Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
In chronological order

Back Home

August 2002

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD14-BYVI Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.3278° W 088.1487° Date Found: 8/3/2002 11:25 Hunters: Kelly, Sam Wilmington, IL, SW of Chicago 22.18 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Des Plaines Wildlife Conservation Dash Down by Wilmington, my parents' home town, is the Des Plaines Wildlife Conservation Area. The exit off of I-55 is River Road, which actually goes through the center of the Conservation Area. Just on the edge of the area is one of the main roads that goes in to the village of Wilmington - Kankakee Road. The dashpoint is squarely on that road, and I zeroed out while in my car. Pictures of the dashpoint and the Conservation Area sign, as well as the fence that surrounds the preserve and the ladders that the rangers use for entrance will all be uploaded shortly. Des Plaines Links: Link One, Link Two.

August 2002 Cache Frenzy
“To 100, and Beyond!”

Putt Putt Geocaching by bspeng N 41° 43.215 W 088° 07.826 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We actually started off looking for Ms. Weigand, but after quickly determining that we weren't any better off on this side of the river, we ventured to the Putt Putt territory. Now, I've been at this cache at least three times in the past, unsuccessfully - and Brian even gave me a hint (which I didn't understand until finding the cache). Camp637 and I searched the area for a full 45 minutes without finding one shred of evidence of a cache. I went back to get a drink, and I saw the cache sitting flipped out of its protection. Call me conspiracy minded - did Camp637 “help” with this one? I'll never know for sure. We found it and replaced it back where it should have been hidden. Score : 1/1

Ms. Weigand’s Bitter Divorce by Bspeng N 41° 43.412 W 088° 07.905 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We walked from Putt Putt to the location on the south side of the river. I looked and looked - and even found the original tree, but that got us no closer than 100 feet. Finally, leaving Camp637 behind, I took a bold step. This got me to within 5 feet from the coordinates, but I never did find the cache. Bspeng sent me another clue, indicating that I was extremely close to the cache - and giving me a good enough clue that I could find it again when I return. This is the only one we missed today, so it will taunt me on my closest proximity search until I do return. Score : 1/2

Tick Terror by The Fellowship N 41° 44.125 W 088° 10.946 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Mosey Raider Travel Bug

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A nice hunt in the FAR side of Springbrook Prairie. This is a DuPage County Forest Preserve, and the cache hider is aware of it. I drive by this location daily on the way to work, so I knew exactly where to park. We did a short little 0.23 mile hike through no trails and came upon the pond that the topo map showed. I quickly saw the hiding spot, but didn't trust my instincts and searched for an additional 10-15 minutes. We traded in the Travel Bug and a few other items and were on our merry way. Score : 2/3

Waubonsie Trail 2.0 or 2.5 by SpyderUser N 41° 44.547 W 088° 15.276 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Planning is everything. The suggest parking coordinates place you a half-mile away from the cache and have you walking in on the Illinois Prairie Path. The “2.0 or 2.5” reference is for the mile markers on the path. I found much closer parking - so much so that Camp637 said, “What're we here for?” When I told him the name of the cache, I think he could have slapped himself silly. When he and Mrs. Camp637 found it earlier this year, they followed the parking coordinates and had a LLLOOONNNGGG walk. Anyway, with Camp637's help, we did this one in short order as well, and I came away with a baseball that someone had "home-runned" into the forest from the nearby field. Score : 3/4

Birdwathcher by SpyderUser N 41° 43.144 W 088° 14.134 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 7/23/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

“Hey, Jim. Wanna score a drive-by cache?” “Sure” “Whaddya see over there?” “You're kidding, right?” Score : 4/5

The Empty Cache ! by SpyderUser N 41° 43.008 W 088° 13.355 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Another cache that was only 200 feet from the parking, and another cache that we spotted the hiding spot quite early on. This is a cache. Is there anything particularly intriguing about coming to this location? Score : 5/6, but since I had found Birdwatcher before, this put my find total to 99. The next find would be 100!

Just a Stones Throw Away by bspeng N 41° 41.262 W 088° 20.662 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Sometimes is nice to have someone who has found the cache previously along. Sometimes it's not. Camp637 finally pointed out the area of the cache to me, and my self-slapping hand wasn't quick or hard enough. When we had originally visited this location earlier in the spring (see Team Roster Photos) we had been not 20 feet from the cache and not seen it. Find #100! Score : 6/7. Pulled off a tick from my arm and found a dead thingy on the way (boy did that smell). Must be lunchtime!

Up the Creek without a Paddle by TwoCampers N 41° 38.957 W 088° 27.493 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

After a quick stop for lunch, we headed off toward Up the Creek. I was rather looking forward to this one. Camp637's previous experience also came in handy on this one, as he indicated that there was an easy way and a hard way - and that my first 100 yards were taking me toward the hard way. A change of direction gave us a much better trip - but it was still a very challenging cache with much bushwacking and many spider-webs-in-our-faces. When we got the GPS down to 30 feet, I looked around and used "the force" audibly telling Camp637 my thoughts. “30 feet from here - I'd say, Point A, Point B, Point C or Point D. I'll try A first.” Dead on. Nice when it works out like this. Score : 7/8 I thought so much of this cache, I decided that this was a perfect place for Shaggy and Scooby to set up temporary residence. They seemed happy to be on their way. I've updated their page. Their goal for the 2002-2003 year will be to take lots of pictures from the west side of the Mississippi River, but still make it back home for the 2003 Chicago Area Picnic. Should be fun.

