Top Notch Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Spectacular view through a Santa Rita Mountains landmark. You'll need a 4X4 to get to the start of the trail. From there the hike is classified as "Moderate" by our hiking guide.
Las Tres Chupacabras strike again!
Expect a rewarding view when you discover the location of this cache. You can get higher nearby...but not much.
Here are some road directions to get you close:
This takes a bit of stealthful driving. The Chupacabras were definitely up to the task...but beware, the drive is as taxing as the hike.
At the intersection of U.S. 89 and Sahuarita Road, turn east onto Sahuarita Road. In .7-miles turn right on Santa Rita Road. It becomes 505. Follow it for about 13 miles to a definite split. At the time of this posting, there's a sign for IMERYS. Stay on 505 by veering right. Go about 1.6-miles. We were able to drive our Jeep all the way to N31 51.504, W110 46.236 before we had to park and head off on foot.
As you walk, keep following 505...including staying on 505 and veering right at the intersection of 505 and FR4834.
At about .6-miles head up on a smaller path to the right. In another .1-mile (.7-miles total from the parking spot WE used) you'll be there.
The formation is known as Gunsight Notch. It is much larger than it appears from the road far below. We were amazed. (Chupacabras typically have an excellent sense of scale. But we were wrong on this one).
Look for a medium-sized cache hanging in a tree. See the picture included. It shouldn't be too hard to find once you're nearby.
The whole walk up took this Chup about 1 hour. It's faster going down. Plan to spend some quality time up top.
We could look down on Helvetia Overlook and Huerfano Butte Caches not too far away.
The ghost town of Helvetia makes a good stop on the 4X4 ride back to the main road. It's easy to find at N31 51.817, W110 47.189.
This cache is narrow...so plan items to swap accordingly.
The original cache contents are:
1. The homemade logbook
2. Two pens and one pencil
3. A practice golf ball
4. Four highly-coveted Chupacabra Caps
5. A 5-Peso coin
6. A mini-Long Beach Mounted Police badge
7. A Lizard bookmark
8. A hitch-hiking cache zombie
9. A clicky frog
Thanks to the Skeleton Crew for the crew container. It is, as they say, tubular!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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