PIT Project Kaibab National Forest
Sep 30th, 2012, 05:24 PM
#1
Original Poster
PIT Project Kaibab National Forest
As promised, I am writing a trip report on my recent trip to the Kaibab National Forest.
I started from home early Saturday morning (9/22) heading south on US 97 to K-Falls.
I had never driven 39/139 to Susanville before. I rejoined a highway that I was familiar with (US 395) just east of Susanville. US 395 takes you to I-80 between Reno and Sparks.
From there east on 80 to Fernley and then SE on ALT US 50 to Fallon. From Fallon south on US 95 where I took a good stretch break beside Walker Lake. My next stretch was in the little town of Goldfield where I got the answers to a virtual geocache. Back on the road I eventually reached my destination of Beatty NV before sunset. The Atomic Inn was not very high class, but I doubt that any other place in Beatty is better.
Sunday morning I drove through Las Vegas over the new bridge over Hoover Dam.
The cheapest gas I saw anywhere on my trip was in Kingman AZ where I got on I-40 E.
A few miles east of Williams is the small town of Parks AZ. I headed north on the County road to the NF road to the Spring Valley site. I chose to sleep in the bunkhouse rather than set up my tent. It sprinkled a bit on Sunday evening but we did not have any more rain all week.
The Kaibab National Forest has had Passport in Time projects each year for the past 20 years.
I learned a lot about archeology both historic and prehistoric. Monday was a tour of some rock art sites. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped map out a CCC camp that was near the Spring Valley site. We also dated several garbage dumps including 1 that predated the CCC camp (1880's cans). The Cohonina Native Americans occupied the sites we visited between 1000 and 1100 AD. The evidence of their presence is the rock art, obsidian projectile points pit houses and some pottery sherds that can still be found at ground level. I learned the difference between sherds and shards. The age of the sites where sherds are found can be determined by measuring a series of at least 40 sherds with a caliper. More than 90% of the sherds that we found were classified as "Deadman Gray". On Thursday near Butcherknife Mountain, I found the largest fragment of a bowl we had seen all week. It was about 3 inches across and was classified as "Black Mesa-black on white".
We had a good mix of PIT volunteers which included 2 that were on their first PIT project.
This was my 4th PIT project. In the next installment I will cover the trip back home including an event I got to witness in Reno.
I started from home early Saturday morning (9/22) heading south on US 97 to K-Falls.
I had never driven 39/139 to Susanville before. I rejoined a highway that I was familiar with (US 395) just east of Susanville. US 395 takes you to I-80 between Reno and Sparks.
From there east on 80 to Fernley and then SE on ALT US 50 to Fallon. From Fallon south on US 95 where I took a good stretch break beside Walker Lake. My next stretch was in the little town of Goldfield where I got the answers to a virtual geocache. Back on the road I eventually reached my destination of Beatty NV before sunset. The Atomic Inn was not very high class, but I doubt that any other place in Beatty is better.
Sunday morning I drove through Las Vegas over the new bridge over Hoover Dam.
The cheapest gas I saw anywhere on my trip was in Kingman AZ where I got on I-40 E.
A few miles east of Williams is the small town of Parks AZ. I headed north on the County road to the NF road to the Spring Valley site. I chose to sleep in the bunkhouse rather than set up my tent. It sprinkled a bit on Sunday evening but we did not have any more rain all week.
The Kaibab National Forest has had Passport in Time projects each year for the past 20 years.
I learned a lot about archeology both historic and prehistoric. Monday was a tour of some rock art sites. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped map out a CCC camp that was near the Spring Valley site. We also dated several garbage dumps including 1 that predated the CCC camp (1880's cans). The Cohonina Native Americans occupied the sites we visited between 1000 and 1100 AD. The evidence of their presence is the rock art, obsidian projectile points pit houses and some pottery sherds that can still be found at ground level. I learned the difference between sherds and shards. The age of the sites where sherds are found can be determined by measuring a series of at least 40 sherds with a caliper. More than 90% of the sherds that we found were classified as "Deadman Gray". On Thursday near Butcherknife Mountain, I found the largest fragment of a bowl we had seen all week. It was about 3 inches across and was classified as "Black Mesa-black on white".
We had a good mix of PIT volunteers which included 2 that were on their first PIT project.
This was my 4th PIT project. In the next installment I will cover the trip back home including an event I got to witness in Reno.
