Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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May 2003

Tunnel Trouble by Cliff_nuts, Patrick and Thomas N 41° 48.769 W 088° 12.263 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/7/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I first tried this cache on May 6, 2003, but didn't know it was a micro cache. I'll be back soon.

The Creepy Crawly Bug! Picked up at Herrick Lake Audio Exchange on Tuesday, May 6, 2003. N 41° 49.607 W 088° 08.739 Another captured bug! I received an e-mail that KevinandAbbie had found my Herrick Lake Audio Exchange cache and placed a travel bug in there. I've been meaning to go out to do a maintenance check anyway to see how the padlock weathered the winter (not bad at all - although the tumblers are a little stiff). So the Travel Bug and 67° temps were enough to get me out to the cache. I sat down by the path and hiding spot (gently flicking a tick off of my white-button-down-collared-shirt sleeve), a youngster about 4 or 5 approached (mom was a little ways down the path)... "Whatchya doin'?" "Reading a book." "Why?" "Because there are some really great stories in here." "See that water?" "Yes." "I've got a fishin' rod." Tyke holds up stick from the nearby tree. "Have a great time!" After fully reading the entire log book cover-to-cover (which is a great experience BTW), I snagged the Creepy Crawly Travel Bug. His goal is to visit all 50 states. I'll be making a drop at a virtual cache next week when some out-of-town cachers are up to visit. They'll drop the bug about 475 miles away, in a cache that is only 19.8 miles away from the junction of three states.

Never Overdue by teadrinker N 41° 51.962 W 088° 02.544 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/7/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Well, first of all - it's on a DuPage County Forest Preserve. A very small one, but according to the Lost Outdoors Topo Map, it's definitely a DPCFP, and subject to their guidelines. If you look at that top map, you'll also see that there's apparently no parking anywhere near the cache. I drove to within 200 feet along Route 53 to the south, and finally ended up parking to the west in that turnaround, which is a Park District Office, complete with day-care. I felt more than a little awkward trying to find a way back to the cache. Once I got back there, 500 feet from the cache, I came across a 4 foot chainlink fence. If it had been a weekend, and I had my jeans on, I might have hopped the fence, but neither of those things being true, I chose to take the loss. I sure hope there's a more "legal" way of getting to the cache. I'll be back after I talk to Camp637 (cache's first finder).

Walk In Park: Arboretum Woods by jknute N 41° 48.664 W 088° 04.867 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/9/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I must be losing my touch. I got my GPS to zero out more than one time, always in the same general vicinity, but no luck finding the cache. Guess I need to team up with someone to help me out of the slump. BTW - My first encounter with a tick this season! Looked down on my white dress shirt, only to see him sitting there asking for a meal and a ride. I don't really like those kind of hitchhikers, so I flicked him off. That being said, I'm digging out the permethrin.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD23-BYUP Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 42.0586° W 088.3024° Date Found: 5/10/2003 2:01 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sherry Elgin, Illinois, NW of Chicago 28.96 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: And - - - - NOW! We were out and about caching with the scouts today, and found some extra time on our hands. I nonchalontly asked my wife if she would mind hitting a driveby dash. She agreed, and I told here it would be about 30 miles away. So we travelled up to Elgin, Illinois to score this drive-by. The dashpoint is on Big Timber Road, a forested road on either side, just west of Route 31, and just south of Interstate 90. We turned onto the road heading west and scored within 100 meters just after a bend in the road, but I felt that we could get closer and I wanted to precisely mark my closest approach. We turned around at the stoplight about 400 meters west of the point. As we reapproached scoring range, I had my wife slow her driving, and I said I would try to snag the closest spot. “100, 85, 43 - slow down more honey.” “I try, but there's other cars behind me. I've got my hazards on.” “OK - I'll try my best. And - - - - - NOW!” It was only when I got home that I could comprehed the full extent of that click: according to the track logs, we were travelling at a full 35 mph (~55 kph), yet my marked waypoint (discovered through EasyGPS) was at 42.0586766, -88.3023874. That's only 8.58 meters from the point. Cool.

The Creepy Crawly Bug! Dropped off at Winds of Fury, Illinois F5 on Monday, May 12, 2003. N 41° 39.040 W 088° 15.328 I dropped this in the virtual cache Winds of Fury so that Vegebuddy could transport the bug to a better location. On the way, it will get to visit another state, and be situated so as to possibly visit two others, very close. I'm having them drop it off in The Giving Tree near the Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama borders.

