Looking for Colorado caching resources

[+TeamIDFC]

Greetings from Washington!

 

TeamIDFC is going to be spending 5 days in Colorado in September taking in some baseball, some fall colors, and some caching. In starting to get ready, I thought I would seek out some resources similar to what we've got here in the Northwest, but I've come up stumped.

 

What I'm looking for (and hope I'm just blind and missing):

 

Colorado DeLorme Challenge (GCWXFK) datasets

For the Washington DeLorme (GCQQ9B) there are data files in GPX, KMZ, and other formats with the page boundries. We like to plot out all the caches and the DeLorme pages in Streets & Trips to be sure and pick up grids, but I can’t seem to find anything other than the tables of point in the cache…

 

GPS Trail Maps for Colorado

Again, I suspect we are spoiled, but there is a fabulous user-created set of GPS trail maps for the Northwest available at http://www.switchbacks.com/nwtrails/ which are fantastic for exploring areas you aren’t familiar with. I was hoping for something similar for Colorado (I know there are also some in the southwest, for example), but haven’t been able to find them.

 

Colorado “Must Do Caches” bookmarks

I know this must be available, but again I haven’t been able to find them.

 

Thanks for any help,

 

Michael (MrIDFC)

[+ngrrfan]

Greetings from Washington!

 

TeamIDFC is going to be spending 5 days in Colorado in September taking in some baseball, some fall colors, and some caching. In starting to get ready, I thought I would seek out some resources similar to what we've got here in the Northwest, but I've come up stumped.

 

What I'm looking for (and hope I'm just blind and missing):

 

Colorado DeLorme Challenge (GCWXFK) datasets

For the Washington DeLorme (GCQQ9B) there are data files in GPX, KMZ, and other formats with the page boundries. We like to plot out all the caches and the DeLorme pages in Streets & Trips to be sure and pick up grids, but I can’t seem to find anything other than the tables of point in the cache…

 

GPS Trail Maps for Colorado

Again, I suspect we are spoiled, but there is a fabulous user-created set of GPS trail maps for the Northwest available at http://www.switchbacks.com/nwtrails/ which are fantastic for exploring areas you aren’t familiar with. I was hoping for something similar for Colorado (I know there are also some in the southwest, for example), but haven’t been able to find them.

 

Colorado “Must Do Caches” bookmarks

I know this must be available, but again I haven’t been able to find them.

 

Thanks for any help,

 

Michael (MrIDFC)

IMHO 5 days isn't going to give you much time for what you want to do.

 

Granted, for the 5th of July my partner and I traveled 600+ miles for 11 DeLorme pages, 6 counties, and 20+ caches, and it only took us 18 hours. Last Thanksgiving we did 300+ miles for a bunch of pages in the southeast portion of the state.

 

So, the first question is.... where are you gong to be other than Denver?

As for trail maps..... I haven't seen any, we just pick an area, find some trails and off we go.

Now "Must Do" caches....

GC18 Tarryall

GC7C8 Deer Creek Canyon

GCA8D The Phantom

GC67 Paul Barclay

 

All of gorillagal's and all of mine. (Shameless plug for my partner and myself.)

Any cache by geo14er.... his can be real challenges.

 

Notice that I've suggested things along the Front Range? There are so many places to go and so much to see that it is hard to tell you what exactly you MUST do. Pick an area of the state, concentrate on it, and have fun.

[+TeamIDFC]

IMHO 5 days isn't going to give you much time for what you want to do.

 

So, the first question is.... where are you gong to be other than Denver?

Oh, it isn't enough for the entire state - that's for sure. But we're likely to cover a bunch of the north/north-west part of the state as we chase fall colors and cool mountains.

 

While we're there we are always up for taking 45 minute side-trips to pick up extra grids. MrsIDFC has an office in Denver she needs to vistit a couple times a year, so we might pick up the DeLorme over the next few years. Thus the hope for DeLorme datasets...

 

We'll be driving up in the RMNP, Arapaho, Steamboat, Vail, etc this trip...

[+ngrrfan]

IMHO 5 days isn't going to give you much time for what you want to do.

 

So, the first question is.... where are you gong to be other than Denver?

Oh, it isn't enough for the entire state - that's for sure. But we're likely to cover a bunch of the north/north-west part of the state as we chase fall colors and cool mountains.

 

While we're there we are always up for taking 45 minute side-trips to pick up extra grids. MrsIDFC has an office in Denver she needs to vistit a couple times a year, so we might pick up the DeLorme over the next few years. Thus the hope for DeLorme datasets...

 

We'll be driving up in the RMNP, Arapaho, Steamboat, Vail, etc this trip...

Let me check later tonight.... I have a Steamboat DeLorme trip someplace.

[+cameltrekor]

Colorado DeLorme Challenge (GCWXFK) datasets

I might still have a file I made up years ago, let me look when I get home tonight.

 

GPS Trail Maps for Colorado

local hikes

 

Colorado “Must Do Caches” bookmarks

most anything above 8k ft.

[Tahosa and Sons]

There are more hikes here, that are North of Denver.

And there is also a list of trails here.

And if you like multis that are hikeable then try some of these caches

[+Team Laxson]

Nice reply, cameltrekor. I'll second his post.

 

For the Delorme Challenge, I have a scan of the map page that I've been working off of (you can see it in my note back in 2008, that I can send you. Doesn't really help identify what caches are on what pages, but it's a good visual tracker.

 

I also have a MapSource file with a bunch of waypoints for each page, too. Very clunky, but if your options are limited.....I'd probably hold out for whatever cameltrekor dusts off.

 

And yes, you are spoiled in Washington.

[+TeamIDFC]

I might still have a file I made up years ago, let me look when I get home tonight.

 

GPS Trail Maps for Colorado

local hikes

That's great, thanks.

 

We just need to find you guys somone like Moun10Bike to stitch all that trail data into a single downloadable mapset...

[+TeamIDFC]

I also have a MapSource file with a bunch of waypoints for each page, too. Very clunky, but if your options are limited.....I'd probably hold out for whatever cameltrekor dusts off.

I snagged the waypoints from the cache listing and created a S&T file with points for the corners, and a text file for GSAK. I'm still perfecting it, but I'll post it when it is golden.

 

And yes, you are spoiled in Washington.

Yes, yes, we are. It is so slick to open the GPS and see trails all over the state. I was even able to contribute to it so I feel a little less guilty about using it...

[+TeamIDFC]

For those interested, here is a screenshot of the Streets & Trips file I've created. I has the DeLorme corners (blue dots), every cache in Colorado, and our proposed route from Denver to the northwest and back.

 

Lots to see and do...

[+Team Laxson]

For those interested, here is a screenshot of the Streets & Trips file I've created. I has the DeLorme corners (blue dots), every cache in Colorado, and our proposed route from Denver to the northwest and back.

 

Lots to see and do...

 

 

Nice work! Looks like a lot of driving around!