Blacktail Mountain Traditional Geocache
MedicOne: No longer the fun hike it once. Aloha.
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Blacktail Mountain is located on the Western Shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille Idaho. Beautiful Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho, with an area of 180 square miles. Its overall length is 65 miles, its greatest width is 15 miles, its greatest depth 1300 feet.
One of a series of four mountaintops offering specatacular views of Lake Pend Oreille (Packsaddle Mtn, Schafer Peak, and Scotchman Peak round out the list). From Highway 95 coming from Sandpoint take the Blacktail Creek Road cutoff to the east (11 miles south of Sandpoint, just south of Cocolalla Lake). If coming from Coeur de Alene take the Butler Creek Spur just past the Wolf People Souvenir Shop. Drive 1.5 miles to Butler Creek Road 230 and turn left. Drive 2.7 miles to the end of the road. Go north on trail #117. The other trail #321 goes DOWN to the lake (Maiden Rock Cache);today you're going UP! First order of business - BRING A CAMERA. If you don't have one borrow one! Blacktail Mountain is not Mount Everest but it's a challenging hike nonetheless; 3.0 miles one way with an elevation gain of 1800 feet. In other words this is a climb!! You'll reach the summit by climbing some man placed stairs; the views from here are absolutely spectacular. There is remaining evidence of a man made structure; I researched fire lookouts and apparently there never was one at this location. Now descend 250 feet along the ridge line proceeding almost due east to the cache. The views from the cache location are even better than the at the summit. Because of the length and difficulty of the hike I made the cache easy to find. Cache is a 30 cal ammo can in dark cammo pattern hidden under a dead tree that looks like a skeleton. Satellite lock-on up here is a leadpipe cinch but just in case I've included cheater pics. Enjoy the spectacular views - I certainly did! I did this hike on a cool, sunny day and drank three 15 oz bottles of water. Plan on using a lot more in the heat of summer; I would also plan on an early morning assault avoiding mid day heat. Cache contains a genuine Skydiver First Finder T-shirt for that lucky first finder. See it here - First Finder Fever
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