Jefferson County receives about 300 days of sunshine and less than 12 inches of rain per year. It is no wonder that the first inhabitants of the area found water very scarce and thus extremely valuable. The lost Meek Wagon Train came through this area, in desperate need of water after an ill-fated trek through the high desert.. You can read more about the Meek Wagon Train here. Unfortunately, or fortunately... for early settlers (late 1800's) the rainfall was good. The high desert was lush with green waist-high grass and people rushed to stake claims on all this "free" land. Juniper trees were rare! Within a few years...for whatever reasons Mother Nature has, the rainfall amounts went down to levels we now have today and many people were -starved- off their homesteads and went elsewhere. Early travelers had to pay as high as twenty five cents a bucket to water their horses at various stopping places. This cache hunt will take you on a mini-tour of some important watering holes that make for a bit of interesting history and conjecture. Enjoy the drive and the views of a truly quaint small town and a country drive through some beautiful canyons and hills.
To find this cache you will need to go to the posted coordinates and find a water feature in a park. At said park is a sign with the name of the park and the year of dedication. To find the coordinates for the final cache location, write down the following information from that sign.
The last two digits of the year the park was dedicated = aa = _______
The total number of letters on the sign (not numbers!) = bb = _______
Do the following basic math to get the final numbers and fill in these coordinates...
Cache Coordinates
N44* ww. xxx = N44*___._______
W121* yy. zzz = W121*___._______
bb + 16 = ww = ________
(10 X aa) + 19 = xxx = _________
bb - 26 = yy = ________
(2 X aa) + 5 = zzz = ________
This is a mini cache so be looking for a film canister. You won't need anything to trade. It contains a log book, a disclaimer sheet and a tiny pencil to log your find. Please be sure to replace it securely. Hope you enjoy the hunt. Beware of ticks!