Barger – Marat Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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"The sand in the backcountry is the reddest I've ever seen; it practically glows in the red down. There are high, bold hills with real cliffs on them rising six to eight hundred feet above the plains on the westward faces. We did not pass through many towns, but one, Marat, was as picturesque as you could wish. The earth is a reddish clay, and just outside the town is a high jabal that we climbed. We took pictures of the town spread out below us with its red-turreted walls, green gardens scattered over the plain, and the great pool in which they gather rainwater by a system of ditches."Thomas Barger was one of the early pioneers who came to Arabia in 1937 to explore for oil. He retired 32 years later as CEO of Aramco. His letters to his wife during his early years were collected and published in a book titled "Out in the Blue, Letters from Arabia – 1937-1940". The above paragraph is an excerpt from that book and shows a picture of Marat, Barger took in the late 1939. Armed with the picture, we headed to the town of Marat to see if we could find the jabal from which the picture was taken. The mountain range in the background was our reference point. To our pleasant surprise, not only we were able to find the jabal but also recognize many of the features in the picture which are still standing today. The pool mentioned in the manuscript is still visible today as it was 65 years ago (lower left portion). Remains of the watchtower can be seen in the center right portion. In front of the watch tower (adjacent to the pool) is an empty ground that is still empty today. If you look closely, you could even see one of the ditches –encircled- ( no, we didn't hide the cache there but it was tempting and worth looking into). The mountain was referred to as Jabal Marat by Barger and is the famous Jabal Kumait. The view from the top is superb and is a good family fun – If you have the original picture, bring with you & try playing "Find the differences" Now to the cache; the drive is easy requiring no more than 2WD and hence the low rating. The cache is hidden in one of the old buildings appearing in the picture. Because of the slight difficulty in getting a good fix under roofs, you may want to consult the hint below. This cache is a tribute to Barger and the early pioneers of his time.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur byq ohvyqvat vf nqwnprag gb gur cnirq ebnq. Ragre sebz gur qbbe naq gur pnpur vf ba lbhe evtug haqre gur fgnve pnfr. Or pnershy, n ybg bs qhfg npphzhyngvat bire gur lrnef.