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Pika Cave Traditional Cache

Hidden : 7/12/2006
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The challange is in the journey with very steep unstable scree, minor rock climbing and tricky route finding, it is not suitable for dogs or small children. Total elevation gain is 357 meters.

In the interests of saftey I am providing some additional information;
-Park at Ing's Mine trailhead and bike or hike approx 4.6km along a gravel road which is closed to private vehicles. Hide your bikes and head up towards the co-ordinates given for WP001. This marks the top of a 4 meter rock climb - you should have a scrambling rope to downclimb this on the way back. This is the only rock climb on the route.

The given co-ordinates should place you at the entrance of a most interesting shallow cave at an elevation of 1834 meters +/- 9m. THE CACHE IS NOT IN THE CAVE BUT OFFSET HORIZONTALLY TO THE RIGHT AS YOU FACE THE CAVE (EAST) ABOUT 15 METERS. Please do not disturb anything within the cave, just enjoy the fabulous views.

The cache is in white pvc pipe and initially contained : /aruba rattle / crinoid fossil / 1 loonie /a piece of petfified dinosaur bone / whistle / first aid patch / Eiffel tower key chain / apple pin /fridge magnet / Oxdrift, Ontario book mark / bath relaxation pkg. /stapler.

I have added two photos taken on Aug 8, 2006 from the top of Prairie Mtn. to assist searchers. That is how I spotted the cave about 25 years ago-although it took considerable time to actually find the cave on the ground (pre GPS). I have also added a hint.

One more item - this is accessible from the top of the ridge - park at the Moose Mountain Summit Trail parking lot (closed in winter) and hike towards the cache co-ordinates on the well access road. But, be warned it is very tricky and somewhat dangerous finding the cave from the top.

RedRouge has correctly identified the creatures that inhabit the cave as Bushy-tailed Wood Rats not Pika's. Another wrong assumption I obviously made several years ago( I had never actually seen one in the cave prior to his photos). However, "Bushy-tailed wood rat cave" is to long a name so everywhere you see Pika read Bushy-tailed Wood Rat.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Oruvaq n ynetr ebpx ba n syng nern nccebk 10-15 z gb lbhe evtug nf lbh fgnaq ng gur onfr bs gur ragenapr enzc naq ybbx hc vagb gur pnir.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)