GCQ8XV Traditional Cache Grays Peak
Type: Traditional | Size: Small Small | Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 4 out of 5
By: captain.ron (Adopted by animjason on 6/28/2011) @ | Hide Date: 08/22/2005 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 38.021 W105° 49.035 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 33
Dogs  Scenic view  Cliff / falling rocks  Parking available  Public restrooms nearby  Camping available  Stealth required  Medium hike (1km-10km)  Tourist Friendly 
 Cache photos

captain.ron (Original Cache Owner)
SPOILER: Covered
SPOILER: Uncovered


Grays Peak (14,270ft) is the highest mountain in the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains in the State of Colorado. It is one of 54 fourteeners in Colorado. The first man to ascend Grays Peak, botanist Charles C. Parry, named the peak for his botanist colleague Asa Gray. Gray actually did not see the peak until 1872, 11 years later. Grays Peak is located on the Continental Divide and its summit is the highest point exactly on the Continental Divide.

"I've had a recent hankerin' to see if I still have what it takes to climb a fourteener. One of the easiest of these (besides the obvious Pikes Peak and Mt. Evans) is Grays Peak... I was a bit surprised to discover that there was no cache on this popular summit, so since I was going anyway I thought I'd fix that." ~ captain.ron (Original Cache Owner)

I, animjason, have since adopted this cache and it is an honor to keep this one alive. I have added some of my own flare to this page and hope you enjoy this cache. In addition to the Trailhead/Parking Waypoint, there is plenty of useful information on the 14ers.com site.

The container is a PVC Pipe under a boulder's overhang. Small trackables and swag may fit inside.

Although historically this hasn't been a difficult hide, I want to make sure everyone gets a find who makes this climb, so I've included several photos below. Please feel free to use them or not.

This is a very popular hike during the summer. Believe it or not, some stealth will probably be required to safely retrieve, and return this cache!

"If this is your first Colorado fourteener, as it was for me, then congratulations! I hope that for you, as for me, it's just the first. Only 53 more to go!" ~ captain.ron

I love two-fers so don't forget to look for the Grays Peak Benchmark as well.

Additional Waypoints

BMQ8XV - Grays Peak Benchmark
N 39° 38.033 W 105° 49.054
Benchmark: KK2036
THQ8XV - Grays Peak East Slopes Trailhead/Parking
N 39° 39.648 W 105° 47.074
Trailhead: Grays Peak Difficulty: Class 1 Summit Elevation: 14,270 ft Trailhead Elevation: 11,280 ft Elevation Gain (One Way): 3,000 ft Round Trip Length: 7.50 miles
 Custom URLs

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 Additional Waypoints (2)

CodeNameTypeCommentsDateCoordinatesDistance
BMQ8XVGrays Peak Benchmark Reference Point Benchmark: KK2036 06/30/2011 N 39° 38.033 W 105° 49.054 0.04 kms NW 
THQ8XVGrays Peak East Slopes Trailhead/Parking Trailhead Trailhead: Grays Peak Difficulty: Class 1 Summit Elevation: 14,270 ft Trailhead Elevation: 11,280 ft Elevation Gain (One Way): 3,000 ft Round Trip Length: 7.50 miles 08/24/2010 N 39° 39.648 W 105° 47.074 4.11 kms NE 

 Hints

See Photos - under boulder ledge, pvc pipe, some reports of ten feet west of coords, covered by rocks

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GCAWYKB Foul ball (19.44 kms W)
GCAWYJM Three-pointer (19.46 kms W)
GCAD73K Jefferson Lake Needed a Cache! (20.54 kms S)
GCAWYDE Tangled Wood (24.96 kms SE)

   


Driving Directions

 Logs

12 Logs: Found it 10  Write note 1  Owner Maintenance 1  

Found it 09/09/2018 By Mikejama
Tftc:)

Found it 09/06/2018 By ThatGrif
We made it to the top Finally, TFTC

Found it 08/09/2018 By magashi
found with help from the spoiler photo! did grays first then we were off to torrey.
GCQ8XV

Found it 07/29/2018 By YamaGypsy
Lemonheadmafia and I targeted Gray's and Torrey's today. Once we summited Gray's we took one look across to Torrey and decided we were good for the day. Sl, thanks!

