This is the long anticipated (by me anyway) capstone cache of
the Canister Cluster.
Many cachers consider Canister Red, Canister Green, and Canister
Gold to be tough caches. OK, maybe just moderately tough. Well
Canister Black is now the toughest of them all. The Canister
Cluster is located in the rugged, but scenic Belmont Mountain
range. Canister Black is on the range high point ... actually, just
off the range high point. Getting here is truly rugged duty.
Now you didn't really think that I'd let you just stroll up here
to claim the find, did you? Once you get to the top, you are going
to have to rappel down a 35 to 40 foot vertical cliff to get
to the cache! Now that's not a monster cliff, but it's big enough
to add that extra dash of spice that this cache needed to earn the
name of Canister Black.
Like the others, this cache is in a kitchen canister - so bring
small items to exchange. The cache is in plain sight on a nice
little ledge, tethered to the rock in case someone gets a little
nervous while they are handling the container. (Let's hope the
critters don't chew on the cord.)
Some technical notes on the rappel: There isn't much of a
ledge to stand on while you are logging-in, so you are going to
have to have some means of locking up your rappel when you reach
the container. Personally, I use a Klemheist autoblock below the
rappel device. For the anchor on top, I used a continuous loop tow
strap (a rather heavy-duty sling) wrapped twice around a hefty rock
outcrop.
This cache won't appeal to everyone, but that's not the point.
Or maybe it is. There are certain cachers who, after reading this
will say to themselves, "This cache has my name written all over
it!" ...
Well, you know who you are.