The 19th of a series of caches planned to be hidden at or near the historic rural schoolhouses of Routt County (RCSH - Routt County School Houses). See the first cache of this series (GC6QQ71) for a complete and updated list of the ones currently available - but this list will continue to grow as there were 96 schools which served Routt County neighborhoods from 1883 until 1960 when the rural districts consolidated.
Mesa School was established as early as 1890, although some reports put it as late as 1918, with other conflicting dates scattered in-between! The first Mesa School was built from logs in the fall of 1890. It was most likely closer to Hwy 131 and truly on the "mesa", thus the name! This frame shool was built in 1916. The Mesa school was closed in 1959 -- one of the last "rural" schools to close during the consolodation process. It is now painted red, although it was never red when it was a school. It was used as a residence after it's closing, but now has been designated a historic landmark and has been restored. It is owned by the City of Steamboat Springs and is used for community events.
This one is probably not available in the winter - but then again it would depend on one's determination to find it and the snow levels!