The steep hill just before the cache has gotten a little more
slick lately. It's 50 ft of 3 1/2 star terrain. At the bottom, you
can veer right on the faint trail, up through the trees, and then
over on some fairly level rocks. It's a much easier route up and
down, especially with children.
Utah often goes through phases in the winter: lots of snow for a
week or two, then weeks of dry weather and smog. During the dry
times, it remains snowy/muddy in the mountains, but sometimes the
dry or warm weather just drives me crazy wanting to hike. This is
meant to be nice walk/small hike that will often be accessible in
the winter when the snow melts off the west faces of the mountains.
It will also be a fun snowshoe cache on the rare occasions that
Utah Valley gets enough snow in the foothills, but may be a little
difficult to locate in the deep snow. The hint identifies a solid
landmark to help you dig for it. The walk will be less enjoyable in
the inbetween times when the ground is wet and muddy with no
snow.
You could access the cache more directly and steeply, but that
will much less pleasant. This is a
get-out-of-the-house-in-the-winter walk, and is meant to be enjoyed
walking along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from the Rock Canyon
parking lot. You will love the view at night! There are some great
Christmas lights in the area as well as the normal nice view of the
valley at night. You can reach the cache completely on trails. When
presented a choice, take the high road. I've recycled the small
ammo can and lightly used logbook from my other snowshoe cache that
survived an avalanche. (But after 3 1/2 yrs, that hardy ammo box
was stolen and has been replaced.)