It is late winter and the Tortoise is still hibernating. Soon he
will be active and back to guarding his treasure. His main treasure
is a book titled Snakes and Other Reptiles of the Southwest. The
book, along with the usual assortment of trinkets, is well hidden
and will be even more so once the leaves appear on the foliage.
The location is the Alameda Dam. The dam was built during the
depression by the CCC and/or the WPA. We could not find any
information at the dam site as to the date or the builders. If you
should come across some information, please share it with us.
There is a maze of jeep trails leading into the area. A skilled
driver in a four wheel drive vehicle can park within 100 feet of
the cache. To tell the truth, we parked "Big Red", our 4X4, three
hundred yards from the cache and hiked on in.
We would suggest that those folks lacking the right vehicle park
at the north west corner of the flea market parking area and hike
on in on the mile and a half pipe line road that runs South to the
dam. US 70 is under construction and the construction speed limits
are being enforced.
Keep in mind that when the tortoise is active again so will be
most of the other desert denizens. The desert will be full of
things that will sting, scrape, stab, strike, or bite, so please be
careful. We carry hiking poles to fish caches out from the bushes
ourselves. The area east of the dam is also a favorite location to
hunt dove and target practice. Bright clothes might be a good
idea.
Please E-Mail us at geocat@zianet.com if you run into problems
with this and we will relocate the cache. Superbowl Sunday found
the area pretty much deserted except for a dirt bike and a quad
track vehicle.
Norm and Kathy A.K.A. GeoCat and GeoKitty