Kenilworth Castle Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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According to
this
history of the town, Kenilworth, Utah, got its name "from the
supposed similarity of the three peaks surrounding the coal camp
with the famous 12th Century castle in Kenilworth, Warwickshire in
central England."
This cache is located at the very top of the mountain peak above
Kenilworth. It's a relatively short but very tough hike. When you
enter Kenilworth, drive across the wash that divides the town in
two and park on the north side of town near the water tank. Hike
past the water tank and begin your ascent up the old tram grade.
This part of the hike is strenuous, but not all that difficult. All
along the tram grade are remnants of tracks, ties, pipes, cables,
sandstone cribbing, and other sorts of equipment that's left from
the coal mining activity.
Once you reach the top of the tram grade, there's a wide
sagebrush-covered area with a small cliff above one side. Under the
cliff are two small overhangs, and right between the overhangs you
can hike up the cliff using natural steps in the sandstone. Take a
peek underneath the overhang on the left (west)--inside is buried
the remains of the gravity drum hoist that once helped control the
descent of the tram cars full of coal. Once you reach the top of
the cliff, turn right (east) and work your way through the thick
trees and around boulders, up the steep hillside to the cache. This
part of the hike is the most difficult--it's steep, loose, and with
a lot of obstacles.
The cache is just 65 feet southwest of the highest point of the
mountain, an ammo box hidden between some rock and the base of a
small pinyon pine. I doubt many people make it up here, but just in
case, please re-hide the cache well.
I really wanted to hike to the old mine openings to the west of the
top of the steep tram grade, but the shelf line has mostly fallen
down the mountain and it looks too steep to hike across now. If
you're interested in the old mine works and the history of the
area, there are some great pictures
here from before the area was reclaimed, and
here
is a Deseret News article that has some history and a
picture of the tram when it was in operation.
Here are many more pictures from my hike up the mountain.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs fznyy cvalba cvar