GCYH5F RM ORS #05-03: WOW!
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: RocketMan @ | Hide Date: 09/24/2006 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 54.968 W104° 57.348 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 2

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RM Off Road Series (ORS) #5: Rampart Range Rd./Balanced Rock Rd./Mt. Herman Rd.

This cache is the third of eleven in my #5 series of off-road caches located along the Rampart Range/Mt. Herman route. This route runs about 36 miles from Garden of the Gods ending in Monument with a 7 mile side trip to Balanced Rock.

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Cache Information
The cache name says it all, and it's WOW in all directions.

RM Off Road Series #5 Complete Cache Listing (South to North)

1. Pikes Big View
2. Nice Point of View
3. WOW!
4. Above the Aspens
5. Pikes Peak-A-Boo
6. Lone Rock
7. Sea of Trees
8. Balanced Rock
9. Granite Overlook
10. Boulder Valley
11. Sentry

Trail Information

Rating/Description
The Rampart Range Road and Mt. Herman Road portions of this route are rated easy and can be done in almost any vehicle with decent ground clearance although an SUV, Truck or other off road vehicle is recommended. There are sections of the trail that have minor erosion and Mt. Herman Road has some rocks. If you decide to take the side trip to get the three caches up Balanced Rock Road, you will need better ground clearance and may want to have 4WD because the road is badly rutted. Disclaimer: You need to decide for yourself if it is safe to make the trip in your vehicle. Also note that rain and snow can change the road conditions considerably making it unsuitable for less equipped vehicles.

The trail starts just inside Garden of the Gods off of route 24 from Colorado Springs. From there, you will stay on the wide easy Rampart Range Road until you cross Mt. Herman Road. From there, you can either take Mt. Herman Road down to Monument, or keep going and turn on Balanced Rock Road. If you do the Balanced Rock Road portion, you will backtrack to Mt. Herman Road and take it down to Monument.

Winter Months
This trail should be open in the winter, weather and snow conditions permitting. I made this run around Christmas time last year and with the exception of a few icy sections, it was no problem.

Time/Distance
The Rampart Range and Mt. Herman portions of the trail are approximately 36 miles and should take about 3 to 5 hours driving time. The round trip to Balanced Rock from the Rampart Range/Mt. Herman intersection is 7 miles and should take about 1 hour. You will also need to include time for finding the caches, exploring, sight seeing, lunch, etc.

Trail Waypoints
See waypoint list on the Pikes Big View cache (the first in this series).

08/05/2018 By scooterpower
Be careful finding this one but wow the view is amazing.

06/01/2018 By piccrazy30
WOW is right, what an amazing view. Also WOW as in how windy it was while searching. TFTC

04/02/2018 By WinterWWolf
Nice and beautiful location. The views where Awesome.

TFTH TNLN
GCYH5F

04/02/2018 By Daedalus23
TFTC! Left quarter.

11/27/2017 By Nicholas.Armbruster
Great day for caching! Tftc

11/26/2017 By Mack Gulliver
This one was not easy...

11/23/2017 By STÜBBIFIED
Out on the bike this nice day grabbed some hides along the way

11/22/2017 By Back Country Horsemen
Before getting started on the pepper series we decided to make the stop & quick walk to this one. Explained to Paymecache who RocketMan is & all the Off Road Series caches he has hidden all around the state & how much fun they are even if I have had to hike to many of them.

11/21/2017 By PayMeCache
Catching up on my ridiculous amount of logs that have accumulated for months on end.

Found with Back Country Horsemen. This was a wonderful day for a nice hike and a lot of these caches presented a good challenge so for that I thank you.

I signed a challenge earlier this year that required a large amount of caches to be found and I’m finally at the home stretch. Making a hard push at the end of the month here since weather is in my favor and trying to get this thing wrapped up before years end.

All is well here with the cache and log.

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, Rookies2001 for placing a fun geocache to fuel my "insanity" or addiction as I call it. I appreciate you bringing me here so that I can try and 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!

11/15/2017 By Lady Bug Lady
Wow is right. Yikes. Tftc