Sula Sgeir is the name of a remote island in the North Atlantic, named for the gannets that nest there. Adak has no gannets, but their cousins the puffins nest on the islets, inaptly named Gannet Rocks, just offshore. The site of this cache is a remnant of the andesite porphyry dome that made up the area around Monument Hill before it was scraped and hollowed by the military into what is now known as Metals Landfill. Decades of history lie beneath the flats, with the sea inexorably working to uncover all the rusted artifacts.
The landfill is now capped, and home to an ever more lush assortment of native vegetation as well as nesting semi-palmated plovers, snow buntings flitting around the crags, and ravens cavorting in the updrafts along the cliffs. The rocky outcrop we call Sula Sgeir overlooking the sea provides a lee no matter what direction the wind is blowing from, and lots of little nooks to explore.
This geocache is located on private land owned by The Aleut Corporation (TAC), and has been placed with TAC's explicit permission. Recreational use of TAC land requires a Land Use Permit, available for a nominal fee; use of TAC lands without a permit is considered trespass. You can obtain your land use permit upon arrival at the Pat Kelly Airport Terminal, the Aleut Real Estate office on Adak (592-2325) or at the City Office. Please respect TAC's gracious opening of their lands to public use by obtaining a permit and adhering to its conditions.