Where's That Fracking Cache?? Traditional Cache
Where's That Fracking Cache??
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A camo'd thermos with log and swag near a power station - the likes of which may become very common in this area in the coming years.
Please note: THE FOLLOWING IS A GROSS OVERSIMPLIFICATION:
Millions and millions of years ago, when the Appalachian mountains were as high or higher than the present-day Himalayas, a series of what must have been near-cataclysmic earthquakes dropped what is presently Eastern Moore County, nearly all of Lee County, most of Western Harnett and Eastern Chatham Counties roughly 300 feet in elevation, forming a vast, deep valley now known as the Deep River Triassic Basin. The bottom of this valley was filled with swampy lowlands, teeming with life and with thick vegetation fed by rivers and streams fed by the melting ice caps of the mountains and what was, probably, an AWESOME place to be a dinosaur!
Over the eons, the rivers dried up, the swampy lowlands became deep thick peat bogs, which were covered by fine silt released by the eroding mountains. Eventually, the silt filled in the entire valley and became the layers of fine clay which is so valued for Seagrove's potteries and Sanford's bricks.
The overlying clay compressed the peat bogs into shale rock, formed by organic matter - the remains of the swampy vegetation. As the organic matter continued to decompose, it formed small pockets of methane and other combustible gasses - what we now call 'natural gas'.
Recently, a new technology has been developed that involves drilling deep wells into the shale pockets and releasing water with additives under extremely high pressure into the wells in order to pulverize the shale rock, releasing - and then collecting - the small pockets of natural gas in a process called 'hydraulic fracturing' or "Fracking".
Environmentalists have expressed concern, especially since early attempts at Fracking in Colorado contaminated groundwater supplies, while others have endorsed Fracking as a cleaner, cheaper and safer way to feed a nation hungry for electric power and new jobs.
Should fracking start in any large extent here in North Carolina, it most likely will not be in a remote valley somewhere in the mountains, or in a desolate swamp out near the coast. Lee and Harnett Counties, where the Deep River Triassic Basin once was will probably be ground zero, and large power industrial sites like this one will become a more and more common sight around here.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n ybat yrns cvar, vs lbh pebff gur ebpx-svyyrq phyireg lbh'ir tbar gbb sne.