GCYH5Z RM ORS #05-07: Sea of Trees
Type: Traditional | Size: Not chosen | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: RocketMan @ | Hide Date: 09/24/2006 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 04.492 W104° 59.610 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 1

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

This cache is the seventh 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
To get to this cache, you must take the side trip to Balanced Rock Road. As mentioned in the trail description below, this road is deeply rutted in places and will require high ground clearance and maybe 4WD. This cache is only a short distance from the trail. As you look to the south, you will see what looks like a sea of trees with Pikes Peak sticking up beyond them.

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).

06/30/2018 By Aspenheart
Camping with family. Found with Cennyl.

06/30/2018 By cennyl
Camping for the weekend and decided to grab some caches.

05/27/2018 By RagsFamily
So much fun. The 5 yr old is becoming a master

09/29/2017 By RPieperCO
Thanks for the fun cache in a great location! Out on an afternoon cache run with CrumCrunchers to get to a few caches that we have had on our lists. The weather may not have been the best and afforded little to no views today but we managed to stay relatively dry and warm. Found this cache in great condition after a brief search. Signed the log and replaced as found. Thanks for placing this cache for us all to enjoy! Love the RM ORS series! Always a blast to explore the mountains and back roads! Thanks RocketMan!

06/28/2017 By YamaGypsy
Nice find while out exploring today. Beautiful area and so peaceful and quiet. Tftc!

03/22/2016 By argzandsoulmate
Awesome cache! Grandkids found it! A little hairy getting out here! TFTC

10/09/2015 By cajrrman
I was out this way on my bicycle toady finding caches and exploring. I made the find here at 1:20 pm. Thanks for this series and for this cache.

I did not see the other cachers who were here today nor did I see a trackable in the cache. I left a 1926 date nail from the Santa Fe railroad.

10/09/2015 By Dean & Chris
4-Wheel Cache & Dash. Easy find. Tftc. We didn't see the TB in here.

04/11/2015 By Tsrothwell
Found while jeeping

01/18/2015 By Deadmoney
I don't think you could have asked for a better January day than today to go for a little drive through the mountains picking up a few caches along the way. :-) TFTC! --Deadmoney