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Wadi Mistal Traditional Cache

Hidden : 9/13/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

A regular cache hidden in Wadi Mistal, the entrance to the "Ghubrah Bowl".

Wadi Mistal is the entrance, or rather the exit, of the Ghubrah Bowl. On the Google Earth image below, giving a "bird's eye" view of the bowl, the scale of this natural depression in the Hajar mountains is well apparent. The mountains surrounding Wadi Mistal itself (the front part in the picture below) consist of Pre-Cambrian Diamictites. These are among the oldest sedimentary rocks on Earth, with a measured age of some 700 million years. They have been deposited by glaciers (hence the name "diamictites"). Interesting is that Oman, 700 million years ago was at a latitude of 13º, i.e. closer to the equator than it is today. The presence of glaciers so near to the equator, of which evidence has been found in many places on Earth, has led to the theory that at that time most of the Earth was covered in ice ("snowball Earth"). The remainder of the mountain ridge surrounding the Bowl are Permian Carbonates of a much younger age. The Bowl has been formed through erosion of relatively softer Pre-Cambrian rocks, forming the core of the Hajar mountains, leaving a ring of more competent mountains surrounding the bowl. While looking at the Google Earth picture below, imagine it to be filled up with rock to the same height of the surrounding mountains. To create the Bowl all that rock has had to pass through the narrow gorge of Wadi Mistal, which you will visit when searching for this cache! All those sediments transported out of the bowl through Wadi Mistal have built up a much wider coastal plain between Barka and Suwaidi than is the case in other parts of the Batinah coast.

This cache is part of a series of three. The other two caches are hidden at the far end of the Ghubrah Bowl. They are:

Hadash Tower, GC2F48F

Wuqan, GC2F48M

While this location can be reached using a regular saloon car, the other two caches should only be attempted when you have the use of a 4WD car as the roads within the Bowl are graded dirt tracks and the ascent to the villages are steep.

The cache consists of a regular sized lock-n-lock plastic box, camouflaged by a beige coloured sock, and hidden behind a number of small rocks (enough of them around!). Please take note that snakes and scorpions seek out the shade provided by rocks during the hottest parts of the day. Please take note when handling rocks that there may be "creepy crawlies" hidden below! Enjoy the hunt!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ybbx sbe gur zrgny jver nzbat nyy gubfr obhyqref.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)