Moolock Mountain Summit Rock Formation
N 47° 32.844' W 121° 38.520'
The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates. Cachers assume all responsibility when caching and parking. I never intend for anyone to cross onto private property nor do any digging or vegetation damage during a search.
Discovery Pass Required
Moolock Mountain, sitting between Bootalicious Peak (“B”) and Bessemer South (“BS,” a take on the title of the “Whole Lotta BS” cache) first caught my attention when working through Shaddow's 50,000 Feet Elevation Challenge, a definite physical, educational and fun challenge.
The route taken, after swatting mosquitoes at the Oxbow Lake TH, even after having misted a 20 foot radius area with mosquito repellent, was up the Bessemer Road to "Decision Point #1" cache GZ. From there we continued up the Bessemer Road toward the "Whole Lotta BS" cache but took a left at N47° 32.748' W121° 37.050' to get on what I'll describe as and call "The Elevated 'N Big Rock Trail" (N47° 32.726' W121° 37.183'). Why "The Elevated 'N Big Rock Trail"? Hike it and you'll see. If you take this route, which is annotated as “4WD” on some topo maps, you’ll come to a log bench (see Gallery) and an amazing view…well on a clear day you'll have an amazing view. By the way, a few weeks after placing the cache, I came upon an excavator operator working on the Oxbow Lake Trail. It turns out, he (initials “CM”) worked that trail almost 2 decades ago.
We didn’t go much further before Shaddow couldn’t restrain himself. It was time for the real fun. Off trail and up the boulder field to the East Ridge we went. Except to drop down at times to contour on the south slope to avoid obstacles, we ran the ridge to the summit, where, on this clear summer day, we were provided an AMAZING 360 degrees of views. A few trip reports I read when route planning indicated our route was generally not the preferred route.
I strongly recommend tackling this cache with a friend. If you take the route Shaddow and I took, be prepared to hop, crawl, climb, scramble...yep, a typical "hiking with Shaddow" experience. I rated this as a T4.5 due to the severe slopes to climber's right and some of the maneuvers to get around obstacles. For a T4.0 route, continue on the "The Elevated 'N Big Rock Trail" to the end and then up the scree to the summit.
NOTE: Depending on snow depth, the cache may not be accessible.
Our descent was walking the ridge SE to the saddle above Lake Nadeau and the SMC Lake in order to stay above active boulder mining operations. From the saddle, we traveled down the logging roads, moving to the side a few times to avoid the working rock truck.
Oh, the coordinates for GZ; ya, I almost forgot. If you're good at route planning details, "this wireframe view" is more or less all you need. Triangulation would work too.
WELL EARNED COGRATS to fellow ESAR Volunteer jcacher15 for FTF.