Jasper Cave Letterbox Hybrid
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A letterbox hybrid near Jasper Cave.
Most of us locals have heard of the Jasper Fire. It's the big burn area that stretches from Jewel Cave north to Six Mile Road and almost as wide. It's a huge area in a one of the less traveled parts of the hills. Jasper Fire was named for Jasper Cave because it was the closest placename to the origin of the fire.
I wanted to find this cave, having heard it's names so many times. Where was it, was the question? My ancient GPS software didn't have a placename, nor does geocaching.com have it in their database. By chance I found it on Topozone. That is how I managed to track it down, none of the other online or paper maps have it.
There is a funny sort of history about the cave. First off, when you go the Topozone map (click on the link on this page) the cave appears to be inside Jewel Cave National Monument. Uh oh, red flags... wait a minute, that is the not the current boundries. In the early 1960s, an extensive exploration of Jewel Cave was done and it was discovered that a large part of Jewel was outside the boundries of the monument (circa topozone). The NPS cut a land swap deal in 1965 with the Forest Service and today's boundries are the result. But what about Jasper Cave? Seems like the NPS would want that cave in their park too, but didn't keep it. And why does it not appear in modern placename databases? That is the part I find funny.
Does Jasper Cave actually connect to Jewel Cave? I have no idea. Take a cave tour over there and see what kind of answer they will give you. The entrance to Jasper is wide open and there is a strong cool chill coming out. So it must go in the ground at least a little ways. The passage is a tight fit and would require crawling to discover how far it goes. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't really, really know what they are doing. Getting lost and dying of starvation is not a good way to promote geocaching (hey, I had to say it so you can't sue me). Plus it stinks like moldy underwear inside.
To get to the cache and the cave, take FS282 off US-16 and then take FS458. You can also take FS458 from US-16. The road requires a 4WD, the family camper is not going to work on this road. FS458 is also closed to motorized vehicles for the winter between Nov 1 and May 15, so you would have to hike instead of drive the road during this time.
Park on the road when you are close to the cache and the cave is at the bottom of the hill.
Don't forget to bring your personal letterboxing stamp, stamp pad, and log book if you have them! The box does not have an ink pad in it. If you're not familiar with letterboxing, you need to know that the stamp is not a trade item and stays with the cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pnpur vf n zrqvhz fvmrq nzzb pna va cvyr bs fnaqfgbar puhaxf.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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