STONE JOHNNIE Traditional Cache
Ice and Wind: The cache owner has not responded to issues with this listing, so I must regretfully archive it. If the cache turns up or is replaced in the very near future, email me and I will review it for possible unarchival.
Ice and Wind
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I place very few micros. This cache is large enough to drop most TB's. I've left a engraved First To Find dog-tag in the cache for the the early bird.
What's a Stone Johnnie you ask?
Decades and a century ago, when Basque sheepherders were plying their trade, they would erect Stone Johnnies for several purposes.
They were used to mark trails and grazing areas, along with marking a route from magnetic North. Occasionally, they would use this sheepherders monument to mark the location of their seasonal equipment and use the rock pile as a "CACHE" to save them carrying items that were not needed year-round.
The most interesting and romantic purpose they used a Stone Johnnie for, was as a security device for the sheep. The herders would stack rocks on a canyon rim or bluff in the shape of a sitting human. This stack of rocks would silhouette itself against the sky or horizon, and would be visible from the grazing area in the canyon or valley below. It's said that the sheep would feel more secure while grazing if they could see their Shepherd watching over them. It's also said that coyotes and packs of wolves would be less likely to stalk the flock, if a Stone Johnnie was present.
Over the years and decades, the term has grown to include almost any stone monument including the fence line anchor points that are still found today on rocky ground where digging a fence post hole is impossible.
This large cache will bring you to one of these Stone Johnnie versions. There is safe parking nearby, and the scramble to the cache isn't to tough. While you are at the cache site take a minute and reflect upon the times of yesteryear and please feel free to add a rock or two to this Stone Johnnie.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
A/R obggbz
Treasures
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