My Summer Vacation

The westering sun casts no dark shadows in the broad basin, only the ray of solid black-top to Fallon, devoid of cars, interrupts the glare. Armed with rock hammers and bulging sample bags, we scramble around Green Mountain dodging rattlers. I empty chunky dirt from one shoe and circle south up a rough trail around the bouldered peak, tapping, chipping, and stooping low to check the ground for signs of gem quality green stone. The Gem Trails book just called it "nice, green, jade-like stone;" could be jadeite or amazonite. If not too porous, it can polish up to make nice jewelry.

Attacking a ton sized boulder with the hammer, a fist-sized piece chunks out. It drops onto my ankle and jumps across the trail, nestling under a small overhang. My eyes follow the runaway, but dilate to encompass the arrangement of nesting rocks, piled beneath the overhang. Piled, or - arranged. I fling some rock shards toward the pile, just to be sure no rattler slept through the earlier avalanche. Hunkering down, I lift the first bread loaf sized rock, then move the second aside, revealing something unnatural. Olive green, with a box-like corner showing. One more rock; it's a military ammo box. Hidden treasure!

Wrestled out of the shallow hole, the box is obviously not a very old treasure, the paint is almost perfect, and not the shiny green like the old ones I've seen. What could it be? Gold dust? Stolen loot? Some secret stash of contraband? Stay tuned for the next installment of, "My Summer Vacation."