Cathedral Mountain Rendezvous Traditional Cache
Cathedral Mountain Rendezvous
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located on the Gloss Mountain's Cathedral Mountain (Relocated 12/31/02). The hike to the cache is not too long (~1/2 mile each way), but it does include a climb. The climb is mostly up newly installed stairs, some not quite the right angle. There are some slippery areas. Children can do this with adult help.
This cache had to be replaced after it disappeared. I don't know whether the wind or other humans got it, but it was gone. The replacement is a bit harder as a result. My wife thinks it's a little too hard. I think it's fine. Either way, we upped the difficulty and terrain. I did take my two children (2 & 5) to within 30 feet.
Here’s a chance to trek around the Wild West, at the very least, western Oklahoma. This cache is located in the Gloss Mountains. The Gloss Mountains, earned their name from the millions of sparkling selenite crystals covering the surface of the bold buttes. These buttes stand in stark contrast to the open prairie of central Oklahoma. Isinglass is also fairly common here. (Isinglass was sometimes used as window glass back in the good old days.) Unfortunately, many fine examples have been carried off over the years. Please leave all that’s left!
Many Indian encampments once took refuge in these mountains, and the area is reputed to be a former hideout for old west outlaws. One outlaw that still inhabits the area is our friend Crotalus atrox, the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Don’t put your hands anywhere you can’t see!
This part of the state was opened to settlement with the Cherokee Strip Land Run. The region known, as the Cherokee outlet, or often called the Cherokee strip, was sixty miles wide and two hundred and twenty miles long, with 9,409 square miles, 6,000,000 fertile acres, was opened to settlers at noon, September 16, 1893. The run, in the northwest section of the state, attacted nearly 100,000 new settlers to the area.
One of the first recorded visits to the area comes from Nathan Boone's Search For Salt. Boone came to the area of Major County in 1843 as part of his search for salt on the great plains. Upon his arrival here it is recorded that The Boone party followed the "Semarone" River, hoping to find more salt. The party decided to leave the salty river beds and track the gypsum cliffs that appeared to lay endlessly along the south side of the Semarone. On July 6th, 1843 they crossed the Semarone at a point later to be known as 21 Crossing. The big Red Fork as he noted was sandy, a mile wide, with no water, scarcely running.
Happy Caching!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ba Pngurqeny Zbhagnva, tb gb gur "fcver" jurer bar fgnaqf nybar. Gura urnq jrfg gbjneqf gur frggvat fha. Gur pnpur vf nobhg 5 fgrcf gbb sne. Lbh'yy gnxr nobhg 20.