Pikes Peak or Bust

Recently, a fun new geocache series was published. There are 15 caches at various points around Pikes Peak on the Ring The Peak trail. Each cache has a clue representing one digit of the 15 digits of the coordinates of the final cache. I've found all the clues and am planning to head to the final location tomorrow.

The system is 63 miles long and about 80% complete. There is a major missing section on the southwest side between Seven Lakes (Portal 8 on FR 379) and Pancacke Rocks area (Portal 6). Another smaller section is missing on the northeast side between Chipita Park (Portal 2) and the Waldo Canyon trailhead (NW of Portal 1). The highest point is 11,400 ft in Bull Park (near Portal 8) and the lowest point is 6,400 feet at the Barr trailhead in Manitou Springs.

Some of my favorite parts:

• Horsethief Park/Pancacke Rocks -- Portal 6. The trail up to the rocks gains a lot of altitude but once there, it is gently rolling. The rocks in the area are horizontally oriented layers that have eroded to look something like stacks of pancakes. HikerRon has a cache at the end of this trail.
• Pipeline Trail, between 9 and 10. I got onto this segment via the 7 Bridges Trail near Gold Camp Road and walked southwest toward Frostys Park. The trail is nicely flattish and passes through a great canyon that feels really isolated. I hid a cache there a while back called 66 Minutes Out of the Way.

Tomorrow's trip to the final cache should beat out the snow predicted for the day after tomorrow. That may be the last hike above 10,000 feet on Pikes Peak this year.