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GC1XNHE
Fremont's Winter CampType: Traditional | Size: Regular 
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| Terrain:  By: benwill @ | Hide Date: 08/19/2009 | Status: Available Country: United States | State: Colorado Coordinates: N37° 50.924 W106° 39.399 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0 
Hike 2.5 miles on 4x4 road then 1.5 miles on single track trail. Starting elevation is 9400' , ending at 11734'. The hike is a steady 9% grade with very few short downhill sections. Eight mile round trip.The cache is a camo tape covered plastic two quart jar with twist on lid. First to find gets a one dollar bill and two travel bugs. In 1848, Explorer John C. Fremont made a disastrous attempt to cross the San Juan Mountains in the dead of winter while searching for a route for a railroad. The route would be nearly impassable in a normal winter and the winter of 1848 was particularly harsh, with six to seven foot drifts in the mountains. Eleven of the 37 men and all of the 120 mules died on the trip. For several weeks all the men had to eat was mule. The hike starts at Cathedral Campground. (See the National Forest Service web page above for directions) The first 2.5 miles of the hike are on a 4-wheel-drive road (Forest Development Road # 640) but .6 mile from the campground there is a closed gate therefore vehicles can't go any farther. The trail passes through several ecosystems, from aspen and Douglas fir stands, up into spruce and fir stands and finally into alpine meadows. From the lower parts of the trail the high cliffs for which Cathedral Campground is named can be seen. Shortly after the 4x4 road passes thru an outfitters camp begin following red steel fence stakes with orange tape streamers. At cordinates: N 37 50.292 W 106 38.464 the path begins single track and the red steel stakes quit but the orange tape streamers lead the way - most of the way. Sometimes trees have a large blaze with a small blaze. At cords:N 37 50.313 W 106 38.626 Sky City trail continues straight but Fremont Camp Trail turns right. At cords: N 37.50,375 W 106 38.959 the trail crosses a creek. At cords: N 37 50.669 W 106 39.222 the trails goes across a soggy drainage with waist high shrubs. At some places the orange tape is short and difficult to spot but by following the listed cords you will find the place. It took two sixty year old fat guys nearly nine hours to go out & back from the campground.
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5 Logs:
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5 
We were confused by the private property signs in 2010 and there was too much snow on our second attempt in 2011 (sent cache owner an e-mail with a picture). It was 22 degrees when we left our warm truck for this trek. Our GPS died on us about .5 mi away from the cache location. Luckily, we printed the picture and relied on our memory from last year. There was snow on the ground and it was getting windy, so we took shelter in the trees. As luck would have it, I sat down right next to the cache. It took us 6.5 hours round trip.