About the Bird On! Series:
My primary hobby is birding, so I tend to go around looking for places with tons of birds to find. These caches are intended to celebrate those places, and hopefully get a few more birder / geocachers to either revisit familiar haunts or find new spots to check out.
About the Location:
Longhorn Dam was built in 1960 as the last and lowermost dam on the Colorado River, creating the reservoir that became known first as Town Lake, since renamed Lady Bird Lake after the famous First Lady. Formerly used as a water supply, the lake now serves primarily as a recreational area surrounded by numerous hike and bike trails. Downstream from the dam, the river maintains its natural appearance and flow; therefore, this location has both still-water and flowing water habitats that attract many species of waterfowl, shorebirds, and waders. The reaches of the Colorado River below the dam are one of the only places to find Black-crowned Night-Heron in Travis County; other specialty species here include Ringed Kingfisher.
The trail leading north and east from the parking lot here skirts around the ball fields of the Krieg Softball Complex into the riparian forests of Roy G Guerrero Park; some of the trails and bridges leading there were knocked out by the floods of 2013 and 2015, so hike with care!
An ongoing tally of birds recorded in the vicinity of Longhorn Dam is located here.
About the Cache:
It's a very BAD idea to place a cache on a dam!
Since good geocachers should not be perceived as security risks to the muggle world, I have placed this a safe distance away from the dam itself. The cache is a repurposed pill bottle, with enough room for the smallest tradables and TBs. Watch out for bicyclists, joggers, and fishermuggles as you retrieve and replace this cache! Bring your own pen, please! Make sure to seal the cache carefully to avoid moisture seepage. Note that Austin parks are *closed* between 10PM-5AM and even though this cache is next to Pleasant Valley Road, APD will escort you off the property if you are found here during these hours.
FTF Prize:
Your name on a brand-new log!
And the FTF goes to: Godot, 2 for 2 on my first two Texas hides! おめでとうございます！
STF goes to first-time cacher rylie250: welcome to the game!
This cache has been brought to you by
Clan Miwa
成功は希望を養う。
Cache Visitors (as of 5 Apr 2016)
10
10