet from the “Rough and Dangerous Road Ahead” sign (see picture).

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Take Highway 550 south out of Ouray. The turnoff is 14 miles from the Hot Springs by the yellow "Falling Rocks" sign (a bit past milepost 80). Because of 2008's heavy snowfall the road is washed out in places so you may need to park after 1.7 miles at the sign that says "Rough and Dangerous Road Ahead." This adds an extra 3 miles round trip to your hike.

You will begin at the trail head but once you reach the first lake (Bullion King Lake) you can head toward the cache from any direction. Keep an eye open for Ptarmigan! After you find the cache have a picnic overlooking the third lake (Porphyry lake) and climb a ridge for the view.

BEWARE: Open mine pit in the area. You will see the debris. If there is snow, DO NOT WALK on it.

We've created a cache with a travel theme in mind, since our family is scattered in Colorado, Kansas, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France. It’s original contents are: a 2008 Euro football (soccer) card, a Swiss 10 centimes coin, British Airways playing cards, a beautiful stone from Dominguez Canyon, a golf ball from Alaska, fingernail clippers and a Czech Republic Charity GEOCoin.

08/16/2017 By olgoat
I will second what UpTuYu posted. Awesome place. TFTC. Found with UpTuYu and ThaMeatMan!

08/15/2017 By uptuyu
#Yessir! What a beautiful place for a cache. We hit both lakes and the south saddle, what a view. TFTC! Found with Olgoat and ThaMeatMan.

09/04/2016 By recneps4853
We have hiking friends in Ouray who were showing us around for a few days. This is one of their favorite locations. My first time in the basin and their first time geocaching, so we all enjoyed the day. The reclamation is still underway and I doubt will be finished before winter. A local said that the original gravel/dirt covering washed away and now they are mixing cement in with a new layer. Interesting.

07/12/2016 By sjclimber
Well, decided to walk up the basin on this gorgeous day. Little breezy, but otherwise great day for a hike. Broke into the upper basin about 12:00 to find the cache. Made a loop back to the south and down to Bullion King lake in no time. Guess I'll have to return with a companion to do the other two on the ridge. Again, cache is in great shape. Thanks..

08/31/2015 By WingsAndTales
The road is closed to vehicles at the last switchback and the sign about "Rough and dangerous road" is nowhere to be seen. They are doing mine reclamation work until mid September. I'll be curious to see what kind of shape the road is in when they are done. A local told us they are required to return the road to its original condition. This was the last cache in the area for COpackrat and I on this trip. We had a blast and hope to be back next year for more fun in the San Juans. TFTC