The Far Northwest

This cache is hidden near the summit of Kleins Hill, a Ranked Peak of Moffat County. A Ranked Peak is one that rises at least 300 feet from the highest saddle that connects it to a higher peak. That is, a Ranked Peak has a “prominence” of 300 or more feet.

There are 4,364 Ranked Peaks identified within Colorado’s boundaries. Kleins Hill (elevation 9,048 feet) has a special distinction amongst these 4,364 peaks: its position is almost at the state’s corner where Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming all meet. It’s truly “The Far Northwest” in Colorado territory, positioned in a remote location 1.5 miles from the Tri-state Monument. The closest Ranked Peaks to the other three “corners” of Colorado are much more distant than Kleins Hill is, to their meeting points with their respective state corners.

We drove in on the rough road last night, arriving at the Tri-state Monument about 11 pm. We slept in our bags on the ground, having unobstructed views of the black night sky. There can’t be another location in Colorado that’s more remote from the illumination of cities than this point–Salt Lake City is 160 miles away; Denver is 390 miles. “Nearby” Vernal, a small municipality, is 50 miles distant, and Rock Springs is 60 miles away. All have mountains between this spot and their light sources. Yes, the sky was jet black last night–no light pollution!! But the brilliance of the stars overhead was dazzling! The star light of early autumn midnight constellations, and the remarkable “shine” of our Milky Way galaxy were as vividly painted across the black skies as any I’ve seen in very remote positions I’ve visited in the world: Barrow, Alaska in January; the highlands of Papua New Guinea; the Australian Outback; Kilimanjaro in Tanzania; high on Aconcagua in Argentina; the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador; Danum Valley in Borneo. All are places so distant from light pollution sources that the stars’ brilliance was indelibly unforgettable–especially if you allow yourself to sleep in these locations with the night sky fully visible as it was where we slept at the Tri-state Monument! So we lay in our sleeping bags amazed by what was directly overhead! We eventually drifted off into a deep sleep, anticipating the fine adventures of tomorrow.

Near dawn we arose and ate a quick breakfast. A hike up Pine Mountain (elevation 9,467 feet), the highpoint of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, was first on the agenda. For several months I’ve owned a cache on Pine mountain, 2.8 miles from Kleins Hill. It still needs to have a FTF by some adventurous cacher.

When we descended from Pine Mountain to our vehicle parked at the Tri-state Monument we discovered that we had time to hike to the top of Kleins Hill and still complete the other planned activities on our day’s itinerary, so off we went, moving up easy, open sage-brush terrain to the top of this Ranked Peak. We crossed BLM property and Brown’s Park State Wildlife Area land and finally back onto BLM holdings near the summit.

The cache is a large, uncamouflaged pill bottle. It’s hidden beneath the solitary rock that’s south of the only tree in the summit vicinity. The rock MIGHT actually be the highest point on this Ranked Peak. The cache should be easy to locate.

Have fun finding the cache. And be certain to spend the previous (or this) night sleeping on the ground near your car in the Far Northwest. If you have clear skies, you’ll never forget the experience.