It had been nearly two months since her dream. Or rather, the nightmare was more like it. Yet she couldn't get the cave out of her mind. She thought about it through meetings, through breakfast, baths, driving, and swimming. She had even dreamt of it again, only this time it felt more like a dream, rather than a place she'd been to before.
So it came as no surprise when she pulled up to Topaz Mountain. It was the closest place to her home that offered a collection of gems and the like to the public. Normally, the public could go to the State lands and freely pluck or dig for geodes and gems until they fell over, exhausted. Yet, that wasn't the experience Velori wanted.
It took her close to a month to contact who she needed. Her crew was able to find a landowner that kept and maintained a small portion of the mountain range. It wasn't open to the public and would offer her untouched land. She had to pay a small fortune for the access but it would be worth it if she could get that dream out of her mind.
She'd stayed at Budget Motel in Delta, which was about a 30-minute drive to the other side of the mountain. It was the closest motel to the land that she could find and it was much comfier than she'd expected. The beds were old but soft and the owner had offered breakfast. This allowed her to wake up early and leave, getting to the location earlier in the morning than she'd planned.
She pulled up to a small clearing off the road that had a game trail leading off of it. This was the location the landowner provided and Velori's heart sped up as she turned the engine off and silence crept in.
"Okay. You're gonna go out there and you're going to stay until you find whatever it is that's out there." She'd moved her rearview mirror down and was trying to give herself a small pep talk. "And this is going to drag that dream out of you, kicking and screaming if need be. Right?"
Right. She thought, accompanied by a tight nod.
Moving the mirror back to its original position, she opened the door, grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat, and hopped out. Then she turned and stared up at the mountain range, whistling as she moved her eyes across the landscape. "It's beautiful."
It was more of a desert here than she'd expected but that didn't deter her from its beauty. The plants shot out from the ground like pale green starbursts. While the trees that were scattered around the land were dark green Junipers. No more than large bushes in her mind as they rounded around themselves, creating half circles across the landscape. Their smell was what overwhelmed the area more than anything, woodsy and potent.
On the other side of the mountain, she knew they had charge blasts that opened the earth to the public. Leaving a white scar across the ground with rubble and rocks uplifted and broken. She disliked how they treated the mountain but understood that tourism brought money and money helped upkeep the roads and surrounding cities. She still didn't like it. Which was one reason she'd sought out this bit of land.
The wind gusted, like it was encouraging her forward. She moved to the back of the vehicle and opened the hatch, pulling out the rest of her gear. She knew it would take more than a day to satisfy what she wanted, so she'd brought along a small tent and food that would carry her for at least five days. With a large breath, she pulled on her backpack, picked up the second duffel, and surged forward.
She got to the marked acreage of the land owner's parcel by mid-afternoon. Sadly, this also meant the sun was in the middle of the sky and her skin was already tightening from its rays.
She spent another hour looking for a good flat location to set up camp before she was able to sit in her porta-chair and slather on more sunscreen. The wind blew harder here than in any other location she'd been to in the US but at this moment, she wasn't complaining. Uncaring that her hands were still greasy from the lotion, she twirled her hair up into a ball and off her neck. She'd forgotten a band and was now cursing herself for it. Instead, she twisted it into a knot that sat near the back of her head. It would have to do.
Then she dug out one of the waters from the duffel and downed more than half of it. Taking a breath only when she could no longer hold it, reminding her once again of her nightmare. A shiver ran down her spine. She'd never feared drowning before but it was now a very real thing in her mind. The memory of giving up and accepting death as she inhaled the water would live with her until she truly died.
Shivering once more she stood and finished setting up her tent and the rest of the portable tools she'd brought. Being an Archeologist by trade, provided her with access to the cool tools. Attached to her backpack had been a collapsible pick-ax and crowbar but that was just the easy stuff. She had a collapsible sieve, range pole, digital pocket scale, mini shovel, GPS, and her favorite toy of all, a drone that she could operate with her phone. The only thing she wished she could have brought was an auger but no matter how she moved it about, she couldn't find a spot that would allow her to easily carry the thing.
Finally, she stood back and looked at her work. The tent was set up in the shade of three Junipers that were conveniently huddled together. In front of that, lay an orange mat that allowed any unwanted sand to fall through it. On top of it, she'd set up her sieve that she would use to find the smallest of shards and the chair she'd been using before.
The sun had curved across the sky and was near to setting, so she would spend the rest of the evening scouting the surrounding area before calling it a night and crashing in her sleeping bag.
~~~
The next morning, she percolated a strong brew of coffee before digging into her peanut butter-smothered bread and a bowl of yogurt with granola sprinkled over it. She was glad she'd thought to bring it, as the first day of any dig was normally the hardest.
There would be more scouting after she'd flown over it with the drone. Then trying to gauge which landforms would be the most promising for Geodes instead of other gems. Checking and double-checking old potential river beds and creeks. Then at the end, coming back to camp so that she could go over all of her data and finally pick where she wanted to get started.
After her morning meal, she finished her coffee and pulled out the drone. It truly was her favorite toy out of all of them. She lovingly cooed at it as she uncurled the propeller blades.
"You're gonna find me all the best places, aren't you?" She said as she tapped the drone against its 'nose'. Then she clipped in her extra cell phone and turned the drone on, lifting it into the air with ease.
First she flew over to the spot she saw yesterday, snapping images for an aerial view. She passed by the area twice before moving on. Next she spotted what looked like an old creek bed.
Her heart sped at the site. Around seven million years ago, Utah had a massive amount of volcanic activity that created Rhyolite, which was a pocket of air trapped in volcanic flow. When it began to cool, gasses were trapped in the air pockets, and with creeks, rivers, and groundwater passing through the rhyolite over millions of years, crystals formed inside, creating Geodes.
The last dying breath of a volcano. Velori would have found it poetic, if it wasn't so sad.
She marked the spot on the map and took more aerial shots before turning the drone for higher ground on the mountain.
Nothing caught her eye until she was about to turn the drone around. In a tall outcropping on one of the smaller peaks, it looked like a fresh batch of ground had been unearthed. Jutting upwards like the ground does when it experiences an earthquake.
Excited, she flew the drone over to take shots when she spotted an opening in the side of the mountain. Below it were rocks and boulders that were freshly broken off from around the opening.
It didn't look like the entrance had been opened due to man either. She stood in shock, staring at the screen, unblinking. Could she be so lucky?
She wasted no time in bringing the drone home and packing herself up to the mouth of the cave. When she looked inside, she knew exactly what she had to do next.
Plan for a new dig.