Last of the Wild Colorado Traditional Cache

Visit the last stretch of a Wild Colorado River! 

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The cache is at the entrance to the Pine Beach Picnic Area, a USFS Fee Area. No fee is required to locate this cache.

If you have a Federal Lands Pass (America the Beautiful annual pass, Golden Age Pass, etc), or don't mind paying the access fee, there is a wonderful view of Shadow Mountain Lake, the first of many reservoirs and dams along the Colorado River. At the waypoint, you will find the last few hundred yards of the wild & undammed Colorado River as it flows into the confluence with the lake.

Beginning high up on the Continental Divide, the mighty Colorado River flows more than 1,450 miles from its source within Rocky Mountain National Park towards the Pacific Ocean in the Gulf of California. It starts with a small spring, with hundreds of tributaries adding water along the way, draining rainwater from portions of 7 States, and flowing through the Grand Canyon. As a very important source of life for many, including wildlife, fish and people, it is utilized for drinking water, agriculture, manufacturing, and recreation. To meet the demands of modern civilization, 65 dams control the flow and hold water in reservoirs, and in many places, the water is diverted for these other uses, significantly reducing its volume and flow. By the time the mighty Colorado reaches the Gulf of California, it is again a mere trickle of a river.

Visit "Headwaters of the Colorado" EarthCache GC230D6, at the very source of the Colorado. Two other EarthCaches, "Kawuneeche Valley" GC1W094, and "Colorado River Valley", GC230CY are also found along the Colorado River where it still runs wild.

The container is larger than a 35 mm canister, but only large enough for a pathtag.