Much of the Wellsville Range stradling Box Elder and Cache counties is part of the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness area in the Cache National Forest, and thus generally off limits from cache placements (and motorized travel, open fires, etc., consult your local land use officer). In several places around wilderness boundary, there are little carve-outs or thumbs extending into the wilderness along some canyons. These carve-outs are likely to keep existing land-use rules unchanged for that area when the wilderness area was enacted, in effect grandfathering any non-wilderness-compliant structures, roads, easements, water management facilities, and so forth.
This cache lies in one such carve-out, about 1/4 mile past the nominal boundary line, in Coldwater Canyon on the west side of the Wellsvilles -- not to be confused with the Coldwater Canyon and Lake on the east side of the range, southwest of Mendon (Maple Bench Trailhead), where there is also a trail leading to the ridgeline near Stewart Pass. The trail here seems well used, at least as far as the cache and when I placed it (mid-October) was carpeted beautifully with fallen red and orange maple leaves. I wish I had brought my camera to share some pictures.
The trail continues up Coldwater Canyon, crossing over to Jim May Canyon after another half a mile, climbing southeast towards the Wellsville Cone for about 1.5 miles until turning north to parallel the ridge approaching with a gentler slope. I have not yet hiked the Wellsvilles, so if you use this trail coming to or from the top, please share your experience!
To access the Coldwater Trailhead, use the waypoints I've provided. Access from the 7200 N in Honeyville, using an access road passing through private land to BLM and DWR land (Coldwater WMA, from 01 May to 31 December) -- high clearance vehicle recommened. Past this "crossroads" area, it gets steep and narrow and you may need four-wheel drive. I imagine ATVs are probably permitted in this area, but I advise inquiring locally or again with land management offices. You can hike from the crossroads area, adding about 1/4 mile and 180 ft to your hike. The parking area above offers a great vista of the Bear River Valley. Leave the trail about 140 ft from the cache, paralleling the creek along the south side. Should be a fairly obvious hide, but if not the hint should give it away.
Terrain rating for the short hike is really about 2.5, but I bumped it up a star for the bumpy, rocky road. The cache itself is a decon, recycled (container, logbook, and swag) from an archived cache which the owner left in place, so don't be surprised if you find the logbook half full. The old cache was also located on the outskirts of Honeyville -- bonus points if you can identify old listing!
