The terrain is steep and broken; you will most likely need to use your hands several times during the climb. Use sunscreen and bring lots of water as the upper part of the trail is over exposed rocks and the grade covers more feet vertically than it does horizontally. Get there early to avoid the muggles and the heat.
When placing "Below the Mountain" last month along the handicap accessible arboretum trail I asked the park ranger if there was a reason why nobody had yet placed one up on the mountain itself, expecting that perhaps the park service didn't want any additional traffic on the summit trails or considered it too hazardous. I was quite surprised when I was told there were no prohibitions against placing a cache on the mountain, other than the standard prohibitions against dangerous locations and preventing spur trails that apply all over the park. His thought on the matter was that it was simply too difficult to hide anything up there that wouldn't be found and looted by the teaming numbers of non-cachers that climb to the summit day after day.
I began plotting immediately!
The result was two caches that are intended to be found in a single trip up, over, and around the mountain. While it is certainly possible to find both Pinnacle East and Pinnacle West by climbing up and then back down the same side, it is actually easier to make the trip as a loop starting up the East Summit Trail, down the West Summit Trail and then returning to your car via the Base Trail where you can also find the Cache Across America - Arkansas cache, one of a fifty state series of caches.
Happy caching!
State Parks permit #061506-02
