Snow Cache Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

tpirtime: I guess it's gone, but I don't want to travel the 2000+ miles to find out, so...bye bye

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Hidden : 1/13/2007
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Bring your own pen/pencil

I was hiking along the mountainway when I encountered snow for the first time of the day. Time for a cache hide! If you like to read, keep reading this irrelevant material and maybe you'll learn something

North America has thirteen floristic provinces. Four of these provinces occur in California. The Vancouverian province consists of mixed evergreens (including western
red cedar-picture # 1), and coniferous forests of madrones (see picture 2), pines (see picture 3), and coast and sierra redwoods (see picture 4). This province receives large amounts of precipitation and is located along the length of the Sierra Nevada mountains and in the northwest portion of California. The Californian floristic province is the smallest floristic province in North America and has a Mediterranean climate. The vegetation in this province consists of coastal sage and scrub(see pictures 5and 16), grassland (see picture 6), and oak woodland (see picture 7). This province receives significantly less precipitation than the Vancouverian province and is located mostly along the south and central coast and the Central Valley. Oak woodlands are areas of grasses with low density oak forests. Oak woodlands cover about 10% of the stae of California and “have higher levels of biodiversity than virtually any other terrestrial

ecosystem in California” (visit link) An interesting feature of oak woodlands and grasslands is the short-lived lake known as a vernal pool (see picture 14). “Vernal pools are shallow ephemeral bodies of water that occupy depressions in woodland and grassland areas[…]The pools are underlain at a shallow depth by an impervious layer that may be a calcareous hardpan, a claypan, or bedrock” (Holland and Keil 450). The pools are usually only a few inches deep and some dry up soon after they form. The vegetation that grows around vernal pools is very specialized, able to survive both the sudden inundation that forms the pool and the extreme dryness
that exists at the pool site the majority of the year. Many of the species that inhabit vernal pool area are endemic to California and there is great species difference from pool to pool, caused by the differences in salinity, alkalinity, and life span of the pool. To a lesser degree, there are vernal pools in chaparral. They can be anywhere from the size of a car to the size of a football field. Typically, these pools are filled by winter rains and remain for seven or more weeks until they disappear in April or May. In the vernal pools in
chaparral area in San Diego, the most prolific plant species is the San Diego mesa mint (Pogogyn abramsii). The most common fauna of these ponds includes the San Diego
fairy shrimp and its predator, the spadefoot toad (www.californiachaparral.com). The Great Basin floristic province is a high elevation semi-desert area. Sagebrush (see picture 8) is the main type of vegetation and this area gets less precipitation than the Californian province. This province is located in east central California and in the northeast portion. The Sonoran floristic province is defined by Joshua tree woodlands (see picture 9 and 10), fan palm oases (see picture 11 and 12), and creosote bush scrub (see picture 13). Giant cacti and desert scrub are also common. These areas get very little precipitation and are located in southeastern California. Joshua tree woodlands can be found at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevadas down towards northeastern Arizona. The soils here are typically a “slightly acidic sandy loam” (www.laspilitas.com). Rainfall ranges from seven to ten inches per year and the elevation ranges from 2,500-5,000 feet. Cacti are uncommon in Joshua tree woodlands, and, unlike the fan palm oases, Joshua tree woodlands are not tolerant of fire. California fan palm is the only palm native to the western United States. Fan palm oases are found in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California. There are two types of these oases- seep and canyon. Seep oases “occur on hillsides, and typically have fine-textured alkaline soils due to constant evaporation of water” (www.rsabg.org). Canyon oases are generally found at the bottom of steep canyons. This location means the oases are subject to flooding and they have less alkaline soils. Older palms are tolerant of fire while the ground-dwelling plants are not. Fire burns
away the undergrowth and allows the fan palm seeds to germinate. Creosote brush scrub is dominated by creosote. It is found at elevations below 3,500 feet. The soil here is “sandy and well-drained” (www.laspilitas.com). Between two and eight inches of rain fall per year, usually coming in the form of summer thunderstorms. The temperature
variations in the creosote brush scrub are extreme. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter temperatures usually dip well below freezing. It is
also very windy in the creosote brush scrub, which dries out the plants even more.

By looking at the biomes map, the precipitation map, and the climate map of California (all three found at the end of this report), one can see that there are obvious relationships between the three. Areas of high precipitation are dominated by coniferous forests, while the areas of the lowest precipitation are mainly areas of desert scrub, grassland, and chaparral. Oak woodlands get an intermediate amount of precipitation. All three maps have areas of obvious overlap. The two areas that get the most precipitation are the northwest section of the state and the Sierra Nevada mountains area. The reason these two areas have a different climate is probably because the majority of precipitation falling in the mountains is snow and the majority of the precipitation falling in the
northwest section is rain. There are noticeable similarities between the biomes map and the map of floristic provinces (see picture 15). The Californian province occupies the areas of chaparral, grassland, and oak woodland biomes. The Great Basin and Sonoran desert provinces are equivalent to the desert scrubland biome. Lastly, the Vancouverian province is the area of the coniferous forests biome. Naturally, elevation and latitude have important effects on climate and precipitation, and all of these factors combine to
give California great diversity in its vegetation.

Bibliography
1. Holland, V.L., and Keil, David J. California Vegetation Dubuque, Iowa Kendall/Hunt Publishing 1995
2. www.californiachaparral.com
3. www.laspilitas.com
4. (visit link)
5. www.rsabg.org

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

cvrqenf bs pbhefr!

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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