You will not find a "cache container," but rather, an earthcache, which is designed to bring you to a special geological feature.
Bring a Thermometer and a Ruler!
The easiest way to this cache is Highway 295 to Whitestone Road.
Parking is best at the Whitestone Springs Trailhead of the Palmetto Trail.
N 34° 52.672
W 081° 48.192
Or, if you are feeling adventurous, you could park at the trailhead for this cache: (GCC7C8) and have a slightly longer hike. (and get a really cool historic Geocache on the way)
OR…if you REALLY want to get those thighs burning, you can enter the lower (Southside) end of the Croft State Natural Area and park for this cache: (GCHAXF) Take the LONG way around, and get two more geocaches on the trails!
Please stay on the well-defined trails, as a request from the land management. Whitestone mineral springs in Spartanburg County drew people from all over for its reported healing properties. It was believed to help cure "disorders of the kidneys, bladder and liver". In the early 1900s a resort hotel was built and a company was developed to bottle and ship the mineral water throughout the country.
Unfortunately, the Hotel was destroyed by fire many, many years ago, (you can see many remnants of past buildings in the area) but the spring still flows!
A simple definition of artesian water is that it is water in the ground that is under pressure.
Here is a short lesson on artesian aquifers. Some water underlies the Earth's surface almost everywhere, beneath hills, mountains, plains, and deserts. It is not always accessible, or fresh enough for use without treatment, and it's sometimes difficult to locate or to measure and describe.
This water may occur close to the land surface, as in a marsh, or it may lay many hundreds of feet below the surface, as in some arid areas of the West. Water at very shallow depths might be just a few hours old; at moderate depth, it may be 100 years old; and at great depth or after having flowed long distances from places of entry, water may be several thousands of years old.
Ground water is stored in, and moves slowly through, moderately to highly permeable rocks called aquifers. The word aquifer comes from the two Latin words, “aqua”, or water, and “ferre”, to bear or carry. Aquifers literally carry water underground. An aquifer may be a layer of gravel or sand, a layer of sandstone or cavernous limestone, a rubbly top or base of lava flows, or even a large body of massive rock, such as fractured granite, that has sizable openings. In terms of storage, at any one instant in time, ground water is the largest single supply of fresh water available for use by humans.
It is difficult to visualize water underground. Some people believe that ground water collects in underground lakes or flows in underground rivers. In fact, ground water is simply the subsurface water that fully saturates pores or cracks in soils and rocks. Ground water is replenished by precipitation and, depending on the local climate and geology, is unevenly distributed in both quantity and quality.
When rain falls or snow melts, some of the water evaporates, some is transpired by plants, some flows overland and collects in streams, and some infiltrates into the pores or cracks of the soil and rocks. The first water that enters the soil replaces water that has been evaporated or used by plants during a preceding dry period. Between the land surface and the aquifer water is a zone that hydrologists call the unsaturated zone. In this unsaturated zone, there usually is at least a little water, mostly in smaller openings of the soil and rock; the larger openings usually contain air instead of water. After a significant rain, the zone may be almost saturated; after a long dry spell, it may be almost dry.
Some water is held in the unsaturated zone by molecular attraction, and it will not flow toward or enter a well. Similar forces hold enough water in a wet towel to make it feel damp after it has stopped dripping.
An artesian aquifer is an area in which ground water is “confined” under pressure that is significantly greater than atmospheric pressure. It has an impermeable layer above and below it. This causes the aquifer to be under pressure.
If a well is drilled from the land surface through the overlying impervious layer into the aquifer, this pressure will cause the water to rise in the well. In areas where the slope of the aquifer is great enough, pressure will drive the water above ground level in a spectacular, permanent fountain. Artesian springs can occur in similar fashion where faults or cracks in the overlying impervious layer allow water to flow upward. Water from an artesian well or spring is usually cold and free of organic contaminants, making it desirable for drinking.
Please note: While it is true that artesian water or even just "plain" well water can sometimes be used directly for drinking water, this statement is environmentally false, because artesian water is not defined as being naturally filtered. However, this site was used in the Early 1900’s as a source for bottled water, and thus a sip from the fountain should be a refreshing stop!
Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge. The largest springs are called "first-magnitude," defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 L/s. The scale for spring flow is as follows:
Magnitude Flow (ft⊃3;/s, gal/min, pint/min) Flow (L/s)
1st Magnitude > 100 ft⊃3;/s 2800 L/s
2nd Magnitude 10 to 100 ft⊃3;/s 280 to 2800 L/s
3rd Magnitude 1 to 10 ft⊃3;/s 28 to 280 L/s
4th Magnitude 100 US gal/min to 1 ft⊃3;/s (448 US gal/min) 6.3 to 28 L/s
5th Magnitude 10 to 100 gal/min 0.63 to 6.3 L/s
6th Magnitude 1 to 10 gal/min 63 to 630 mL/s
7th Magnitude 1 pint to 1 gal/min 8 to 63 mL/s
8th Magnitude Less than 1 pint/min 8 mL/s
0 Magnitude no flow (sites of past/historic flow)
In this case, the Glendale Spring has a vertical pipe tapered down so accurate capture to determine water-flow would be difficult.
For educational purposes, please check and list the height of the stream from the rim of the pipe, and both ambient (air) temperature and water temperature at the spout.
For further verification:
You must post in your log a picture showing any part of the spring in the background
WITH YOUR USERNAME VISIBLE, CLEAR AND READABLE
written on the medium of your choice (paper, hand, phone, t-shirt, etc...)
Pictures taken with only yourself, your GPS or your Logo/Avatar are not accepted nor are photoshopped/edited pictures with your username inserted afterward.
Failure to follow these instructions will lead to your log deleted.
Please post all of these in your log, and enjoy playing in the woods!
Local maps can be found here:
http://www.sctrails.net/trails/MAPS/CroftSNA%20map.html
here:
http://www.sctrails.net/Trails/MAPS/CroftPassage%20map.html
and here:
http://www.palmettoconservation.org/%7Epalmblog/maps/CroftPassageWebMap.pdf