Be brave, enter the cave! Before getting started, be sure you have packed your flashlight (a headlamp is best) and are wearing clothes you don't mind getting dirty. Avoid the rainy season or you may get very dirty and wet. This virtual cache experience is located at the juncture of several main hiking trails (Tod, Whittaker, and Harrop) on beautiful Mt Doug. There are many different places to park around the base of the mountain and the trails are all well signed even if you do not have a trail map or app with a trail map layer on it. When you arrive at the posted coordinates after a decent hike, look at the bank toward the summit and you'll see (you guessed it) a small entrance to a cave! I've heard it is an abandoned copper mine from long ago. See the gallery for confirmation on what you are looking for.
Now the hard part (if you're claustrophobic). To claim the smiley, you (or someone you are with) will have to go in the cave. In my experience, kids LOVE going in, and adults are often afraid! It requires a belly crawl of about 10ft after which the cave opens up to 'stooping' height and continues on for at least 30ft or so. Please post a picture inside of the cave (no face required) as part of your log entry.
Please don't attempt to go in the cave unless this will be a positive, exciting, risk free experience for you. I will accept a picture of your light shining into the initial tunnel if there are personal or physical reasons you won't go inside.
After braving the cave, be sure to continue on to the great viewpoints at the little or big summit, and enjoy searching for the plethora of other caches on Mt Doug.
*** Congrats to boomer365 and neltra for the FTF! ***
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.