Tears of Joy
A
cache
by GeoedYOUcation
Hidden:
9/28/2008
Size:
 (Regular)
Difficulty: 
Terrain: 
(1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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When you find this geocache you will have walked right over an area
covered with Apache Tears. Cache is our usual foot-long cylinder
full of geo-goodies - including a mineral ID kit for the first to
find, and a miner's hat keychain light. if you get this far, you
might as well find the nearby Earthcache, too - GC1GVDH. Practice
CITO!
This area has been prospected for the industrial commodity perlite,
which here also contains “Apache tears”. Perlite is a hydrated
volcanic glass with a pearly luster and concentric “onion-skin”
fractures. The “Apache tears” are unhydrated cores of obsidian
(volcanic glass) at the center of a group of concentric fractures
in the perlite. They represent the point at which the volcanic rock
cooled below the optimum temperature for hydration to occur.
The Apache Tears have weathered out of the perlite rock to blanket
the ground in the area of the perlite prospect. Please replace as
found!
As with most BLM-administered public land, collecting a limited
amount of rock is allowed (generally 15 pounds, or a small bucket
full) for non-commercial personal use. Please respect the land and
leave the area in better shape than you found it. This area has
been trashed in the past by those using it as a garbage dump and
public access may be further restricted if this recurs.
According to one legend, the origin of the term “Apache Tears”
for these small obsidian nodules is as follows.
In July 1870, a band of about 75 Apaches responsible for an earlier
raid was surprised by US Calvary troops on a rugged mountain top
overlooking what is now Superior, Arizona. The outnumbered Apache
warriors who escaped the initial volley of gunfire deliberately
jumped off the steep cliff face of the mountain to their deaths.
The bereaved families and friends of the Apache braves gathered at
the base of the cliffs and mourned for days following the tragedy.
Legend is that their tears turned into stone upon hitting the
ground and the translucent gray to black nodules of obsidian found
nearby are commonly called Apache Tears. The place in Arizona where
this occurred is now known as Apache Leap Mountain.
The metric photo scales in the cache container may be used to
answer at least one of the questions required to log the nearby
EarthCache, “Perlite Prospect”.
The most difficult part of finding this GeoCache may be figuring
out the access to it. It is located on BLM-administered public
lands and access is not restricted – use your geocaching sense and
powers of observation to find a way…………you should be able to get
within 100m or less with high clearance 2WD, closer with 4WD.
Keep your eyes open in the vicinity of the cache for Desert Horned
Lizards (“Horny toads”) that frequent the area. See article on them
at this NDOW web link:
(visit link)
Additional Hints (
Decrypt
)
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)
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Boivbhf ebpxcvyr.
(Decrypted Hints)
Find...
 Cache guardian
Powerful view from the cache site
Source of sorrow
Tears of Joy
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 Navigation
 Attributes
 Inventory
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Logged Visits (
19 total. Visit the Gallery (5 images)
)
Warning.
Spoilers may be included in the descriptions or links.
Cache find counts are based on the last time the page generated.
There are more logs. View them all on one page
Current time: 11/21/2009 8:26:10 PM
Last Updated: 11/18/2009 4:23:02 AM
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum
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