Hike up Osha Spring Trail to find the cache at an old mining
operation in the Sandia Mountains.
The cache is located at about 8,980 feet elevation, just 75 feet
north of the Osha Spring Trail in the Sandia Mountains. If you hike
up Osha Spring Trail, you are in for about an 8 mile round trip,
with an elevation gain of around 2,500'. Refer to
www.sandiahiking.com for more information about this trail (or look
in the newly published "Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide"). This trail
is rugged, rocky, indistinct in places, and it is a steady uphill
climb. Do not leave Osha Spring Trail until your GPS says you are
within 100' of the cache. (There are easier hiking routes to this
cache, but I'll leave it to you to figure them out if you want
to.)
The Landsend mining claim was excavated by a bulldozer, which
opened up several wide pits 6-8 feet deep. I have never figured out
how they got a bulldozer up there; clever folks, those miners. The
mine excavated the mineral barite (barium sulphate), which is used
in paint and as a source of barium in chemicals. The cache is
hidden next to a HUGE and impressive crystal of barite.