Lime Rock aka Robbers Roost EarthCache
Lime Rock aka Robbers Roost
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(large)
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This Earthcache can be completed from a boat/kayak on Lake Clementine.
From the posted coords, you can see a large outcropping of rocks on the Northern hillside.
These rocks are known as Robbers Roost.
History of Robbers Roost
The Original Outlaw Stronghold was Known as Lime Rock.
Local Indians Used the Rock to Communicate Through Smoke Signals, Until Driven Out by the 49ers.
The Gassaway Gang Would Wait for a Signal that a Gold Laden Stagecoach was Headed Their Way.
On the river’s bank stands an imposing limestone rock formation rising formidably more than 1,000 feet above the river. This celebrated local landmark known first as "Lime Rock," was once the hiding place of an ancient god who descended from heaven to find seclusion and peace in one of its numerous deep caves.
Legend has it that on the top side of the Rock is a deep natural shaft that drops to a large cavern at its bottom. Early Indians in the area used the Rock’s promontory to send smoke signals to other natives living across the river.
After the Indians, were driven out by the flood of 49ers, a band of outlaws known as the Gassaway Gang, once used Lime Rock as a hideout and strategic lookout. A popular legend tells of the mysterious woman who signaled fellow gang members with mirrors on the approach of gold-laden Foresthill stages descending on the Divide side of the river. This female signaler was none other than the gang leader’s sister, Malinda Gassaway.
Operations of the Gassaway gang led to the current familiar identity of the Rock as "Robber’s Roost." Its many cavities provided ideal hiding places for the gang. Stories of booty hidden in its numerous caves have persisted many years, making the "Roost" a treasure buff’s delight.
Geology
Limestone is a sedimentary rock madeup mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite.
Like other sedimentary rocks, limestones are composed of grains; however, most grains in limestone are skeletal pieces of marine organisms such as coral. Some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i.e. travertine.
The solubility of limestone in water leads to karst landscapes. Areas on top of limestone bedrock usually have fewer visible groundwater sources (ponds and streams), as surface water easily drains down through joints in the limestone. While draining, water and organic acid from the soil slowly (over thousands or millions of years) enlarges these cracks, dissolving the calcium carbonate and carrying it away. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.
Limestone usually has different amounts of silica in the form of chert (chalcedony, flint, jasper, etc.) or siliceous skeletal fragment (sponge spicules, diatoms, radiolarians), and varying amounts of clay, silt and sand carried in by rivers. The main source of the calcite in limestone is usually marine organisms. These organisms leave behind shells made of aragonite or calcite after the organisms die. Some of these organisms can build mounds of rock known as reefs, building on top of past generations.
Limestone makes up about 10% of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. Limestones may also form in both lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments.
Calcite can be either dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several things, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite shows an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases.
When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Karst topography and caves develop in carbonate rocks due to their solubility in dilute acidic groundwater. Cooling groundwater or mixing of different groundwaters will also create conditions suitable for cave formation.
Because of impurities, such as clay, sand, organic remains, iron oxide and other materials, many limestones exhibit different colors, especially on weathered surfaces. Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock.
Logging Requirements...
To claim your find, answer the following questions.
1. How tall is Robbers Roost? (approximately) Not the elevation
2. Does the grain of the rock run Vertical or Horizontal?
3. Based on your reading of the cache page, and what you see onsite, Is there Iron Oxide present? How can you tell?
4. (optional) Upload a picture of yourself on the river. (please do not include the rock.)
Found it logs without me recieving an email with the answers will be deleted without notice.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)