GC15P4T Traditional Cache Headwaters Hill
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular Regular | Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 3 out of 5
By: Uberquandary & Greengineer @ | Hide Date: 09/02/2007 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 20.856 W106° 15.167 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
Dogs  Scenic view  Not Available during winter  Parking available  Bicycles  No Off-road vehicles  Horses  Medium hike (1km-10km) 
An ammo can placed near the "Triple Divide" of the summit of Headwaters Hill.
Like any point on the continental divide, from the summit of Headwaters Hill, water can either flow to the atlantic ocean or the pacific ocean. But Headwaters Hill has a distinct attribute that sets it apart from the rest of the continental Divide. It also sits on the divide between the Arkansas and Rio Grande Watersheds. It's one of only five points in the continental United States that drains into three river basins that never meet (the Arkansas, the Rio Grande, and the Colorado). In honor of its unique position, we've placed a cache at the summit of the hill. You can refer to the link at the top of the page for more information on the hill itself and its unique position.

Park at Marshall Pass. From there, you can follow the Colorado/Continental Divide trail up to the summit. From the waypoint listed, the high trail is longer and gentler, and the lower trail will get you to the same place but is open to motorized traffic (motorbikes and ATVs) for much of the way up (the trails eventually merge). Bikes are allowed on either trail. The shortest hike up (we took the low trail) is approximately 3.5 miles one way, with an elevation gain of 1000 feet. You can get to within .2 miles of the cache from the trail, and the hill is only mildly steep.


Additional Waypoints
TH15P4T - Colorado Trail
N 38° 23.493 W 106° 14.819
This is the approximate location of the Trailhead for the Colorado Trail from Marshall Pass. To the West there is a road that will meet up with the Colorado Trail well before the summit.
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 Additional Waypoints (1)

CodeNameTypeCommentsDateCoordinatesDistance
TH15P4TColorado Trail Trailhead This is the approximate location of the Trailhead for the Colorado Trail from Marshall Pass. To the West there is a road that will meet up with the Colorado Trail well before the summit. 09/04/2007 N 38° 23.493 W 106° 14.819 4.91 kms N 

 Hints

The cache is below a tree and some bushes standing by itself on the east side of the clearing at the top of the hill.

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Driving Directions

 Logs

11 Logs: Found it 6  Write note 3  Owner Maintenance 1  Update Coordinates 1  

Found it 07/04/2019 By TubaBaboon
Hard to beat location for a geocache! Thank you!!

Found it 07/17/2017 By DoTheNumbers
We made a very valiant try at this one. Our family of four left this morning on ATV’s in sunshine, but it wasn’t long before we were in pouring rain. We are only in the area for a few days and I really wanted this one, so we persisted, not realizing the changes in altitude that were ahead of us. It wasn’t long before the rain turned into snow flurries and even a little bit of hale.

Now you must understand that we are low-landers, from the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Most of our winter days are in the 50’s-60’s. Also, when we left the house today, we were warm in t-shirts, but by the time we made it to the highest point, 12, 548 ft, the wife and kids were shivering in their sweatshirts and raincoats. This was our first time ever to be in a Tundra area and the view was amazing. However, the kids were cold and a thunder storm was blowing in so they wanted to call it quits.

Our decision was made easy when we reached a point in the trail (N38 18.592 W106 13.393) that had “Keep Out” painted on tires in front of a fence. That was three miles from the end if the trail (according to Garmin) and the point that would have left us 0.4 miles and 500 vertical feet from the cache.

So, we called it quits and headed back, finishing a 22 mile ATV trip and barely beating the thunderstorm back to the house. I guess this one will stay unfound a little longer :(.

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Write note 08/11/2014 By vorticity
I will be there in September ... will take an extra container just in case. Vort

Write note 08/03/2012 By greengineer
Made a check up run with the family. Left the wife and kids about a mile from the cache and made a run for the last mile and up the hill. Everything was in great shape, just lonely. Would like to find a way to get more people to get up there, especially since it is less than a half mile from the Colorado Trail/Continental Divide Trail!

Owner Maintenance 08/03/2012 By Uberquandary
The cache is fine and dandy five years later and two kids heavier ;)

Found it 09/14/2010 By RDAD
I enjoyed the trek today to the unique position of Headwaters Hill on a beautiful fall day in the mountains. Once at GZ, I quickly located the cache and signed the logbook, then explored around the area. Cache is in fine shape. TNLN. Thanks for a cache at this location!

Found it 10/03/2009 By niobrara
I don't have GPS, but I knew there was a cache up there, because this webpage comes up in a Google search for "Headwaters Hill". I told my kids to look for it, and it took them less than five minutes - the cache appeared to be in perfect condition, as far as I could tell.

I knew about this mountain because I and some others worked together to propose a name for it, and "Headwaters Hill" became its official toponym in 2001 (more info on my webpage: https://www.usends.com/headwaters-hill.html . Thanks for commemorating the geographical significance of this mountain by placing a cache there!

This entry was edited by niobrara on Thursday, 23 September 2010 at 14:24:18.

Found it!

Write note 06/14/2009 By Uberquandary
We tried to make a maintenance run today and were stopped, well, by our desire not to posthole through two feet of snow with a baby to get there. Should oughta be fine, as soon as the snow melts :)

Found it 07/26/2008 By cactus mtn gang
We have never had a first to find but at least we were the second to find on this one. We had never been that far down that trail and we parked the ATVs at bottom of hill and bushwhacked up. Tough climb from where we started. Our coordinates were off from the original by over 100 feet but our eagle eyed daughter-in-law found it. The view was good but would have been better if the cloud cover wasn't so low and it wasn't raining. We took (a group of 9 and introduced 4 to geocaching. It was their FTF) We took the compass, beads, and hockey puck and we left a knife, a key chain and a "Where's George $ bill. TFTC The Cactus Mtn Gang PS The road from Gunnison is open.

[This entry was edited by cactus mtn gang on Monday, July 28, 2008 at 5:59:37 AM.]

Update Coordinates 07/24/2008 By Uberquandary
N38° 20.856 W106° 15.167
Coordinates Changed From
N 38° 20.868 W 106° 15.148
Distance From Old: 116.1 feet
It would appear the coordinates we had from when we placed it might be about a hundred feet off. We will check to see where the error was made and correct it accordingly. If all else fails, the hint appears to be enough to find it once you are in the area.

Found it 07/20/2008 By Back Country Horsemen
This one turned out to be pretty tough. We were riding the Colorado Trail doing volunteer trail work and had planned some time to look for this cache. We found our way to the top of the hill (very interesting geography by the way), both of our GPS zeroed in at the same place, but we didn't find what we felt would be an obvious hiding spot. So we pulled out the hint, wandered around to several locations higher up on the hill, followed our GPS back to ground zero, read the hint again, widened our search, then threw our GPS's out and went solely by the hint & finally found it. Our GPS showed the actual cache location was about 110-125' away from the original coordinates. But we were the FTF anyway!