The Oolitic Limestone Cache Traditional Geocache
The Oolitic Limestone Cache
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(regular)
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Located at the intersection of Interstate 64 and State Highway 37 North, near a tall exposure of sedimentary rocks. Park on easement at the NW corner.
DO NOT TRY TO GO UP THE NORTH PART OF THE EXPOSURE. IT IS VERY STEEP. INSTEAD TRY WALKING WESTWARD DOWN THE SOUTHERN FACING PART OF THE EXPOSURE. YOU WILL FIND A SAFER AND EASIER WAY TO THE TOP!! USE YOUR EYES AS WELL AS YOUR GPS. This cache is located near a great cliff of Sedimentary rocks created when the hillside was modified to allow the Interstate to go through. The rocks record an episode when oceans covered southern Indiana and much of the midwestern United States. The rocks include sandstone, siltstone, shale and limestones. Many of the rock layers have fossils of marine organisms in them. Do mother nature a favor- don't collect fossils unless you find them just laying about (which is common). If you attempt to pick at them with hammers to remove them from the rocks, you'll end up ruining the fossils, and you end up spoiling the fossils for the next person. So take pictures instead! Fossils include brachipods (lamp shells), crinoids, blastoids, corals, bryozoans, and much more. One particular limestone has some cool things (not fossils, but still cool) called Oolites in it. They are made by small bits of material swashing around on the ocean floor, and building up layers of calcite around the bits. Kind of like making the base for a snowman in your front yard. You start with a snowball, but end up with layers of snow encasing it that result in the body of the snowman. Some of these oolites have been replaced with quartz, making them siliceous- a pretty rare thing and one that gives intro geology students fits because they assume its ALWAYS calcite and don't test it to make sure. Fossils are found in three distinct layers. Look for them in the shale (crumbly rock) and limetsones, and you'll see them. The view from the top is spectacular, especially during Autumn. The cache is hidden in a regular ammo box, at the NW corner of the intersection. It contains a Jumbo deck of playing cards, glow-in-the-dark dinosaur wall stick-ons, 2 die cast miniature motorcycles, 3 bugs bunny pens, and a pocket flashlight key chain. There is another cache at one of the other exposures (an Earth cache), but mine has been here since 2002 so be sure to get this one first. Don't be dismayed if you think the route to the cache is impossible. It's easier than you think, and the view from the top is well worth the effort.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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