Boiling Springs EarthCache EarthCache
Boiling Springs EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Another cache brought to you by a member of the USCGA
Congratulations, you are probably visiting one of the last approved EarthCache before they were stopped. Earthcaches have been brought back in 2007. Pretty busy area in a very public place, but you should fit in nicely.
Like the title suggests, you will be visiting the famous Boiling Springs, well maybe not that famous. Settlement in the area began around this site in the mid-1700s. Prior to that trappers stopped here as they traveled through the Piedmont en route from the mountains to the coast. In the early 1900s, the spring also was a popular place for farmers to stop and water their horses on their way to and from the market.
To get credit for your visit email the answer to the following question below to hawaiianninja2000@yahoo.com
As you stand at the horizontal base of the archway to the springs, count the number of vertical red bricks in the base.
Boiling Springs by all rights should have been named Boiling Spring. There’s only one, and it used to be deep and roiling. People came from all over to see the pure water shoot six feet into the air, and the roar of the geyser could be heard from a quarter mile away. But now the water just bubbles to the surface. For geyser to occur there must be heat, water, and a plumbing system. A magma chamber provides the heat, which radiates into surrounding rock. Water from rain and snow works its way underground through fractures in the rock. As the water reaches hot rock it begins to rise back to the surface, passing through rhyolite, which is former volcanic ash or lava rich in silica. The hot water dissolves the silica and carries it upward to line rock crevices. This forms a constriction that holds in the mounting pressure, creating a geyser's plumbing system. As superheated water nears the surface, its pressure drops, and the water flashes into steam as a geyser. Hot springs and natural springs have unconstricted plumbing systems. Natural Springs are natural flow of ground water to the surface. Half of all Americans and more than 95% of our rural population get their household water supplies from underground sources. Ground water is also used for about half of all agricultural irrigation and a third of industrial water needs. Rainfall and surface water, which seep into the earth's crust over many years, form underground reservoirs. Where the water table is at or close to the surface, ground water enters wetlands, lakes, rivers, and streams and provides a base flow during dry periods. By comparison to rivers and streams, ground water moves very slowly and with little turbulence.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh unir tbg gb or xvqqvat, evtug?