GC41QKX Porphyry Peak Northeast
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 11/18/2012 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 17.179 W105° 56.353 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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CONGRATULATIONS TO GreencoreOutfitters FOR FTF!!

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I truly enjoy the beauty of the mountains in the Never Summer Range, including the peaks adjacent to and southwest of this marvelous range.  The trail system providing access to this fine alpine country is nicely aligned and maintained, making approaches to many areas moderately easy.  Nevertheless, certain destinations are remote enough that solitude is almost assured.  The Porphyry Peaks are in this “zone” that lies sufficiently distant from trailheads that little human activity is expected, especially after one leaves the maintained trail to make the final ascents to their summits.

Porphyry Peak Northeast reaches an elevation of 11,335 feet.  It’s higher than its sister, Porphyry Peak Southwest (elevation 11,161), but the northeastern mountain of the pair offers a more gentle hike to its top.  The cache is hidden near to, but not on the actual summit.  It’s a small, camoed altoids tin and is very well concealed.  Find it, sign its log, and then relax on the summit while enjoying the majestic scenery surrounding  this superb position.  If weather permits both time and clarity for viewing, you’ll experience scenes you won’t forget. The views are well worth the necessary exertion.  Having a cache to find and log makes it all the more appealing and satisfying!  Have fun.

08/31/2017 By icezebra11
The archery elk season opened on 8/26 but I hadn't had a chance to get out until today. A few days ago I wasn't sure where I wanted to go so I decided to go to a place that had some attractive caches in the area so when the hunting for elk was slow, the hunting for caches would be hot! So I picked this area near the Bowen Gulch Protection Area.

I left Loveland and headed over Trail Ridge Rd to the Grand Lake area and then headed to the North Supply Loop trailhead. When I arrived in the middle of the afternoon the lot was empty which came as some surprise with it being the holiday weekend coming up. So I changed into my hunting clothes, grabbed my gear and headed up the trail. I'd never been to this area and found it to be really good habitat for elk and moose. It is sad though to see all the dead trees in the area that were ravaged by the beetles.

After finding the Near the Boundary cache I continued up the trail headed for Porphyry Peak. It took some time as I was moving very slowly hoping to see some elk. Suddenly I saw movement on the trail directly in front of me. But it turned out to not be an elk, it was a bull moose at 30 yards! He didn't seem to be bothered by me but I decided it was time to detour off the trail and do some bushwhacking to stay clear of him. And as I was moving away I noticed a cow and calf just a little further off. Fortunately they weren't concerned about me and I eventually made my way past them and reconnected with the trail.

After reaching the clearings Porphyry came into view. It looked like a great high point to do some glassing so I headed up the north ridge to the peak. And of course since there was this cache near the peak, I temporarily suspended my elk hunting for cache hunting.

It took quite a bit of searching to find this rascal. Turns out the container had almost become buried over the years with soil being deposited in its location. The lid was flush with the surface and it had a dusting of dirt on it, making it especially hard to notice. Fortunately I heard a somewhat hollow sound when scratching around for it in the rocks and soon it was in hand. Signed the log as just the second finder in the almost five years this cache has been out. After that I resumed the elk hunt.

Thanks Denali41 for this special lonely cache!!!

09/11/2015 By Denali41
Sorry that the last seeker ended a vacation on a sad note, but a month ago when I was up there the cache was right where it is supposed to be, and I have no reason to believe that it's wandered away since then.

09/10/2015 By J&J Team Yukon
Hiked in from the NE on the Wolverine trail. Made it up to GZ fairly easy. Both our GPSd zeroed on same spot. After looking for nearly an hour and turning over about every rock in the area (some which were staged) to no avail we sat down and had lunch. Left with no smily and a gut feeling that the cache is no longer there. Sad way to end a vacation!!!

08/10/2015 By Denali41
My puppy Orizaba and I came to the Grand Lake area for a day to complete the Across The Divide Geotour and to place a new cache near Monarch Lake. I decided to extend the trip by a day so I could hike a loop to do a maintenance check on my three caches in the area, and to also visit HONEYMOON to check on its status. So we camped at the trailhead and had a fun cache maintenance hike. I found this cache to be in its proper place and in fine condition–it’s awaiting future cache seekers!

07/23/2014 By GreencoreOutfitters
FTF!! How did it take 2 years for someone to find this?

My hike today began at the North Supply trail head. I hiked up the Wolverine trial then bushed wacked my way up Porphyry Peak North East. After finding the cache there (GC41QKX) I continued across the saddle to the South West Peak. Found Cache number 2 for the day (GC32RGB.) From there I followed an avalanche path back to the wolverine trail and made a failed attempt at Honeymoon (GC23NT1.) I finished off by grabbing the cache Near the Boundary—Bowen Gulch Protection Area (GC48ECR) on my way back to the car. This route seemed very easy at first. Summiting the NE Peak was a cake walk. The SW Peak was steep and loose but the distance was not far. The Wolverine trail on the returned had me regain so much elevation that I practically re-climbed the NE Peak.

This was a very well hidden cache. I felt I was looking in the right spot but came up with nothing. I searched the surrounding area before making one last attempt at GZ. I had to move rocks and dig but sure enough it was there. Cords were spot on, my gps read 0 at the location of the cache.