Pine Canyon Conservation Area
Cache 5 of 8 in the PCCA Tour | Cache is located at the posted coordinates.
The Slag Pile
Look east. Those dark, walled cliffs aren't natural rock — they're slag, the waste left behind after metal was pulled out of the ore. 27.5 acres of it, in walls 40 to 50 feet tall. Up close, slag looks like black glass and crunches like it too.
Look around. What's growing here? The plants are doing the slow work of returning a hard place to a soft one.
Getting there
About 1.5 miles each way from the PARKING waypoint at the trailhead lot. This is the longest walk on the Tour. Open desert, no shade — carry extra water.
What's inside?
A logbook, the cache's letterbox stamp and ink, a pen, and a printed card on how the slag got here, why there's so much of it, and how large the smelter operation actually was.
The lid word. Each cache in this series has a word inside the lid. Collect all eight to unlock a future Mystery bonus.
First time at Pine Canyon?
The Pine Canyon Conservation Area is 3,000 acres of protected open space on the east bench of the Oquirrh Mountains. From 1910 to the mid-1970s, this was the International Smelter — one of Utah's largest industrial sites. The land was cleaned up and replanted. The Wildlife sign at the trailhead names six common animals you might see here, including mule deer, coyote, and elk.
This cache is one of eight in the PCCA Tour. Tour 1: Trailhead is the best place to start — there's an Adventure Lab there too.
The PCCA Tour
Bonuses: Trailhead Bonus (Adventure Lab) · Lid-Word Mystery (coming later this year)
Please tread lightly. Stay off the slag walls themselves — they're loose and steep.