On the way to Florence Rae Traditional Geocache
On the way to Florence Rae
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Located in the upper reaches of the Sultan River. Grab your hiking boots and explore a lowland valley rich in mining history. You're looking for a 5x5x6 Lok-N-Lok. Starting el. is 1,500 ft.
This is #8 in my mining/cache series that will take you 5 miles on a long abandoned 4x4 road to the upper reaches of the Sultan River basin. This is not a walk in the park. Come prepared to hike 15 miles R/T with some route finding skills required and river fording ability. Plan on getting wet as you'll need to cross several beaver ponds, the Sultan River and a number of collapsed decrepit bridges. Past several winters worth of floods and storms have not been nice to this area, so take that into account. .
Take US2 east of Sultan and turn north on to the Sultan Basin Rd. Follow directions to my Spada Lake Overlook cache and continue east to the Greider Lakes parking lot. No parking permit required to park, but you will need to register at Olney Pass. Find the short side road to the north. As of Oct 5 this road will be closed permanently and no motorized vehicles will be allowed. Follow this road 1/4 mile downhill across the beaver pond to the river and past the old DNR ranger cabin. From here your adventure will start in earnest. Walk upriver and find the easiest way across. 4x4's have been driving across, so watch for orange ribbons. Low water conditions in summer and fall are the best time. This is a great area to snowshoe in the winter.
Once across the river find the old road and follow your GPS. 4x4 clubs have made this road barely passable and when I placed the cache I was amazed at some of the knarly spots they can negotiate. Sometimes good gravel road will take you by several old dilapidated cabins, huge old growth trees and the upper basin picnic area. One remaining outhouse still remains in decent shape and the garbage cans are still out for your convienence. At 5 miles and 2200 ft el. you'll reach an old mining claim, burned down cabin and cache. The road turns to trail and continues up valley to the Florence Rae mine and several others.
Caution: This is wild, difficult country in spots, so please come prepared and don't get hurt. If you decide to explore any of the dozen or so mines in this valley be aware of the dangers. Good luck and enjoy this awesome area.
Update: 9/30/08 I can't believe it's been 3 years, but I finally made it back in here to check on the cache and save the TB. I see it's been over 2 years since someone has found this cache. I'm updating the difficulty and terrain rating as it's a definite brush bashing good time in spots. The road is still in decent shape in some areas, but the undergrowth is rapidly over taking the road. Lots of blowdown and debris from the past winters storms. I made it 4 miles in about 2 hrs, so it's still doable, but expect to take a beating. I had to turn around at the Vesper rd junction, so it's unknown as to what it looks like farther in. Shame that this area is so under used. There's some incredible old growth and views in here. Take a pruning saw and lopers if you go and keep this road open.
Update: 3/20/09 There was a landslide that closed the road about 3 miles prior to the Greider Lks TH. This area is in limbo of being totally closed down by DNR and the shoreline road may be decommissioned. All but make it impossible to reach this cache without a several day backpack. There is promise of a new trail built to reach the lakes, but I'm not holding my breath. This coming summer may be the last opportunity to enjoy this area.
Update: 5/2/10 The South Shore Rd. is now open and in good condition. Great news is Snohomish PUD has taken ownership and promised to maintain it. Bad news is 2 miles of the road prior to the Grieder Lks trail head is now closed (gated) and will be decommissioned into a trail. This will add another 4 miles r/t to this hike. Parking is now at Rec site #3 where there's a large area to the right. This is the new Grieder/Boulder Lk trail head and overnight parking will be allowed after June 15.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g yrg gur qrivy trg lrnu.