GCA7DB Geocache
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Quest Kids (w/ help from Team kekj) @ | Hide Date: 11/12/2002 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 18.094 W107° 57.327 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0

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Elevation varies from 7950' to 8100'. Cache is located at about 7950'. There is some up and down but not unreasonable. Site is off a nature trail in Forest Service land. (Simms Mesa Trail 115.B)

10-15-17 adopted by Team kekj to keep this historic cache alive and maintained.
This cache is EXTREMELY OLD and one of the oldest in Montrose county - if not THE oldest:
certainly older than anything in Delta County.

Thanks to Quest Guy & Kids for having set this all those years ago!

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Cache has been replaced twice over the years and is now a larger size waterproof match case, almost micro but is very visible hanging from a wire in the same ol' stump that has been the hiding place for this cache for the last 15 yrs. Not sure how much longer the stump will last but should get another couple years out of it. We have changed the cache size to reflect reality. We feel that the find difficulty and terrain are slightly better than shown but in the interests of historicity have left those as is.

The MAIN trail going toward the cache is still there and well marked/maintained but as you get closer, the trail that got you closest to the cache has been abandoned and no longer marked or shown on the map at trail head. We last accessed it just a week ago from the Mountaintop Retreat using their private gate onto the public lands. From there it was .4m and took 20 minutes of walking but the last portion, although not to bad, is bush-wacking. You must ask permission or be a guest of the retreat to use their access gate & trail.

BEST is to go 1/4m into the park to where the horse coral and loading chutes are, that is the MAIN Trail head for Simms Mesa Trail and a much shorter distance to where 115.1B takes off to the cache. (see photos)

You may loose sight of the trail when within 100yds of the cache and be tempted to head straight for it going off trail for the last bit. The "last bit" can be EXTREMELY muddy if you hold to the west (along the water bed) but if you bear to the East side of the small valley you find yourself in, it should be firm walking and you will find the trail again on that side.

You can also start from the trail-head at the entry to the forest lands (at Cattle Guard & IACG #62) taking either outer or inner loop of Simms Mesa Trail 115.1A and go to were the115.1B trail takes off.


Additional Waypoints
S1A7DB - Trailhead Main
N 38° 18.139 W 107° 57.688
Trailhead MAIN
S2A7DB - Simms Mesa 115.1B
N 38° 18.044 W 107° 57.531
Trail intersection waypoint Simms Mesa 115.1B
S3A7DB - Trailhead - Alternate
N 38° 18.338 W 107° 57.786
Trailhead - Alternate

03/16/2019 By OA Vigil Honor
Warning, photo contains spoiler. We arrived at the GZ with about 4 to 5 feet of snow on the ground. We had a bit of bounce. Finally was able to zero it in, and the digging began. As we got a little deeper in, things got solid and the digging came to a stop. We will be back after the spring melt to nab this one. What a great adventure today though.

05/04/2018 By LolosDream
What a beautiful afternoon for a geocache adventure. Thank you so much for the memory. Found with Pathfinder33.

05/04/2018 By Pathfinder33
Out with LolosDream and Aden the Geocaching hound on a Friday afternoon adventure. This is just what we needed. We had a great hike and found a pretty old cache container. TFTC!!

04/28/2018 By BG2015
As Allagash stated, there are trails all the way to the cache and no bushwacking required. I made quick work of this one as the thunder and lightning was coming in fast. Judging from the scorched trees in the area, it is a likely place for a strike repeat. GZ is a bog, even when the rest of the creek is completely dry. Luckily, there are high pieces of grass that you can step on to avoid the mud. GeoDog was not that smart and proceeded to get wet and stinky. This is a short hike in, but it is all downhill, so remember that when making the trek back out. Thanks.

11/11/2017 By kekj
forgot to undo the maintenance flag after checking it out a few weeks back, done - w thanks to allagash.

10/16/2017 By kekj
Geocache was transferred from Questguy to user kekj

10/08/2017 By kekj
found and replaced this cache container couple of years ago with sandwich size tupper placed in base of hide, appears that at times water is above that and it floated away so allagash replaced it yet again! We have been coming up to the nearby mountain top retreat for the last two years for campmeetings and (this time a) women's retreat. The Ms. wanted me along to pull the RV up for her but I was "not allowed" in the meetings. This cache is only .38m from the camps gate into the forest so took off to check it out and peg some bugs. Found the hide in same condition as 2+ yrs ago but with new cache, totally water proof and well above water level. Thanks to allagash for keeping this cache alive!

08/13/2016 By allagash
N38° 18.094 W107° 57.327
Coords took me to a stump in the middle of a sometimes muddy, abandoned, beaver flowage. Did not find a cache there. This cache was established in 2002 and it would be great to keep it going.

I contacted KEKJ, who had rescued the cache last year. He assumes his cache floated away after the spring snowmelt so I replaced it again. It is now a waterproof match case high up in the stump. The original cache and all items in the cache are missing, but at least this historic cache lives on.

There is a series of hiking paths that lead all the way to the cache. No bushwacking required at all. Can do it in shorts and sandals. OK, the sandals may be an exaggeration.

To download a track you can follow right to the cache go to my personal website JeepTheUSA.com.

05/10/2015 By kekj
Took the Ms. to GJT airport yesterday so did some caches for the numbers as had lots a daylight yet in the evening and lots of caches to choose from - Total of 14 found with one FTF and one DNF in 4 hrs.. Decided to go for quality rather than quantity today. Have been wanting to knock off several WAY out in the SW quadrant of Montrose, this was one of them.

OH MY! Terrain is every bit of 3, much worse if you do like I did and try to make a straight line run at it. LOTS of SERIOUS bush-wacking and mud bogging! Part of the problem is that the cache was set many years ago and the trail they talk of no longer exists. We ran accross parts of it as we went in, posts only, no markers on some of them, markers on the others no longer on the map. On the way OUT we did run accross a maintained and well marked trail that gets you in the general vecinity, will post pictures and coords.

We DID FIND the CACHE, no question - although Pieces would be a better description. We knew going in that the cache was in bad shape and debated if we should replace or not as the CO is long out of the game. The OLD old set date argued for keeping it alive so we decided to take a new cache in with us, look over the situation and then make a finial decision. The hide was pretty neat, the way in fairly true to terrain description, coords were DEAD ON, so we set a new cache and log - photos of old and new together shown in Gallery. Set new cache and log, SL visited Bugs

PS. Trail head entrance starts at gate at N38 18.139 W107 57.688. I did not know that on arrival and bushwacked ALL the way to the cache crossing two fence lines in the process. At about midpoint of the distance N38 18.044 W107 57.531 you will come to a modern sign - GO LEFT - north easterly - until you reach N38 18.154 W107 57.418 and are obviously going well past the cache, this gets you past all the deadfalls, brambles and bushwacking, then you hook around back south east and come up on the cache hide from below. Be prepared for mud bogging! but not too bad if you watch your step.
New & Old Cache containers

Go THAT direction at N38 18.044 W107 57.531
Trail Head starts HERE at N38 18.139 W107 57.688

07/23/2014 By Mama Mort
Went with a church group on a hike today. We found the cache but it was torn up and no evidence of log book. We had fun hiking in the rain.

11/26/2012 By aussieheelr
Yay first cache ever! Container was broken by cows, but a beautiful hike!