sapphyre

09/01/2018 By Denali41
sapphyre!! There are some real backcountry jewels in the geocaching world and this one rates way up there in quality and elevation! I’ve wanted to get after this gem ever since I learned about it soon after its publication, but other “jewels” and also some issues of life have kept me off the hoped-for schedule of a much earlier find on it. So when things aligned for a trip with icezebra11 to the southern Sawatch to hike up Mt. Ouray and a day later to make the great hike to the top of X13,626 I became excited. Finally, after so many years of seeing the green circle on the map or on sat imagery at the location of this cache, I was going to get there and turn that circle to yellow! I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting RDAD, but we’ve corresponded several times through the years–and my Colorado Springs area caching friends have always raved about what a fine person and cacher he is. So to finally go after and log his only cache in Colorado is indeed special–particularly when I shared the experience with a good friend. icezebra11's found log tells our story that I won’t repeat here. It was a fine experience, and I’m thankful to RDAD for having placed sapphyre.

After we signed the field cache log we went to the summit to sign the Colorado Mountain Club register. It was wonderful to sit at this viewpoint and look out at all the mountains to the north and south–I’ve been to the summits of all those 14ers two or more times, and have also topped out on many of the high 13ers seen from X13,626. Those hikes/climbs were all made prior to the advent of geocaching. Seeing those peaks brought back so many great memories of climbs/hikes and especially of friends I was with on certain summits. So RDAD: thanks so much for this wonderful mountain cache, and thanks for bringing me to a location that elicited so many fine memories.

After I hit the “Send” button the green will turn to yellow...that’s particularly nice to see when the cache is so very special. And after that happens, I will hit the "Favorites" button and finish this. But the memories of sapphyre will continue.

09/01/2018 By icezebra11
Denali41 and I left our homes in northern CO Thursday for a fun-filled climbing and caching road trip to the Sawatch range. Our two primary objectives for the trip were to climb Mount Ouray and to make the climb to find this cache. This is a cache that has been on both of our radars for quite some time and we really wanted to reel this one in!

Before we left on the trip we did a fair bit of research as to what route to take to get to this very remote peak. I will say that there's quite a bit I'd like to write about regarding the route we took but I also don't want to disclose it because, as the cache page says, planning your route is a challenge in itself. I will only say that I believe we chose the best option getting there.

We successfully summitted Mt Ouray yesterday and then after doing some caching along the way, we drove to the Cottonwood Lake area and found a place to camp. We were very glad it wasn't very cold or windy at our camping location!

We rose to a fairly early alarm and after fueling up with breakfast we set off up the mountain. The first 2/3rds of our journey wasn't too bad but the last 3rd definitely reminded us that this was a 13er and it takes quite a bit of effort to reach it. (That's code for "steep"!) Early on we had some very light snow falling on us but it didn't last very long before the clouds thinned out and the sun kindly shined on us for a good bit of the climb.

Eventually we made it to GZ and as RDAD says, the cache was easy to find once there. We happily added our monikers to the short list of distinguished cachers that have made the considerable effort to get to this one!

Then after placing the cache back in its hiding spot and calling our loved ones to let them know we'd made it safely, we had a bite to eat while marveling at the fantastic views in every direction. Princeton looms large to the east, Antero, Shav, and Tab to the south, Yale to the north, and many other great peaks of the Sawatch and beyond grace the horizon.

Before descending we made the short walk over to the summit cairn and signed the summit log. Then we continued on down the mountain and back to camp.

Thanks RDAD for placing this fantastic cache, it definitely gets a fave!!!

10/04/2015 By ernie66
Estes01 and I have been chasing the 100 highest caches in Colorado for several years now. She completed all 100 last year and we've been trying to keep up with new caches on the top 100 list as they are published.

Estes01 suggested a hike to Sapphyre this weekend. We both knew the consequences. This would be the last of the caches on my top 100 list and because of a quirk in the rules for the High in Colorado ( GC1ZAZG) list for owners of caches on that list, I would end up above her on the list. This has been her passion for the last several years and I had to be sure it was really what she wanted.

The hike was everything we expected - sun, graupel, wind, more sun, more graupel. She must have blotted out the memory from her previous hike to Sapphyre to have wanted to subject herself to the multiple ups and downs and talus scrambling a second time.

The cache is in great shape. Apart from a finder who signed the logbook in September but who has yet to log the cache Question , this is the first action the cache has seen since 2012.

Great area, and very interesting backstory. Let's see what happens in 20 million years, eh? Who will be here to find the spherical sapphire and what will they make of the inscriptions?

09/18/2015 By COpackrat
I didn't think that I would EVER come up here again and figured that your cache would be on my ignore list - that's because my first trip up here was the direct route from the Cottonwood Lake area and basically had no redeeming qualities except another summit bagged. So I was happy to learn about an alternative route that was much more pleasant and definitely worth the trip. I had a beautiful day for my trip and enjoyed the fall colors on both sides of the ridge. Thanks for the regular sized cache and another look at these great views!

08/31/2012 By WingsAndTales
It may have been the best route but I'm not going to try any of the others just to find out. There are lots of possibilities but none of them look easy. I'm pretty sure I spent more time researching this cache than we did actually doing it. The views were stunning - Princeton, Yale, Antero and so many more that I don't know the names of without getting my maps out yet again. A friend of mine has a T-shirt with a picture of someone standing on a peak and it says "Remote - It's not that thing on your coffee table." I think we found the remote today.

The day just got better when I found out the CO was bagging the FTF on a cache of mine today. How's that for caching symmetry?

TFTC!

08/31/2012 By estes01
We knew this cache was not going to be easy, and it wasn't. You have to earn the 4.5 difficulty rating on a cache whose owner is someone like RDAD. I have to admit that I wanted to turn back a few times, but decided to carry on on out of respect for the cache owner. There's nothing this guy can't accomplish. It also helped that WingsAndTales, my hiking partner, researched the best way to access this cache. I believe that she chose the best route. Thanks for the challenge and the fun, RDAD. I hope you don't put out many more of these :-) As promised, the views were incredible - absolutely inspiring. Thank you.

06/04/2012 By Adrenalin Junkie
Well I was hoping the cache would not be buried in snow and the closer I got the less hopeful I was. Luckily the snow had receded to with in 4 feet of the cache. The cache is in great shape and what a beautiful spot. Our next stop was supposed to be the summit of Princeton but the North West ridge was too much for my partner so we went back into the valley and then up the South West ridge only to get turned around by lightning. Thanks for the adventure.