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The Lonely Mountain Traditional Cache

Hidden : 10/4/2016
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
4.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Visit a remote and seldom visited peak, and grab a cache.


Our 11000 foot peaks are famous. They're a great challenge.

To bag all of our 10000 foot peaks is more challenging -- there are more of them, and some of them are scarier than the 11k ones (I'm thinking Sundial and Devil's Castle, for example -- only White Baldy and Lone Peak match them among the 11ers for scariness).

Oddly, things get harder as you go down. To bag all the 9000 foot peaks, one must hike the Wildcat Ridge, broadly considered the most difficult hike in the county.

This peak is just over 7400 ft, but I think it will give you an adequte challenge. If you stand at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon and look down the canyon, you are met with the view of a beautiful peak, with an elegant rocky SE ridge. For several years now, I have tried to find a name for this peak, or any reference to hiking it whatsoever, and I've found nothing. A lower elevation, flat-topped mountain to the NE is labelled as "Table Mound" on Google Maps, but even searching for this brings up few details. The view of the peak from the canyon reminded me of the drawing of the Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit, so there it is.

Armed with a plan made with Google Maps, I set out to conquer this mountain. Figuring your own plan is part of the adventure. I went up from Dry Creek and then the ridge west of Van Cott, but the Van Cott ridge would be a good start as well. A good plan starts with getting to Morbid Curiosity (GCJBGJ). Yes, the start is a 4* terrain cache over three miles into the middle of nowhere. I will add that I intended to go up the north ridge, but the west face is not as bad as it looks -- the brush is not very dense there.

My GPS stats at the end were for a hike of over 10 miles, with almost 3900 feet of elevation gain. To reach 7400 feet from the benches. We're talking Pfeifferhorn level numbers here. Maybe you can avoid it, but I went up and down and up and down.

I wasn't really prepared to pull the trigger on a 4.5 terrain rating, but I think this deserves it, for that level of elevation change. Also, the bushwhacking is pretty substantial. I would recommend losing elevation, even when it seems sad, to keep the bushwhacking in check. Patience will reward you with game trails from time to time.

Also, and very serious: you may think that there is an easier way based on looking at a map. It's not for you. Sadly, you should not try to shortcut back from this cache to the road shown on Google Maps. You will at the very least hit the fence at the end of the Red Butte Canyon road, and if you are near the reservoir, you're not supposed to be. You will see the road and be tempted by it, but if you've ever read the signs on the Red Butte Canyon fence, you'll know you're not welcome. Please take this seriously, and consider going back to Morbid Curiosity and out that way. Or try from Pinecrest.

So why would you do this? Some folks just like doing stuff that others don't ever do. As an extra incentive, the solution method to my Twins Final 1 and Twins Final 2 caches is written on the back of the log for this cache. So if you want to trade physical exertion for mental, here's your chance.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre fbzr ebpxf, va n terra pnagrra.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)