Found it 07/29/2018 By NedHead87
Today was amazing! My brother and I sought redemption for this cache and were not disappointed! I’ll leave it to others to read the patientrock description below, but add my own joy to finding this cache. Thank you!!

Found it 07/29/2018 By PatientRock
Woo-hoo! Geocache find no. 700! So very happy to redeem ourselves after DNF’ing this one two years ago. I am in Colorado for a visit and told my sister there was only one thing I wanted to do: go after Gray’s Peak once again.

We thought we were geniuses for getting there at 4 a.m. but so did eleventy-billion other people. We parked a bit down the road as there were so very many cars. It made for a very busy trail and the summit had at least 50 people up there.

I’m not sure what’s the hardest part of that hike. 12 to 13k feet when you have so much still to go? Or 13 to 14k feet when you’re close to the finish but your lungs can’t suck in the thin air fast enough? We made it and immediately inspected the scene.

There were SO many people. My sister tried to draw my attention to a guy who had just proposed to his girlfriend up there but I think I replied with a muttered, “adorable, now WHERE is that geocache.” We asked a couple people if we could look under the rock they were sitting on and they skeptically agreed. No luck.

Came close to giving up, sad and dejected once more. But then we spotted it! It was pretty far from my coordinates reading but thank goodness for the spoiler photo. Signed and we were on our merry way. My feet hurt so much.

Thank you for the amazing geocache. Glad to check that one off!

Write note 07/01/2018 By PatientRock
My sister and I are headed back in one month. Excited to avenge our DNF!

Found it 09/12/2017 By PayMeCache
Hiking Grays and Torreys Peaks today with KJKlock. We were on the trail by 4 AM and made good time today. This was our third stop to find a cache and our first peak summit of the morning. After a long search on the peak and battling the cold, ferocious wind, I finally spotted THE rock I had taken a spoiler photo of. So glad to finally sign my John Hancock on the log with my frozen fingers. Attaching a photo of the Geocache in good shape and awarding a favorite point to this cache for the memories it created.

Found GCQ8XV - Grays Peak, on September 12, 2017 using Cachly for iOS.

Some may call me seriously mentally ill. Some may state that I am in a state of mind that prevents social interaction. Some may say I am in a state of mind that prevents normal perception and or behavior. I prefer to say that I tend to do the same thing over and over again, but I expect different results. That being said, I believe we only live one life and I am trying to make the best of it. I thank you, animjason for adopting this fun geocache to fuel my "insanity" or addiction as I call it. I appreciate you bringing me here so that I can sign my alias on a piece of paper that you have hidden.

I look forward to finding more of your geocaches. I also look forward to potentially finding geocaches with you one day and sharing stories of our insanity... I mean hobby or addiction? Cheers!
Cache

PayMeCache on Grays Peak Summit
PMC on Grays Peak Summit
GCQ8XV Log

Found it 09/04/2017 By pynk chink
Found it in the sea of hikers.

Found it 09/04/2017 By Pale Raven
Found the cache (after searching for a while). There are waaaaaaaay too many people up here!! Tftc!

Owner Maintenance 08/31/2017 By animjason
Special thanks to icezebra11, Denali41, and Ward for replacing this cache for me. I have updated the write-up/hint/spoiler photos. Please use stealth, and cover with rocks when finished. Everything is good now.

Found it 08/29/2017 By icezebra11
Denali41, non-caching friend Ward, and I made the very fun climb/scramble up Kelso Ridge today. The rock is pretty solid but there are areas of loose dirt and scree that have to be crossed that required close attention. The knife edge was pretty straightforward even though I butt-scooted it because my pack was heavier than necessary. After a successful summit of Torrey's we headed for Gray's.

Upon arriving at the summit of Gray's there were four guys sitting right at GZ. Since those four were the only people on the summit (yes you read that right BigSmile) we explained we were looking for a geocache so we were able to search at GZ. No luck. But we had permission from animjason to replace the container if we couldn't find it so that's what we did.

The new container was placed about 15 feet west of the posted coordinates. It is under an overhang of one of the bigger and more obvious rocks in the area. It's a PVC tube covered by - get this - more rocks! I've included a couple photos so the search will be pretty easy for future seekers. Thanks Captain Ron for establishing this cache and thanks Jason for keeping it going!!!

Cache uncovered - lower center

Cache covered