Spouting Horns EarthCache
Hidden : 6/2/2008
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Phenomenal stuff lurks along this shoreline and behind the seawall

It's essentially known as the State Park, and it's here where spouting horns will wow you with their enormous power and propensity for pounding you. Under the right tidal conditions, fissures in the rocks below the seawall will squeeze the water into one giant squirt, spouting seawater high into the air. Occasionally you'll catch the delightfully surreal sight of spouting horns shooting high enough to soak cars on the highway. Be prepared to get soaked if you're parked near them and venture outside your car.

The horn is a tube, formed by a lava flow, that extends into the sea, with its mouth on the rocky shore. Lava tubes such as the spouting horn's form when a moving stream of lava "roofs" over. This happens because of extreme heat loss to the atmosphere from the top of the flowing lava. An upper cooled "skin" is formed that, under the right circumstances, becomes the roof of an enclosed tube, The lava under the roof is then insulated against major heat loss and so flows between the roof and the floor of the channel, slowly forming a thicker enclosing crust.



Generally, at the end of the eruption, the channel stays full of molten lava, which then slowly cools and solidifies. Much more rarely, the molten interior will drain and leave an open tube such as the spouting horn.

Wave action forces water into the cavity through the partially submerged opening, compressing the air already in the space. The pressurized mixture of air and water is forced out of the opening on top as a jet. As fantastic as this spectical is during winter storms one can only imagine what it used to be long ago before erosion started to make the horns opening larger. With time these Spouting horns will cease to be but not for several thousand years.

To get credit for this cache you will need to do the following.
1. Email me a short description of what is written on the plaque just beyond the sea wall (not the sailors memorial) at the posted cords.
2. Describe the color and appearance of the rock around the plaque.
3. At this location there are two kinds of rock dominant here Basalt and sand stone. Tell where you can see these from the posted coordinates.
4. Tell if the horns were blowing during your visit and if so estimate the height of the spray.
5. Post a picture of you or your GPSr with your favorite view from the whale watching platform just south of the plaque at N44° 48.610 W124° 03.742 (if you forgot your camera or just don't want to do the picture then report to us how many parking spaces there are along the sea wall and tell us what is written on the sailors monumount in you email)

DO NOT CROSS THE SEA WALL AT ANY TIME TO LOG THIS CACHE!

Good luck!.

We enjoy reading everyones logs when they find our cache hides and appreciate when they say more than TNLN or THX.

Have fun and happy caching!



Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Qba'g trg fbnxrq!

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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