GC5HJHZ Unknown Cache Near the Boundary--Mt. Evans Wilderness Area
Type: Mystery | Size: Small Small | Difficulty: 3 out of 5 | Terrain: 2 out of 5
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 12/07/2014 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 35.833 W105° 42.778 | Last updated: 06/19/2022 | Fav points: 0
Dogs  Takes less than an hour  Scenic view  Not Available during winter  Parking available  Public restrooms nearby  Field Puzzle 

Wilderness -- "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain ... an area protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions." —The Wilderness Act of 1964

 This is the 50th anniversary year of the enactment of The Wilderness Act, an especially noteworthy event!

Special protection for the Mount Evans area began in 1956 with the designation of the approximately 5,880-acre Abyss Lake Scenic Area under the precursor of the Wilderness Act, the "U-Regulations" of 1939. This was followed in 1980 by the creation of the Mount Evans Wilderness under the Colorado Wilderness Act. It now has a total of 74,401 acres. All of this wilderness is located in Arapaho National Forest and Pike National Forest in Colorado, and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. 

 This wilderness is one of the smaller parcels set aside as wilderness in the Rocky Mountains.       Albeit small, the wilderness area receives significant visitation and usage due to the Mt. Evans      Scenic Byway which ascends a non-wilderness corridor into the center of the wilderness area.This byway, two 14,000 foot peaks (14,264-foot Mt. Evans and 14,060-foot Mt. Bierstadt), and the close proximity to Denver have contributed to very heavy use. Despite the high likelihood of encountering other users, the area offers several unique features worthy of a visit including the presence of the two 14ers that attract thousands of hikers and climbers each year. Evidence of past glaciers can be seen in the steep granite cirques and glacial moraines surrounding the high peaks. The Wilderness contains small regions of arctic tundra, rare south of the Arctic Circle. Unlike typical Colorado alpine tundra, which is dry and brittle once the snow recedes, arctic tundra holds numerous small pools of water. Vegetation ranges from lower-elevation spruce-fir and lodgepole forests, through 2,000-year-old Bristlecone pines and Krummholtz near treeline, to delicate alpine vegetation reaching all the way to the highest peaks. Deer and elk inhabit the sub-alpine areas, and bighorn sheep and mountain goats are common above treeline. 

The wilderness contains 17 hiking trails involving 77 miles of trails.  An additional 28 miles of trails that provide access to the wilderness are on adjacent forest service lands.

                                                         

THE PUZZLE

The listed coordinates will take you to an asphalt parking lot near Guanella Pass.  Go to the coordinates and look around.  Find a conspicuous information sign for “Guanella Pass Summit” that’s adjacent to the parking area.  The cache is located 2,968,543 mils at 793.36 mils from the front of this sign.  It is NOT under a rock cairn, and it’s well-hidden.  It is not findable when snow is present in the area.

CONGRATULATIONS TO -E T- FOR THE FTF!!

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Driving Directions

 Logs

5 Logs: Found it 5  

Found it 06/04/2018 By jsarche
Three time's a charm! I made it up here twice in the summer of 2015 and searched for this cache both times, coming up empty-handed (obviously) after hiking Square Top. Today, I decided to take the day off and hike Bierstadt (not my first 14er, but my first time on this one), and maybe that made the difference. I took a few minutes after the hike to search again, and as it seems to happen on former DNFs so many times, I found the cache almost immediately. Everything's in good shape. Thanks!

Found it 08/13/2017 By Killian33
I found this one with T-Dawg, Nickgatt, Barasaur, Youkfish, Pixel Magic, Back Country Horseman, Crumbcrunchers, and Cuervo my hiking wonderdog after hiking Mt. Bierstadt. TFTC SL.

Found it 08/13/2017 By nickgatt
#31470 After our hike to Mt Bierstadt with Killian33, TDawg303, PixelMagic, Youkfish and Barasaur, we found this nearby cache. TFTC

Found it 08/13/2017 By Barasaur
Hiked Mt Bierstadt today. In attendance was Youkfish, Killian33, nickgatt, Pixel Magic, T-Dawg, Krumcrunchers, and Back Country-horseman. This was my first 14er and I had a great time. While waiting for others to make it down I went with Youkfish to grab this one

(8421)

Found it 08/13/2017 By youkfish
Grabbed this one after hiking Mt Bierstadt this morning and waiting for others to finish up their hike. Converted the mils and projected in GE and those "corrected" coords were spot on, so a quick find. Cheers!