30-Sep-2000 -- Our first confluence target was a fairly easy one.
The confluence is located near the end of Elberta Slant
Road, off of State Road 68 just north of Elberta. We came
through Elberta from the west, having escaped miles of dirt
roads in our quest for our first Utah geocache. The
mountain scenery through Eureka on US Route 6 was
spectacular. A select few trees on the mountains were yellow
and bright red/orange.
As we headed out of the mountains, my wife and I were
somewhat bothered by the fact that the open land had become
private property. There were plenty of fences and No
Trespassing signs. Elberta Slant Road ran parallel to one
such fence, and I was beginning to think that we'd have to
give up on our hunt. But, as luck would have it, right at
the location where our map said we'd have to leave the road,
there was an open gate! Better yet, there was a road leading
through the gate.
After about 1/2 mile of really bumpy dirt road, the GPS was
pointing directly west. Our target was about 0.2 miles away.
So we got out of the car and pressed ahead on foot.
Unfortunately, we met a fence a mere 200 feet from the
confluence. I decided that I wasn't going to be denied
my prize after getting this close, so my wife and I
squeezed through the barbed wire top of the fence and
continued on.
Closing in on the mark, we spotted a very deliberate pile
of rocks. It looked like someone had been there before us.
Upon closer inspection, we found the coordinates written
with small stones right above the pile. However, my GPS
was telling us we were still a few feet away. Maybe this
pile was created before Selective Availability was turned
off.
So we went looking for the real location. We quickly
spotted yet another pile of rocks. This one was much closer
to the mark. A small lizard was lazily enjoying the afternoon
sun. I wasn't able to get a very good picture, as I didn't
want to frighten him by getting too close with the camera.
It took me about ten minutes, but I eventually zeroed my GPS
to five decimal places (click image for a close-up). We didn't
stay too long, as we were both very tired, very hungry, and
maybe just a touch uneasy about being on the wrong side of
someone's fence. So we waded back through the waist-deep
(and wonderfully fragrant) sagebrush and got back into our
very dusty car.