A Sunday Walk
The Sunday Walk series is intended to introduce you to some of Co. Wicklow's lesser hills - not lesser in beauty, history or interest, but certainly lesser in height. Consequently, many walks are only 60-120 mins long, which makes them perfect for A Sunday Walk! While perhaps you may not need your full mountain kit for these walks, proper boots are a must, as well as waterproofs and a map and compass. Chicken sandwiches are optional.
Carrick Mountain 381m
At 381m, Carrick Mountain is classed as a Binnion (a mountain with height less than 400m, but with a prominence of 100m or more). It first caught my attention as I had finished walking all of Wicklow's higher peaks, and this appeared on my list of of 100 nearest peaks to home. The nearest 100 Challenge is wonderful, as it takes in all sorts of places you would not otherwise visit and the binnions are short leg burners!
At 4.2 km roundtrip, the walk itself takes about 35 minutes up and about 20 mins down, encompassing the princely sum of 162m of ascent. And this unassuming hill is lovely to walk on and has some incredibly nice views of Wicklow's central massif and up along the eastern side to the Sugar Loaf.
At the summit you will find a rocky promontary with a trig pillar and, hopefully, with the S1 calculations done, a geocache! Please post your photos of the various views.
From the provided Parking Waypoint, there are a number of routes up. If you start at Gleanealy, there are infinitely more, however, I think the views are better from the west side! The track starts off as a Coillte logging track, but you should try to turn off on to smaller trail at N 52° 58.762' W 6° 10.770 and follow the narrow track up. Take your time as you go and explore the wonderful quartzite and greywacke landscape with its wonderful rocky outcrops. It is a little reminiscent of both Bray Head and especially the top of Howth head - both of which are from the same the same geological era.
There's fun to be had here... do watch out though if you go exploring - there's plenty of opportunity to turn and ankle and also ample opprtunity to simply drop off the edge of the various escarpments if you're not careful. Keep your eyes open!
The Multi-Cache
When you get to the listed coordinates - the summit of the mountain - you will find a trig pillar. Some morons have scratched their names on the top plate. One 6-letter Initial-Name combo is particularly visible - on a wet day it can be hard to read: TLUNDY.
Using A=1, convert the letters in to 6 values, giving 6 digits. Let those digits equal A,B,C,D,E.
The final location is very close by, but at a lower level:
N 52° 59.(F-(C+E)) (B-1)'
W 6° 09.(C-B) (D+E)
The cache is a simple PET tube in a crack in the rock on the side of the summit promontory. Please be very careful where you choose to descend from the trig pillar - the straight route is not the easiest, nor the safest - go around the easy way!
Leave No Trace
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The cache has been placed in accordance with the "Leave No Trace" principles. Please respect these principles when searching for the cache.
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