Oct 1st, 2012, 06:29 PM
#3
Original Poster
About 2PM Friday I left Spring Valley, filled up in Kingman and was near downtown Las Vegas at 5PM. I had a goal of getting north of Hawthorne before stopping to sleep.
I found a quiet parking area along Walker Lake about 10 PM.
I woke in the car about 4AM to the brilliant nearly full moon.
I fired up the GPS and went and found a nice ammocan geocache about 2 miles from where I was parked. I couldn't find my headlamp but found the cache just fine by the light of the moon.
I stopped at the WM in Fernley and bought 2 new pairs of jeans and some bananas.
Now I will recount the unique geocaching event which was held at the University of Nevada - Reno campus.
The Battle Born Dirtbag Geocaching Society added a payload to a hydrogen filled weather balloon. The payload included 20 trackable coins and dogtags including 1 of mine. There were SPOT tracking devices, a video camera, a still camera set to shoot every few minutes, a Ham radio that also broadcast the location and weather instruments. When we had everything rigged someone called the FAA for clearance to launch the balloon at 9:40AM. The balloon reached an altitude of 95000 feet before bursting about 2 hours after launch. The Recovery team picked up the equipment about 2PM in the mountains SW of Fernley.
I left the campus about 10AM and got back home to Crescent Oregon about 5PM. The BBDGS will place a geocache where the package came down. Any questions?
I found a quiet parking area along Walker Lake about 10 PM.
I woke in the car about 4AM to the brilliant nearly full moon.
I fired up the GPS and went and found a nice ammocan geocache about 2 miles from where I was parked. I couldn't find my headlamp but found the cache just fine by the light of the moon.
I stopped at the WM in Fernley and bought 2 new pairs of jeans and some bananas.
Now I will recount the unique geocaching event which was held at the University of Nevada - Reno campus.
The Battle Born Dirtbag Geocaching Society added a payload to a hydrogen filled weather balloon. The payload included 20 trackable coins and dogtags including 1 of mine. There were SPOT tracking devices, a video camera, a still camera set to shoot every few minutes, a Ham radio that also broadcast the location and weather instruments. When we had everything rigged someone called the FAA for clearance to launch the balloon at 9:40AM. The balloon reached an altitude of 95000 feet before bursting about 2 hours after launch. The Recovery team picked up the equipment about 2PM in the mountains SW of Fernley.
I left the campus about 10AM and got back home to Crescent Oregon about 5PM. The BBDGS will place a geocache where the package came down. Any questions?
Oct 2nd, 2012, 02:45 AM
#4
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Love your report. Ok - I will "bite"
What is the difference between a sherd and a shard?
And a bit further/east on I-40 - we also toured the Meteor Crater (east of Flagstaff a little ways) and a bit further - the Painted Desert Museum - on the north side of the freeway - where they have a good selection of historical movies, helpful guides, and so forth - as did the Petrified Forest on the south side of 40.
It's a shame more people don't get to see all these great parks/sites.
What is the difference between a sherd and a shard?
And a bit further/east on I-40 - we also toured the Meteor Crater (east of Flagstaff a little ways) and a bit further - the Painted Desert Museum - on the north side of the freeway - where they have a good selection of historical movies, helpful guides, and so forth - as did the Petrified Forest on the south side of 40.
It's a shame more people don't get to see all these great parks/sites.
Oct 2nd, 2012, 07:18 PM
#5
Original Poster
A sherd is a broken piece of pottery/ceramic. A shard is a broken piece of glass including obsidian (volcanic glass).
The Sunset Crater erupted ca. 1088AD. The Cohonina prehistoric Native Americans moved east to be closer to Sunset probably because of more fertile soils soon after the eruption.
I also learned a bit about the style of structures they built in the Pueblo I ,II and III periods.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights we had a waxing nearly full moon. We had 3 bull elk bugling within a mile of the cabin. I was happy to see the 6 X 6 bull in the daylight about 5:30PM Tuesday.
The hydrogen filled balloon we launched Saturday morning only reached 95K feet. and the payload was recovered by geocachers.
The Sunset Crater erupted ca. 1088AD. The Cohonina prehistoric Native Americans moved east to be closer to Sunset probably because of more fertile soils soon after the eruption.
I also learned a bit about the style of structures they built in the Pueblo I ,II and III periods.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights we had a waxing nearly full moon. We had 3 bull elk bugling within a mile of the cabin. I was happy to see the 6 X 6 bull in the daylight about 5:30PM Tuesday.
The hydrogen filled balloon we launched Saturday morning only reached 95K feet. and the payload was recovered by geocachers.
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