Sandia Crest Earthcache EarthCache
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This is one of the more impressive sites in the United States that you can drive up to. This Earthcache is a multi cache as you must go to four different places in order to answer the questions. If you are afraid of heights you may want to avoid this one as part of the trail can be close to the edge! I would not attempt this with a wheelchair.
The Sandia Crest is part of the Cibola National Forest and has lots of opportunities for all kinds of outdoor uses including Earthcaches! There is a $3.00 one day use fee that you can pay at the parking lot on top of the Crest. You are also at 10,678 feet (two miles) above sea level so please make sure to remember that there is less oxygen here.
The first waypoint has one of the most stunning views as one can look all around to see amazing sites up to 100 miles away on a really clear day! The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are to the north of you which is the southern most end of the Rocky Mountains. To the Northwest are the Jemez Mountains, these are the remnants of a giant collapsed volcano known as the Valles Caldera. To the west Mount Taylor is the largest preserved volcano in New Mexico. South of here is the Manzano Mountains that form the faulted eastern edge of the Rio Grande rift (i).
The Rio Grande River that flows through the valley is one of the few rivers that were created by a rift instead of a glacier. The Sandias were created because of this rift too. As you gaze at the Sandias you will be able to see the Great Unconformity which is what geologists call time gaps in the rock layers. When you see the layers of the Unconformity you are actually looking at rock that was formed 1.4 billion years ago and 300 million years ago and nothing in between (ii). To experience this more continue past the final waypoint and hike to Grasshopper and Ant's The Great Sandia Un-Conformist EarthCache GC1YK8V.
The information required to log this earthcache can be found at the listed coordinates. Please e-mail the answers and then log your find. Any logs with no answers e-mailed will be deleted. Also when adding pictures please do not add any other pictures other than where the optional pictures are as you may be giving away the answer to a question. Happy Caching!
Question Area #1
N 35° 12.596 W 106° 26.963
1. What is the English translation of the name of the mountain you are on?
2. Who named the mountain?
3. Why did they choose the name (name the type of stone)?
4. As you look in front of you towards Sandia Peak you see ribbons of rock (you will be walking past the same kind of rocks to waypoint 3). How many are there?
Question Area #2
N 35° 12.602 W 106° 26.979
5. As you are facing West look for Mount Taylor Volcano you can either estimate how far it is from your present location or take a picture with your GPS unit.
Question Area #3
N 35° 12.526 W 106° 26.886
As you are walking to the waypoint please note the rocks that you are passing. This will help you with your next set of questions.
6. What color of the map are you at?
7. Based on that color and hiking to this waypoint, what kind of rock are you on? (Please use the letter code and the full name of the stone)
Question Area #4
N35° 12.417 W106° 26.814
8. How much warmer in Albuquerque than it is here?
9. Fill in the blanks from the passage:
Two large blocks of earth created the Sandia Mountains about ________ years ago. One block was forced _________ along a fault and tilted _________ _______ to make the Sandias.
10. Again optional...post a picture of you facing west between the two pipes on the out side of the fence...please do NOT go on the other side of the fence.
11. Now you have visited the four sites, what do you think the major geological processes were that formed this unique site? Describe what you think may have happened here over time?
Cache with confidence this Earthcache was reviewed and approved by the Sandia Ranger District, Cibola National Forest management.
i. Bauer, Lozinsky, Condie, and Price, Albuquerque: A Guide to Its Geology and Culture. Socorro: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 2003. Print pg. 92
ii. Robert Julyan and Mary Stuever, Field Guide to the Sandia Mountains. Albuquerque: UNM Press, 2005. Print pg. 23
*** Congrats to Cyclegreen with the FTF ***
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Treasures
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