Please refer to the geocache Guatali Falls to get you to the bottom of Lower Guatali. If you wish to challenge yourself I invite you to find this cache. Proceed downstream from Lower Guatali Falls. You will soon find a short 3-foot waterfall. Continue and the river turns right. It then makes a long gradual turn to the left. Carefully make your way downstream the main river until you arrive at a small pool at this location: 13.42824333,144.69133667. The bank has a small area perfect to have a rest. Proceed further downstream about 100 feet. Look to the left for a suitable spot to climb up and out of the river heading SE. You may be lucky to find a semi-decent path away from the river, but soon you will be in a field of tall sword grass. You will have to hike your way through it proceeding SE. Turn around and make note of landmarks. Certain prominent trees will help you find your way back.
Start turning to the left (East) and look for the peaks of 4 hills. Hike to the third one from the left. It is the only one with exposed red rock at the top. Try to pick up on narrow paths within the grass. While on top of the hill look back toward the falls. You will have a spectacular view of both Upper and lower Guatali Falls in one shot. Now continue on to the cache. As you approach the area look for Gondor’s symbol and it will lead the way.
FTF gets an unregistered trackable Dream Fish Geocoin.
Considerations: Plan for a hike that may take up to 7-9 hours to complete. It took me nearly 8.5 hours, but I was scouting locations and planting caches. You will need to descend about 890 feet from the top of the ridgeline and climb out an additional 250 feet in elevation to the cache. Bring lots of water, electrolytes and food. I brought 3 liters of water and 2 24-ounce bottles of homemade sports drink. Once in the river I knew I wouldn’t have enough water and began using my Lifestraw. I drank my sports drink and about 5.5 liters of water total (2.5 fresh and 3 from the river). I also put river water in the empty bottles if needed. Consider your personal needs for a very long hike that takes you down a mountain, through a river, down two waterfalls, more river and up another hill. And you still have to hike all the way out! If you decide to use river water at part of your hydration strategy I suggest using a combination of at least two of the following: purifying filter, chlorine dioxide tablets, UV purification light. It is an adventure, but please come prepared. This hike is no joke. Only hike if you are feeling good that day. Maybe avoid if there is moderate or severe rain or continuous rain. Personally, I wouldn't want to do this hike without a mapping app on my phone to help me find my way out.
*Congrats to photoseed and blygoat for FTF and making it out there! Thank you for replacing the cache. New cache location coordinates have been updated. For those who are curious, old coordinates were N13 25.560 E144 41.693.