Quail Creek Reservoir West Overlook Traditional Geocache
Quail Creek Reservoir West Overlook
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A short half-mile or so hike ascending 300-350 feet in altitude along a jeep trail, or else a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle will take you to the cache, and to the nearby historic aviation marker, both overlooking Quail Creek Reservoir.
Located on BLM-administered public land near the summit above the Harrisburg Bench, the Quail Creek Reservoir West Overlook cache offers a vantage point overlooking Quail Creek Reservoir and the surrounding contorted geological topography. From that vantage point, a panoramic vista sweeps in all directions, from the stately Pine Valley Mountain and the eroded sculpted sandstone of the Red Cliffs Recreation Area to the north (check out the large arch in the sandstone cliffs), the cliffs of Zion National Park to the east, the Virgin River, Sand Mountain, and Sand Hollow Reservoir to the south, and the layered hills and distant Beaver Dam Mountains to the west.
To get to the cache from Interstate 15, take exit 16 (State Route 9 to Hurricane, Utah). As soon as SR-9 cuts through a hill and curves eastward, there is a traffic light. Turn left (toward the north) and follow the road into the Gateway Industrial Park. Follow that road until just before the pavement ends. There is a small dirt road that turns southward right below a billboard. This dirt road (a car will be okay if you're careful and it's not muddy) will take you to the base of the hill.
Once at the base of the hill, you can either park (recommended if you're in a car or low-clearance vehicle), or else follow the road up the hill (this will require a high-clearance vehicle, possibly a four-wheel-drive -- the first bit of roadway up the hillside is the roughest).
If you choose to hike up the hill, you'll be hiking a bit over half-a-mile and ascending approximately 300-350 feet in altitude. Remember, this is a desert, so I don't recommend hiking during the heat of the summer. If it's a warm or hot day, go another day, or else go early in the morning or well into the evening after it's cooled off a bit. And always bring water.
The cache container is a wide-mouthed one-gallon clear-plastic jar, so any items you bring to trade will need to be able to fit through the jar opening. The container is hidden in a large nook beneath a large boulder. The nook is closed from view by several smaller rocks stacked and placed in and around the nook. Please be sure you carefully and completely obscure the cache after you find it, since this place appears to be visited often by non-cache hunters.
Nearby Historic Aviation Marker:
Within a few hundred yards of the cache location to the north, is a large concrete arrow, the remains of an aviation beacon from the era around 1930. This arrow points onward to the northeast. The Shinob Kibe Cache is near a similar arrow, and that arrow points directly to this arrow. The Bloomington Overlook Cache also is near such an arrow which points toward the Shinob Kibe arrow (Beacon HO0622 or 37B of the Los Angeles to Salt Lake City airway). I assume that this arrow above Quail Creek Reservoir is also a part of that airway. After looking at a map, I can only speculate as to where the next arrow might be. There is an old dirt landing strip northeast of Leeds, Utah that this arrow may be pointing at. (For more information about concrete aviation arrows in Southwestern Utah, visit http://www.adg.us/article174.html)
The nearby aviation marker can be found at: N. 37° 10.837' W. 113° 24.027'
To count as a cache find, you do not need to visit the nearby concrete arrow, but since you're so close, I would heartily recommend checking out this piece of aviation history first hand.
This cache is a sister-cache to the Quail Creek Reservoir East Overlook cache on the other side of the reservoir. This cache is a bit easier to reach than that one.
Enjoy!
-Astounding
St. George, Utah
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)