The Atalaya Mountain Trail, accessible from the parking spaces near the Ponderosa Ridge development and following the signs to Trail 170 is the shorter route. If the parking spaces are all taken, drive back down and park at the St. Johns College trail-access parking lot and take trail 174 which meets up with trail 170 after a couple of miles. ((When you turn towards St Johns, veer left to continue on Camino de Cruz Blanca to get to the Ponderosa Ridge parking spots)
Hikers who make it to the top are afforded great views of the Rio Grande valley and the city below.
Due to trees, the coordinates listed will be about 20 feet east of the cache. You will need to perform a little bushwhacking and bouldering off the west side of the "top" so be careful! We placed a stone pile nearby, but it will be in the shade and not too easy to spot by muggles.
The top of Atalaya Mountain is at 9,121 feet and the distance from the Ponderosa Ridge parking spots to the top is about 2.75 miles.
The Dale Ball Trails info and map.
EDIT May 2012: Cacher friends - the box in the stones at the summit is NOT the cache. That is a summit log that someone has left. If you are finding that box - I think it is plastic with a red top? - you have not found the cache. The cache is a large ammo can and you have to scramble a tiny bit down from the top to locate it. Please do not log a find on this cache if you found the summit log, since they are not the same thing. Happy caching!