Lost Kendall Wilderness Cache by TwoCampers N 41° 30.550 W 088° 18.493 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

“This is an ugly cache.” The first words on the cache page. This should be a warning. That's why I never even considered taking the wife and kids on this one. Early on in the hike I picked up a stick and started waving it in front of my face the whole time I was walking. Camp637 commented that I looked like a swashbuckler buckling his swashes, but these spiderwebs were like tensile steel cables. The GPS went nuts under this dense tree cover, never getting a really solid reading. There was one point where we were 300 feet from the cache and no matter which way I walked, the GPS said that I was getting further away. GRRRR! I must have crossed that barbed wire fence at least a dozen times. Finally got to within 30 feet and the clue from the page (which is the clue that Camp637 audibly gave me) lead me right to it. Quick trades and then trying to retrace our steps out through the maze of no signals. Great cache! Score : 8/9

Fairways by ChicagoGeoTracker N 41° 45.872 W 088° 04.711 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Camp637

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Found it. It was in a spot I hadn't looked before. Others had found it. Someone left a grape. My guess: this cache will be archived before long. Apparently the little kids at the playground know about the "secret box." Score : 9/10

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD14-BYYP Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.6699° W 087.7695° Date Found: 8/10/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam South of Chicago, Near the intersection of I-55 and I-294 23.82 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Water Reclamation Dash Second of many drive-by dashpoints for this month. The actual zero point in on land managed by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District on the Cal-Sag Channel Right-of-Way. There are strict guidelines posted everywhere around the area stateing that there's “No Trespassing, Swimming, Hunting or Dumping.” That just about covers anything that I might have considered in the area. Fortunately, the closest point along state road 83 got me within 90 meters. Had I been adventurous and had the area been a little better - the place that I stopped and marked my closest approach appeared to have been an old railroad right-of-way (the tracks were long gone). The open path through the forest (no gate, but plenty of signs) went precisely toward the dashpoint. With the Alsip police having already pulled someone else over on the shoulder less than 300 meters down the road, I decided to leave my ambitions for another future dash. Probably the most interesting part of the whole dash was that Route 83 goes through forest preserve after forest preserve on both sides of the road. Literally every 400 - 500 feet is a warning for an entrance to a forest preserve, and they all have separate names. The caching possibilities are endless and have only lightly been tapped by the indigenous cachers to this southern area of Chicago.

Filigree Building by bspeng N 41° 45.634 W 087° 49.481 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/10/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I wanted an easy cache within striking distance of the dashpoint I had reached earlier - and this one fit the bill. The only thing I can say without giving TOO much away is that this cache MUST be seen from the inside, and I should have taken my wife on this one. GREAT virtual!!!

Paddle Your Canoe, A lot by Dr Spyro N 41° 29.868 W 088° 41.705 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/11/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Genius Loci

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A great find of a cache by Spyro. Genius Loci and I set out using C&M Canoe Rental in Wedron, Illinois (815/434-6690, N 41° 25.611 W 088° 46.396). They took us 12 miles up river to Sheridan, Illinois and we set in with me steering in the rear, Genius Loci providing power and proximity warnings and my son providing commentary in the middle. It was a fabulous day, although a little hot, but we had a great time getting our sea-legs prior to coming up on the cache. I had used Lostoutdoors.com to provide the topo maps of the cache (using 4 meters per pixel, big map) and found the coordinates of when we "entered the map" and plugged those in first. So we had plenty of warning of approaching the cache by using waypoints that were about 1½ miles upriver. Great find. Son Drew stayed in the canoe while Genius Loci and I traded out our trinkets and signed the books. Next stop...Fox River Cache.

One of many "Natural Arches"

Our transportation

SPOLIER: Where the cache is #1

SPOLIER: Where the cache is #2

Fox River Cache by Greggieweg and Jashu N 41° 27.459 W 088° 42.682 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/11/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Genius Loci

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Once again, using Lostoutdoors.com to provide the topo maps and the "waypoint for when entering the map" really helped Genius Loci and me on this one. We spotted the island straight away and shored up to it with no problem. Once there, the hiding spot was obvious. Good, fun find. Traded in some non-fishing materials for the matchbox car and signed the logbook while Drew found clam shells (they're everywhere!) and threw rocks in the river. Interesting side note: Genius Loci spotted a suspicious looking piece of paper with the words "Geocaching" on it near the cache box. It was a print off of the cache for Paddle Your Canoe that included the log from July 10. Since only one other cacher (Geogil) had visited this cache since July 10 (on July 15), it must have fallen out of his pack. Fun logic puzzle trying to piece out who dropped it. No harm done as we trashed it out. What a great pair of caches!

Drew throwing stones while we're on a break

More stone throwing from the cache site.

SPOLIER: Where the cache is

What I saw throughout the trip

Cave can be found at N 41° 27.375 W 088° 44.894

Looking at Genius Loci and the cave

Looking at Drew from inside the cave

Carillon Cache by Quasimodo the Cacher N 41° 46.164 W 088° 09.377 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 8/15/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This is a “Locationless” Cache: the hider does not have a specific location in mind, but gives a description of the type of photo s/he wants and has people supply the coordinates. Technically, I don't consider this caching in the purist form, so I only post notes on the ones I participate in - not "finds." This particular one was looking for carillons. Since I felt a special affinity to the Millenium Carillon in Naperville, I logged it. The coordinates listed above are for where I chose to log my find. We went out on a Thursday and Drew and I approached the park on a bright sunny day. Great for caching, even if it was reverse caching. The pictures and the website say it best, so I'll leave it up to them. Great carillon. Reason I chose it: for about 4 months in 2001, I took lessons under Wylie Crawford at this carillon. Websites: Naperville, Illinois, website GCNA's listing Wylie Crawford, City Carillonneur

From the base of the tower looking up

The park

Sign describing structure

Drew with GPS and Tower