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Why Is This Here? Traditional Cache

Hidden : 4/19/2010
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is a small peanut butter jar located in a good place to stop and take a break while driving on a dirt road from Colorado City to Toweap Overlook.

Besides the logbook and pencil, it is placed with a NASCAR car, a couple of dinosaurs, an Ohio State key chain, a Warn key chain, and a Smokey the Bear compass/thermometer.

Please be careful to leave the cache as well camoflaged as you find it, and have fun figuring out "Why is this here?" (Ask your kids, they probably know.

This is a small cache I placed on my way back from camping at Toroweap Overlook of the Grand Canyon. As I drove across a large valley, at the edge of the valley is a basalt mesa with a huge number of basalt rocks spread around its base. What interested me was the even size of the rocks and the distance that some rocks are from the mesa. You could imagine years ago that a huge eruption from the top of the mesa shot these rocks all over the valley below. As I studied the geology of the area, it is more likely that the basalt columns on the upper part of the sides of the mesa fracture by freezing ice, then slide down the hill to the valley below.

I hope you find this valley interesting, and enjoy the vast openess of the valley here, compared to the area to the south, where eventually you will come to one of my favorite natural wonders.

The Grand Canyon is most impressive from Toroweap, where there are no guardrails, retaining walls, or sidewalks. Here, it is easy to imagine early travellers riding across the beautiful desert and suddenly coming up to a cliff, then finding this is no ordinary gorge ahead of you. The river flows thousands of feet below you in a gorge that is so narrow you have to lean out over the cliff to see it in some spots. This is truly a memorable experience. Keep your pets and kids under control, and be safe.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ab arrq sbe uvagf urer. Whfg tb gb gur pbbeqvangrf naq ybbx!

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)