RM Off
Road Series (ORS) #4: Deer Creek/Glacier Mountain/Saints John
Creek
This cache is the fourth
of seven in my #4 series of off-road caches located along a great
loop trail that runs about 13 miles up Deer Creek, along an awesome
ridge, over Glacier Mountain and then down Saints John
Creek.
Cache
Information
To get to this cache you
will need to take a short side trip, and climb a steep little hill
which is about 12,600 feet elevation at the top. The hill
climb is a lot of fun and the views from on top are great.
The side trip starts at N39 31.381 W105 52.922 (You will come back
to this waypoint to continue on the loop). The cache is right
next to the trail at the top of the hill, so please cover it up
well when you are done with it.
If you are up for a little extra
adventure, continue down this trail to check out a great viewpoint
with some mining equipment and a little cabin. You will go
down a very steep hill on your way to the viewpoint. You will
have to climb back up this hill to get back to the loop to finish
this series. Waypoints are included below.
RM Off Road Series #3
Complete Cache Listing (North to
South)
1.
First Meadow
2.
Hill Climb Pull Out
3.
Beautiful View
4.
Are we Having Fun Yet?
5.
Hill Climb
6.
Stream Front Property
7.
Cross the Pond
Trail
Information
Rating/Description
The trail starts at Montezuma just above Keystone (Hwy. 6) and
works it's way up Deer Creek eventually climbing above the
tree-line. Once you are up on top, you will follow and awesome
ridgeline with amazing views in all directions (don't forget your
camera). After traveling along the ridgeline, you will climb
up over Glacier Mountain and then traverse some switchbacks into a
beautiful valley where Saints John Creek flows. Saints John
Creek will bring you back to Montezuma where you
started.
This trail is rated moderate and it lives
up to that rating most of the way around the loop. There are
a few sections of this trail that are trending more toward the
difficult range because of the steep hill climbs. Many people
do this trail in their SUV's, but this trail is not suited for low
clearance soccer mom SUV's and you will definitely need (and use)
low range a lot of the time. You should only attempt
this trail if you are an experienced off road driver.
Disclaimer: What ever vehicle you decide to bring on this trip, you
need to decide for yourself if it is safe to make the trip in your
vehicle.
Winter
Months
The trail becomes 4wd impassable in the winter months and is
probably closed. It was actually snowing lightly when I was
up there to place the caches on August 27th.
Time/Distance
The entire loop is approximately 13 miles and you will need to
take short side trips to get two of the caches which adds about 1
mile extra. It should take about 4 hours driving time and you
will also need to include time for finding the caches, exploring,
sight seeing, lunch, etc. I made a few additional side trips
to do some exploring and to get other caches, and I ended up with
about 18 miles on my odometer when I got back to
Montezuma.
Trail
Waypoints
See the waypoint list on the
First Meadow cache for the trail waypoints.
Additional waypoints for this cache are listed
below.
Additional Waypoints
W1Y09D - Side Trip to Hill Climb and Cache Starts Here
N 39° 31.381 W 105° 52.922
W2Y09D - Top of Steep Hill to Viewpoint (Optional)
N 39° 31.216 W 105° 53.812
W3Y09D - Viewpoint (Optional)
N 39° 30.698 W 105° 54.262
RM ORS #04-04: Are we Having Fun Yet?
| Difficulty: 
| Terrain: 
Cabin With Breckenridge in Background at Optional
11 
1 ;){kind=link}