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| Hiking | 5.51 Miles |
499 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.51 Miles | 5 Hrs 36 Mns | | 2.26 mph |
| 499 ft AEG | 3 Hrs 10 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The triplog title is correct.
To verify what I found, I literally had to ‘Exhume-the-Frustum’.
I exhumed enough of it to confirm that what I found was Frustum Marker #28.
A bit of background:
In 1924, the entire Maricopa/Yavapai County boundary line was surveyed, and the boundary line was marked by frustum-shaped markers at about 5 mile increments.
(Frustum ?- Think a 3-sided pyramid shape with its pointy top cut off.
The frustum shaped markers have brass ‘info-plaques’ on each side, and also have a tall vertical pipe coming out of the top of them. These frustum markers come in 2 sizes.
Maricopa/Yavapai County Boundary Marker #28 was placed on the borderline (obviously), right in the middle of Deadman Creek. The placement in 1924 was no big deal. The creek is 1/4 mile wide and usually dry. The surveyors didn’t know Horseshoe Dam (and Reservoir) would be built 20 years later, putting boundary marker #28 underwater for most of the year. I’m sure the fish like their viewing exclusivity. 
Horseshoe Reservoir, right now, is empty. This happens yearly and is a planned water conservation procedure. The only water left is the natural flow of the Verde River and some ponding near the dam. This means that Deadman Creek, which flows into the Verde River is also empty. (The Verde & Deadman confluence is part of Horseshoe Res.)
I hiked out to the area last March, when the reservoir was 50% full. I found a benchmark near the water’s edge, but the location of the county border (and frustum) were easily 20 or 30 feet under water. No frustum hunting on that hike.
(Click for a pic) http://hikearizona.com/photo=400858
The hike:
This hike had to be done now, before Horseshoe Reservoir starts its yearly schedule of filling up again.
Once I crossed the dam spillway, the entire hike was on the reservoir bottom. I thought “Wow, no cactus to contend with.” That was true, but 95% of the hike was over loose, round, river rock. Oh, and the billions of cockleburs that ‘hitched-a-ride’ on me made the journey even more fun. 
Once I got to the county border area, in the middle of Deadman Creek, I started searching up and down my GPS generated county line. The dry creek bed was loaded with 6 foot high cockleburs. They must love that sediment soil. (I know they love me.) My tall nemesis made my search difficult.
I finally spotted a vertical, 3 foot high pipe, sticking out of the ‘waterless’ reservoir bottom. Since the area used to be ranch land prior to the reservoir, the pipe could be alot of things. (I had already found a few fence lines, posts, and gates.)
By the way, the larger variety of concrete frustums have a 2 1/2 inch wide pipe running vertically through them. The height of the combined frustum marker, and pipe above it, measures between 6 and 7 feet above the ground.
This pipe was only 3 feet high - soooo…. I had to dig.
I dug down about 2 1/2 feet, right next to the pipe, and hit something hard. I then dug out horizontally from one side of the pipe until I found a distinct 60 degree angled corner, forming two of the three sides of the concrete frustum. I could feel two of the brass plaques on the two exposed sides of the frustum also.
Sure enough, I found Boundary Frustum #28. It’s the larger of the 2 sizes of frustums used and that’s good, as the smaller size would be totally out of sight, under the sediment.
WOW !! I was so happy, I wanted to do a dance, but I restrained myself as those cockleburs were waiting for me.
I deduced that the frustum was probably just fine and on the surface of Deadman Creek prior to the reservoir being built. Rushing creek water usually erodes its creek bottom. Once the reservoir was built in the 1940s however, the still water over the frustum started to gradually lay down layers of silt & sediment. Presently, I figure Frustum #28 is covered with about 4 feet of sediment soil, with only the pipe still visible.
In my quest to reduce ‘cocklebur-entrapment’, I left the creek bed to the north, into Yavapai County, thinking I’d encounter less cockleburs as I circled back to the south and home. Bad idea. They were even thicker on that side.
It was a great hike, on a reservoir bottom. It was also my first frustum exhumation.  |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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