Thumbin' It Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Thumbin’ It is on the southeast ridge of the Thumb, a prominent rock formation near the La Luz trail in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, NM.
Note: Reaching this cache requires route finding skills, steep hiking/scrambling on faint trails and/or talus slopes, and some easy rock scrambling in somewhat exposed areas. Please take these conditions into account.
The Thumb is the huge rock formation that looms to the south as La Luz trail enters upper La Cueva Canyon. Much of the “rockfall” section of La Luz traverses talus/boulder fields eroded from The Thumb.
The long, spectacular northwest ridge of the Thumb is a well-known climbing route. The Thumb’s short southeast ridge is a different story. The base of the SE ridge can be reached from the La Luz trail by a short but steep hike/rock hop on a faint trail and/or talus slopes. From there, some easy scrambling and rock walking on the ridge’s broad, low-angle slopes will take you to a spot where more difficult terrain protects the Thumb’s nearby summit. The cache will be found at this transition area.
A look at the area on the geocaching.com Google/MyTopo map available below will give a good idea of where to leave the La Luz to reach the ridge base. There's also good info in Mike Hill's book on the Sandias.
The cache is pretty well hidden and GPS coordinates may be off due to the steep walls in the area so you might want to check out the hint(s) below.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sebz gur ynfg gerr jnyx n srj srrg gb gur arne iregvpny jnyy. Svaq n yvggyr fueho va gur jnyy naq ybbx whfg nobir vg.