FIRE RESTRICTIONS!!!!
Fire danger in SE NM is High. To view the latest on fire or
entry restrictions, click on
"Fire Information" at: SW Wildfire
Management
This cache is a 4" x 12" PVC Pipe
with screw-off end cap. It is painted camo green. Please see the
Canyon
View Cache page for info on how to get to the area.
Down In Valley.......Gilson Canyon,
actually. Last December, we placed Canyon View Cache on a high
ridge overlooking Gilson Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains of
southern NM. Canyon View is a pretty difficult spot to reach,
requiring a 500' climb up a ridge line or 4 wheel drive (serious
4x4's only). Scenic views in this part of the world are few and far
between. We figured the difficulty might scare off some folks and
this is really a pretty place. So, we decided to put another cache
just off the main road below the cliff that could be done easily.
In fact, we decided to call it Canyon View Jr., The Cache Potato
version.
Well, that didn't happen, at least not yet.
We went up to the area today to do the deed. We had always wanted
to hike back into Gilson Canyon to a grove of larger trees
(probably near a spring) and where the map showed an old grave.
Gilson Canyon turned out to be a very rough, rugged, narrow canyon,
with lots of boulders to climb or skirt and a jungle of cacti and
other things with sharp points. For us Couch Potatoes, this is a
valid 5+ on terrain (probably a 4 for normal hikers and a 2 or 3
for all you canyon runners out there). Elevation climb is only
about 200-300' - it's just rugged.
Once we got to the trees, approximately 3/4
mile up the canyon from the road, we were done. The canyon floor
above was more than we wanted to try. It took us a solid two hours
to cover the .75 miles. True to the couch potato code of ethics
(Section 104 - Overdoing it when forced outdoors), we went about .7
miles further than our good sense should have let us go.
We decided, "the heck with the easy cache".
If we made the treck, by golly, then there was going to be a cache
planted! So, we placed the cache under a bush on the east wall of
the canyon, hopefully high enough to survive any floods (if not,
then you'll have an easier cache when it washes down to the
road!)
The cache is across the canyon from the big
trees (probably Texas Madrone - there are lots of smaller ones in
the canyon). GPS lock was not great - four sats. We would suggest
getting a reading in the canyon floor and then moving in on the
cache.
This is probably snake heaven in warm
weather and there a zillion cuts and rocks for them to hide
under!!!! If the snakes don't get you, the Nolina (beargrass) will.
This is not short sleeve or short pants hiking. We exited the
canyon looking like 4th place finishers in a knife fight
contest.
To give you an idea how rugged this canyon
is, one of the team missed a rock and sprained an ankle just after
placing the cache. The rest of the team, rushing to help, eyed the
.75 miles remaining down the canyon and the not inconsiderable mass
of their fallen comrade, and asked not "Are you OK?", or "Are you
hurt?" but rather "CAN YOU WALK????". Fortunately, for the rest of
the team, the fallen team member was able to hobble all the way
down the canyon, stopping only a couple times for sympathy ( and
receiving precious little of that).
There are no special encrypted hints - if
you get there, you deserve to find it. There is a little space in
the bushes leading to the east from some huge boulders in the
canyon floor. The cache is under one of the bushes on the lower
canyon wall through that space.
There is another possibility to get to the
cache. On the Canyon View Cache page, it mentions a road (or what
passes for one) up the ridge to near the Canyon View Cache. If you
continue on past the suggested parking area and down the road, it
dead-ends on a lower canyon rim just above the grove of trees. The
descent from there to the cache looks steep, but possible (probably
150' down). You might be able to make the descent and then either
climb back to the vehicle, or just go down the canyon (assuming you
left a driver in your 4x4). We have no idea if this will work -
lets us know if you try and survive!
BTW, we promise to hide an easy cache in the
Guadalupes soon. It is too nice a place to only have hard
caches!
Check out the NM Geocachers Discussion Group
at:
NM
Geocachers Group
Good Luck!!!
Team ZiaCache
Ed, Josh, Jake, Keath & Jim