Table of Contents

Cover Page

In Search of the Sun Tunnels

Benchmark Hunting

Geocache Workout Program

Regular Features

Chuckles

Credits

Submission Guidelines

Hearing About the Sun Tunnels for the First Time

Sometimes it can be more fun doing the research and placing a cache than hunting for one. This is the story of a very memorable cache placement.

The photo submitted by BunkerDave. This must be a picture of a different jetty--somewhere far, far away where the water is blue. The jetty the way it appears in the aerial photo from the ExpertGPS program.

One lazy day at a trucking company two guys were working away in the Information Systems department. Their desks were side by side tucked away in a corner of the office. One of them goes by the name of Grizzly Rider because he likes to ride his ATV which is a Yamaha Grizzly. The other one goes by the name of Cach-U-Nuts. This morning, Cach-U-Nuts has noticed a strange photo posted by BunkerDave to the cache called Submerged Jetty. The picture shows the water as being blue in color instead of red, which seems wrong. But the oddest thing was that the photo shows the Jetty spiraling to the right. Cach-U-Nuts was just learning how to use a mapping program called ExpertGPS. Using it, he looked at the aerial photo of the Jetty. It clearly showed the jetty spiraling to the left. He then did a web search for more photos of the Jetty. Several web pages were found which confirmed that the jetty does indeed spiral to the left. Several of these web pages mentioned that Robert Smithson, who built the Spiral Jetty, had a wife who was also interested in creating landscape art. Her name is Nancy Holt and she created something called the Sun Tunnels in the desert west of the Great Salt Lake. Cach-U-Nuts was intrigued and could not figure out why he had not heard of these Sun Tunnels before. He was born and raised in the area and liked to think that he kept up on local stories that held scientific curiosity. Now the quest was on to find out what these Sun Tunnels are and where exactly they are located.

Locating the Sun Tunnels

A web search done back then came up with directions to get to the Sun Tunnels but nothing about the latitude and longitude could be found. Of course, when searching today, the very first page has the coordinates. That just shows how widespread the use of GPS technology has become in just the last year and a half. The directions found at the time said “…About 10 miles past the state line is a sign for Lucin. There are two gravel roads on the right. Take the first one for five miles to Lucin. Cross the railroad tracks and continue on the same road for about two miles. Turn left and proceed about two miles and then right for 3/4 mile to Sun Tunnels. There is a parking area at the end of the road. So Grizzly Rider and Cach-U-Nuts spent their lunch hour trying to follow roads on the topo maps and aerial photos on the ExpertGPS program. They were hoping to see the tunnels on the aerial photo if they zoomed in far enough. Nothing they saw in the photos quite looked like what they imagined the tunnels would look like. They were expecting to see four gigantic concrete cylinders lying on their sides arranged in an X pattern. They had been working with their topo maps zoomed out for a broader view and when Grizzly Rider came up with his best guess for the location of the Sun Tunnels he zoomed in for a close view and laughed out loud when he saw a mark on the map that was labeled Astronomical Observation Tunnels. Now that they knew exactly where to look they could make out the shape of the tunnels in the aerial photo.

Estimating driving distances on the topo map. If you look real close in the center of this photo you can pick out the sun tunnels.

Travelling to the Sun Tunnels

Mrs. Cach-U-Nuts getting by in the light of the sunset at the Sun Tunnels. Mr. Cach-U-Nuts finding the Sun Tunnels at long last.

Because of the remoteness of the cache there have only been 17 visitors to date. If you are interested in a real geocaching adventure then this one might be for you. If you want to minimize the amount of dirt road travel then stay on I-80 past Wendover for about 32 miles to the intersection with Highway 30. Follow Highway 30 north e ast for about 22 miles to the town of Montello. This will be your last chance at civilization so get gas and all the supplies you will need. About 20 miles past Montello you will come to Grouse Creek Junction. Here is where you turn right towards Lucin on a well maintained dirt road. This intersection is at N 41º 25.289 and W 113º 53.373. Going this way there will only be about 10 miles of dirt roads in and then 10 miles back to the highway. If you don't mind driving on dirt roads and have good sturdy tires then you many want to follow the Pilot Peak road. There are some interesting caches you can pick up along the way. To go this route you will need to take exit 4 on I-80 just before you get to Wendover. N 40º 44.724 and W 113º 58.214. (You may want to go into Wendover first to fill up your gas tank. You will be driving a long ways where there are no services whatsoever.) After finding the Hellfire and Volcano Peak caches, be careful that you don't drive on the Silver Island Loop road. If you take that loop then you will drive a ways and then see that you can't get to your destination because there is a long stretch of mud flats blocking your way. If you get to this point N 40º 48.439 and W 114º 01.266 then you know you are on the correct road.

Hope you enjoy your trip and keep on cachin'!