FVBEF #20 Joe Dec Water Spring Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Lefty526: Unable to maintain at this time
Thank you
Lefty526

More
Hidden : 11/14/2012
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

Ample parking well off the road, may need to cross ground water to get to cache.

Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival
 
The Annual Bald Eagle Festival celebrates the eagle and salmon relationship, which takes place at several viewing sites throughout the Fraser Valley between Mission and Harrison.  This is a series of caches that were placed in areas meant to bring you to some of these sites.  Each will not only provide some interesting educational activities, but also some spectacular viewing opportunities.  These caches are available year round and are meant to show case this natural area, which we call home.  Bring your hiking footwear, camera, extra batteries, spotting scopes and binoculars, there is something to see and enjoy in all seasons.
 
The Pacific Salmon Spawn; The Return of the Salmon and the Bald Eagle
 
British Columbia is home to five species of salmon.  The Chinook Salmon (King or Spring), is the largest of the five species, with some fish reaching a weight of 50 kilograms.  The declining Coho Salmon (Silver Salmon) is more associated with smaller streams.  Sockeye, spend part of their lives in freshwater lakes, and have become famous for their return to the area.  Pink Salmon have a two-year life cycle that is so consistent that "even-year" and "odd-year" runs are recognized.  Chum Salmon, is widely distributed, and easily seen at some spawning streams.  Also now included in this genus are the Steelhead Trout, and the Coastal Cutthroat Trout.  Both are sea-run fish, but are not as numerous as their cousins.  Their life cycles tell a tale that has always captivated people, and we are witness to parts of the cycle in the rivers and streams of the Harrison and Fraser River area.  Although each of the five species has a slightly different life cycle, the basic story is much the same.  The young salmon spend the first part of their lives in the streams where they hatched, moving to salt water some months later.  They then spend a period of several years growing to adulthood in the food-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean.  When their time comes, they are called back to the streams where they were born.  Their voyage home is nothing less than epic, across thousands of kilometres of ocean.  Guided largely by smell, they return to their natal streams, some along the coast, and some far inland along major river systems.  Their bodies now brightly coloured and distorted as they prepare for spawning, they battle their way past riffles and chutes, until they arrive at a familiar stretch of riverbed.  Here, the males battle for the right to fertilize the females, and the females batter their bodies as they dig redds in the gravel in preparation for egg laying.  When they are spent, their carcasses lie rotting along the riverbanks, providing food for scavenging birds and mammals, and cycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.  In time, the eggs hatch and a new generation of tiny salmon begin the cycle again. The salmon spawning runs also attract other wildlife.  Bears gather at more remote rivers to fatten up for their winter sleep.  Hundreds of Bald Eagles are drawn to streams, shallow riverbeds and estuaries.  Gulls gather by the thousands, too, gorging on the dead fish.
 
The Bald Eagle
 
The Bald Eagle is a familiar symbol of wilderness majesty.  It is not bald in the sense that it's head is bare, it has been claimed that the term bald is a reference to "white-headed".  As you might expect, Bald Eagles eat a lot of fish, and they don't mind if that fish is not fresh.  In fact they prefer the easier lifestyle of feasting on the rotting dead salmon carcasses that have fulfilled their life cycle.  While the hunting methods of bald eagles are a little less than glamorous, these birds are exemplary parents to their young.  They will mate for life, and always return to the same nesting site year after year.  These nests can become huge accumulations of branches, dirt, and the remains of prey.  Most nests produce two young, which are full-grown when they leave the nest.  Bald Eagles require five or six years to acquire their full adult plumage.  Juvenile birds are dark brown, and are often assumed to be Golden Eagles.  As in most birds of prey, females are larger than males, and may reach a weight of over five kilograms, carried by a wingspan of two meters or more.
Bald Eagles may be seen at any time of the year, but they often gather in large numbers when food is plentiful.  In the spring, when the herring spawn, the eagles join thousands of seabirds, and marine mammals, off the coast of Vancouver Island.  In the fall and winter, they move to the salmon streams to feed on the spawned-out fish.  The Chehalis Delta Estuary off of the Harrison River as well as many of the streams, creeks and tributaries has some of the highest concentrations of bald eagles in the area.  From early November through to February, thousands of bald eagles gather along the shores of the creeks and rivers to feast on the eggs and carcasses of spawned-out salmon.
 
The Bald Eagle Festival every November is the start of the viewing season but the feasting may go on in some years, as late as February.  The Christmas – New Years week usually hosts the peak numbers.
 
Please visit www.fraservalleybaldeaglefestival.ca for more information.
 
The Cache
 
Dec Creek is named after Joe Dec, a long time resident that owned this property and lived just down the road from this location.  While in his 60’s Joe built a water fountain for local residents to enjoy a free source of pure spring water.  It was opened in 1954.  Several years later a decorative fountain was built on this spot, the water company that built the fountain was subsequently sold and the fountain fell into disrepair and eventually torn down.  We cannot legally say that this water is fit to drink, we fill up here when we pass by and have had no troubles.
These caches are placed with permission from all the supporting festival participants and locations are available year round.  Most of the caches are fairly easy to find and are not meant to be difficult.  Their intent is rather to educate and take everyone to great viewing locations in the Festival Area.  We hope you will enjoy the area and the sites as much as we did.  Our intent is to invite Geo-cachers out for a great walk in the outdoors and to enjoy and delight in the scenery to the cache location. 

The cache is in a fairly well hidden location and this should keep it out of the elements.  Please re-hide as you found it to conceal its location from non-cachers.  We ask that you do not place food items, candles or anything else that smells in the cache as this could have the tendency to attract unwanted animals to the location.  In fairness to all cachers that visit this site, please trade even or trade up.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

4’ hc, va gur jnyy

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Advertising with Us

Inventory

There are no Trackables in this cache.

View past Trackables

What are Trackable Items?