GC5HR3T Cameron's Cone
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Colorado Gypsies @ | Hide Date: 12/13/2014 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 49.867 W104° 57.264 | Last updated: 06/19/2022 | Fav points: 0
       

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A cache on the top of Cameron Cone

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Not for the faint of leg but it's one of my favorite places on the front side of Pikes Peak.

There are several ways to get to the cache that I know of. All of them require steep hiking on or off of unmaintained trails. This cache is not for the casual hiker
The D/T rating is based on the route we took which is possible if you have permission to cross the Cog Railway line at the end of Ruxton Ave in Manitou Springs. We included a waypoint for the very small free parking lot where we parked at the end of the Paul Intemann trail. You need to be early these days to get a spot. There's also a waypoint for the hard-to-spot start of the Gog and Magog trail from the Cog Railway tracks. From there we went up past Magog and Gog and then left the trail at the waypoint provided and bushwacked straight up until we hit the trail running across the north face Cameron Cone (another waypoint). I think this cuts off time and distance and though it's steep, I found it easy to steer clear of underbrush and deadfall. All that remained was continuing west on that trail which leads to a saddle and then heads up to the summit. This steep section (almost all the sections are steep) leads through the trees and over boulders and is marked with old marking tape and orange spray paint dots (not my favorite method of trail marking).
Another route is described in the now-archived original Cameron's Challenge.
An easier route would be possible if you had access to Crystal Park.
I found a great blog post of a route similar to mine but approaching the summit from the SE Here.

Me and mugglepaul made it up to the summit in 2.5 hrs. The Lady Gypsy and I were on track for about a 5.5 hr trip up so make sure you have plenty of time. I'd guess our route was between 7.5 and 8 miles. The total elevation difference from the parking to the summit is about 4200 ft.

If you're feeling like a real Cachochist you can also try our Sheep Series: What Does The Sheep Say? cache which we placed on the same trip as this one

Cameron Cone (originally Cameron's Cone) was named for Robert Alexander Cameron (1828-1894).
From the Gazette: On July 31, 1871, former Union Army Gen. Robert Cameron stood before 30 or so frontiersmen gathered around a log cabin, drove a stake into the ground and announced the founding of a new community: Colorado Springs. The town was conceived by Cameron's boss, Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who paid $10,000 for about 1,000 acres near the confluence of Monument and Fountain creeks and envisioned a resort town, a home for him and his new wife, Queen, as well as a headquarters for his fledgling Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

Congratulations to bzgcfj and Java Chip who finally braved the snow after almost a month to be FTF!

Additional Waypoints

BT5HR3T - Back on the Cameron Cone trail
N 38° 50.144 W 104° 57.038

LT5HR3T - Leave trail and head up the ridge
N 38° 50.439 W 104° 56.975

PK5HR3T - Parking
N 38° 51.389 W 104° 55.629

TH5HR3T - Trailhead to Gog and Magog
N 38° 51.109 W 104° 56.271

06/26/2018 By OR85OR450
You made that ??

You brought THAT up HERE ???!!!

Oh that's a fave.
A week will be M & my nine year anniversary... the Springs having been our honeymoon; we now own a home here too! Lot of great experiences, not the least being caching hikes. This was my first (finally) cone climb. Great time racking up a few caches on a tough loop up from the incline & aqueduct; and down via Gogg/ McGogg ridge.

04/09/2016 By -E T-
Cameron's Cone was transferred from colorado gypsies to user -E T-

05/31/2015 By estes01
I never thought I'd be doing this hike again. The last time I did it was back in October 2010 with Wings and Tales. I believe we took the same route suggested by the owners and it was a heck of a lot easier than the one we chose today….or maybe I'm just not in the same condition as I was then. Ernie66 chose the southeastern route as it would get us closer to a cache that had been on his "must do" list for a very long time. That was a relentless 4,400 feet of elevation gain from our start at the end of Ruxton Avenue. But the views haven't changed -- they're as spectacular as ever. A favorite point for a reason to enjoy those views again and for the highly imaginative and well done container!

05/31/2015 By ernie66
I met up early this morning with estes01 to tackle this hike. But not early enough. We underestimated the volume of traffic in Manitou on a Sunday morning and ended up having to park in the shuttle lot. We got a late start, but things went better after that. We checked on a few existing caches along the way, finding all of them in good shape.

We took the southeast ridge approach and topped out on the ridge between Cameron's Cone and the nearby Crystal Park Overlook cache. The weather was uncertain and threatening, so we went first to Cameron's Cone. Steep trail, but we loved the container! Our total route was just over 10 miles and 4400 feet of elevation gain.

Great cache - a favorite - and thanks for getting us up here again!

01/10/2015 By MountainBear
My first FTF with Java Chip at 12:54 p.m.
We have made this climb up Cameron's Cone before, but not with this much snow on the ground. Our favorite path to the top was hidden by snow, so we were forced to follow the steep "ribbon trail." It was a brutal climb but well worth the reward at the top! Thanks for the fun challenge. Cool container!

This entry was edited by bzgcfj on Monday, 13 April 2015 at 04:01:14 UTC.