Well-stocked ammo can in the woods at a surprising destination. Approximately 4-6 miles hiking round trip, depending on approach.
This geocache is part of a planned series "South Hills Stormwater", that will take geocachers on an interactive and educational tour of the stormwater management features in southeastern Missoula, hiding beneath our feet. As a hydrogeologist, I have always been fascinated with the ways that humans interact with and modify the water cycle. The fate of Pattee Creek, as it travels down Pattee Canyon, and then mysteriously disappears without a trace near Bancroft Ponds inspired me to dig into Missoula's stormwater system and hide this series of geocaches. For more reading, please see the references at the end of the description.
Upper Pattee Creek Watershed
This geocache will take you on a hike through the upper watershed of Pattee Creek, in Pattee Canyon. The upper watershed has been heavily impacted by logging, cattle grazing, mining, off-roading, home construction, expanding urbanization, and historic wildfires. As you travel to this geocache, keep an eye out for the ways the landscape has been altered, including an active gravel pit/rock quarry at the mouth of the canyon, cranes being used to construct new homes, timber thinning operations to reduce fuels available for wildfires, historic cattle grazing features, and of course recreational use. Each of these activities has the potential to affect the water quality of runoff reaching Pattee Creek. Stormwater protection measures are designed to reduce the negative impact of alterations to the watershed and protect water quality. Additionally, native vegetation and healthy forests can help maintain water quality by increasing slope stability and precipitation infiltration, and slowing water down as it travels from the highest elevations in the watershed (Mt Dean Stone -6,200 ft above sea level) to mouth of Pattee Canyon (3,225 ft asl at SW Higgins), a total elevation loss of almost 3,000 feet!
To continue this geo-series, you can continue downstream to where Pattee Creek exits the Canyon at GCBK2MD.
I will update this text as more geocaches in this series are added.
Happy Hunting!
References and Further Reading
Butterfield, Carver D. (2024). From Creek to Ditch and Back Again: The History and Future of Pattee Creek, Missoula, Montana. University of Montana. Accessed online at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13460&context=etd.
Missoula Montana Stormwater Portal: https://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/2138/Stormwater
Missoula Montana Interactive Stormwater GIS Portal: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=8a179071f15848cf961d3586fc6bf4d5