Around the Clock Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Around the Clock is in tribute to the annual Scott 24 hour mountain biking event that is held a Mt Stromlo every year in October. The cache is located in some of the last of the technical single track trail before arriving at the track called Terminal Velocity. The name of this trail speaks for itself.
The Cache can be accessed by foot from the parking waypoint or for the more adventurous by mounting bike starting from main Stromlo Forrest Park car park. If you decide to grab this cache by foot:
The walk from the Parking waypoint to GZ is about 1.7 km, the majority of which can be done by following fire trails (if you want to bush bash to the cache, you can in about 1km), the last bit as you approach GZ is on a single track path (narrow) and heading towards GZ the bike traffic will be heading towards you. There is plenty of room to safely step off the track if you need to give way to cycle traffic. This is an easy walk and our 3 year old managed it without issue.
While the side of the mountain where the cache is placed is not generally as busy as the rest of the facility, please be cautious as cyclists and horse riders in the area may not be expecting foot traffic.
If you decide to be more adventurist and want to ride to the cache:
To ride from the main Strolmlo Forrest Car Park, you have two established options, the first is you can follow Loop 3 which heads out to the western side of mt stromlo via the northern trails and a steep climb to echidna gap. Once on the other side you have a long descent via slickrock junction to the western edge of the stromlo forest park. Plenty of re-growth makes it like riding through a tunnel at times. A fast return on the flowing singletrack along the northern boundary descends to the finish point at the carpark. To negotiate this trail you will need a good level of fitness with the technical skills to match. The climb is demanding in places and the descent and other areas are peppered with rocks and other obstacles. See map in photos
The second option is to follow Loop 4 which is a full lap of stromlo forest park’s mountain bike trails, riding the Canberra Off Road Cyclists main trunk trail all the way. The climb takes you up towards mt stromlo and the descent to the western side of the mountain is where the trails are much rockier and tree cover is more prevalent. At Slickrock Junction you will need to turn left for the full loop (19km) to get to GZ. Returning along the northern trails through Wombat Junction you will have a flowing descending finish to the carpark. To negotiate this trail you will need a good level of fitness with the technical skills to match. The climb is demanding in places and the descent and other areas are peppered with rocks and other obstacles. See map in photos.
The cache is far enough off the trail for you to safely recover it without getting in the way of other trail users. If you ride to GZ, please make sure you park your bike off the trail when you go to recover the cache.
No matter how you decide to get to GZ, please take care and only attempt things that are within your capability. Please also be considerate to other users of the facility and give way to horse and other bike riders.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)