Special Maps for recovering the Geo Cats!

Here are two new maps. The upper one has north at the top. The "trailhead"
to the white and tabby cats is at the mountaintop to the right (east) with the
11,243' elevtion marking. The location of the cats and the old cabin are
indicated in blue. The 6/10th of a mile of trail below the mountain top is
too rough for cars, however, a regular car can be driven (with care and
before it snows) to the lower contour. All of this terrain is accessible by
snowmobile in the winter, however, it is advanced deep powder snow,
not a groomed trail. If you have difficulty, you may not be found until Spring.
The 3D map directly below shows the walking "path" along the ridgeline
and across the meadows and on up to the panoramic views at the high ridge
beyond where the geocats are set.

Scroll down for a much larger scale map.

Like most pirate maps, this one is hard to decipher. It is a large overview showing
some of the ATV trails. The purple shaded lakes in the right corner are the Sun Valley
Lakes north of Columbine Lake (not shown). The bold orange line in the upper right
is a boundary between Rocky Mountain National Park to the east and Arapaho National
Forest to the left (west). The squiggly part is the Colorado River. The white geo-cat
is at the extreme end of the upper trail. With a regular car, one can take the National
Forest access up County Road 4 (starting at the storage center near Lake Granby)
and get within a twenty or thirty minute walk from either of the cats. One could
also get totally lost, so bring provisions! The road that one can drive a regular
car on is shown in the map below as a dashed double line. There are logging
trucks in the area, ATV's, motorcycles, hunters and wildlife. You may see all
of these or none. You need to keep to your side of the road and be careful.

Below is a photo of the highest parking area along the North Supply Trail.
From here one would backtrack 3/10th of a mile and then go up the
6/10th of a mile to the "trailhead". To reach the geocats in this
adventure, you do not cross the stream.

Altitude 10,250' (plus or minus) Coordinates: North 40º 18.002'
West 105º 55.188'. This is the top of the North Supply Loop Trail.
Scroll down for more maps.

Notice where the double dashed road ends in the middle of the map.
This is as far as a car can go. A rocky road/trail continues all the way
to the trailhead. For the last 6/10th of a mile, every time you meet a
minor side trail, take the right fork as you go up.

From the top of the ridge, it is just a little further walk to Blue Ridge
and the Wolverine Trail to Bowen Lake. The braided trail is rough.

This is looking southward from the top of the ridge all the way back to
Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake.

Click here for details about the white kitty close to the "trailhead"
at 11,200 feet (bottom of the 3D map directly above).

This is all remote country, but once you know it, you can get to it
in just 45 minutes from Grand Lake Village. The main ATV and snowmobile
access to the National Forest is west of the Sun Valley Lake area.
You take the westward leading road just before the National Park Entrance.
The second major access point, and the only one for cars is by starting on County
Road 4 (the first two miles are paved and residential). County Road 4,
five miles south of Grand Lake off Highway 34, is one of our main access roads
to National Forest fun, year round. Across the highway from Dillie Docks,
you will turn west onto Road 4 next to the Highway 34 Storage Units.

After two miles, the pavement ends and you enter the Arapaho National
Forest on a well maintained dirt road. A lot of people use this road,
so go slowly and watch for oncoming traffic and wildlife. One mile up
the road after you have entered the National Forest (about three miles
from Highway 34), there is a major fork with the right leg continuing
northward and the left leg turning west to the large and flat Stillwater
staging area where people unload their ATV's (and snowmobiles in the winter).

For this geocache, you want to take the right fork and be on (National Forest
Road #120). You'll soon have nice views of our Great Lakes through the trees.
The road then follows a fairly level contour past huge and verdant meadows
called Whiskey Park. You are not allowed to drive any vehicles of any kind
into this park, except during the winter on a snowmobile, after the snow is
several feet thick. As you continue northward along the road you'll pass the
South Supply and North Supply ATV roads that descend quickly to the
valley floor and all the way to Grand Lake.

Click here return to the main GeoCache page.

Leave the "Geocache Found" note at its location
along with any comments you wish to add.