Walk In Park: Arboretum Woods by jknute N 41° 48.664 W 088° 04.867 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/13/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Man - I WAS losing my touch. This is a fairly easy cache, but when I tried it initially on May 9, I was literally standing on top of it without seeing it. I guess a fresh pair of eyes and a little nicer day (GREAT weather) makes all the difference. GPS still pointed me in the right spot. This is one of the first times I really tried out the triangulation method that I spout on my FAQ. I had a large open area to stay about 50 feet away from the cache and look at landmarks where the GPS was pointing. It did work pretty well. I'll be hitting Tunnel Trouble again on the next nice-weather-lunch-hour and redeem myself on that one as well.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD23-BYYR Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 42.0232° W 087.9095° Date Found: 5/17/2003 12:27 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sam Just north of O'Hare International Airport, WNW of Chicago 31.00 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: X Marks the School Near the Spot What a gorgeous day. I finished mowing the lawn early, so I took my youngest on a GPS hunt. First was the dashpoint GD23-BYYR. The satellite image is quite intriguing. There's a school just southeast of the point shaped like an X. Hence, the title I'm giving the dashpoint: X Marks the School Near the Spot. Take a look at the Satellite Image linked above. The point actually was in a parking lot of DSC Logistics (whatever that is), and I zeroed out while looking at the 7-11 at the strip mall just on the north side of the intersection of Wolf and Oakton. Kind of uneventful except for our less that 1 mile proximity to O'Hare International Airport.

Centaur of Industry by Centaur & Patch N 41° 58.581 W 087° 57.222 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/17/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Sam

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

After hunting the dashpoint, Sam and I looked on the GPS for the nearest cache, and it turned out to be this one. I've done the "Industrial Park" type caches before, so I kind of knew what to expect. The container is really kind of neat (I'd love to know where these came from). Sam had a great time with this cache as he picked so many of the little yellow flowers nearby (dandelions). Many pictures, but posting none due to spoilers.

High and Dry by bspeng (originally by mikecra) N 41° 57.364 W 087° 58.522 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/17/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Sam

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This is one of those perfect caches for a 3yo and his father to head out on with 70° weather and sunny skies. The trail was well-marked, and shady, and there's even a place to rest after getting to the cache and finding it. This was a simply marvelous experience - one that I'd highly recommend for family outings.

They don't get out into the woods much around here. I wonder how they'd last on the Cumberland Trail?

Sam with his prize: Bunny Pez!

Photogenic Sam holding the conquered cache.

Lilac Blooms by bspeng N 41° 53.236 W 087° 59.725 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/17/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Well, started off on this and received a phone call from the wife that I should have been home doing something else LONG ago. I got the GPS zeroed out, but couldn't spend the time looking for the cache that I wanted to. I'm not sure if it's there or not, but I just had to give up for today. It didn't help that I didn't know it was a micro. Oh well. Sorry I missed Lilac Time in Lombard.

Tunnel Trouble by Cliff_nuts, Patrick and Thomas N 41° 48.769 W 088° 12.263 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/21/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Came out on a gorgeous day and found the cache relatively quickly now that I knew I was looking for a micro. Gotta wonder why this spot is so great for placing a cache? But - it's number 190, which means I get to add one more to my top 10% favorites as found on my Geocaching.com profile.

WHO’S WINNING? by Dogdoc N 41° 52.321 W 088° 08.839 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/22/2003 Hunters: Kelly

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE by Dogdoc N 41° 52.223 W 088° 09.484 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/22/2003 Hunters: Kelly

NURSERY CHILD BY DOGDOC by Dogdoc N 41° 52.236 W 088° 09.563 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/22/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is for the caches.

I spent my lunch hour today in downtown Winfield. Not too far from my work, these micro caches are actually the closest unfound ones since I knocked off Tunnel Trouble the previous day. Unfortunately, I only had the printoff for Who's Winning, so I made some mistakes. According to many other cachers, the coords for Who's Winning were right on the money. I'm going to have to put in an e-mail to DogDoc, and verify where my coords had me. I triangulated, used the maps, everything I could, and it just didn't make sense. Oh well, I'll take the not found and try the other two in the area. At Another Day in Paradise, I remembered it being a multi-stage, but I didn't remember that the first stage was a virtual. Dang. Oh well, only 500 feet (0.10 miles?) to Nursery Child... Dang - there's a groundskeeper cutting the grass right where the cache is. If I pick it up, sign it, and put it back, the groundskeeper will surely take it. Glance at my watch - not enough time to stroll around and wait for him to finish and move on. I guess I take the three hits for today and try again another day.

The new bobcat by Smith N 41° 38.181 W 088° 24.928 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/24/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Sam

Agelaius Wing

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Hmmmm… The description for this cache indicated that both stages were 30 feet from the path. The first one was (although it's a deceptive 30 feet), but the second one was much farther than 30 feet from any path I saw. This is the fourth time I've been back to this park for caches. First for Young Lyon in January of 2002, then Forever Young in December of 2002, and finally for a stab at Just out of reach and I tawt I taw a Bobcat after the Cheesburger in Paradise event in February of 2003 with Centaur. I know this park pretty well now. Gorgeous day, and just enough challenge to make it interesting. Pictures to be posted below.

Do you see what I see? by Luca Brasi N 41° 42.340 W 087° 57.811 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/24/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Well, I never saw what everyone else was supposed to see, but it was an interesting adventure and a nice commentary about self-image. Climbing on top of that stop (about 3½-4 feet up?) was fun for the boys, but the older one was a little self-conscious about it. The youngest Markwell and the Team Leaders both had no trouble. This was a great revisit to the Waterfall Glen cache. We had the neat opportunity to cross the waterfall, like my son and I did almost two years ago in finding the original Waterfall Glen cache. Thanks to Greenback (aka Luca Brasi) for the neat memories, and challenging hide.

Agelaius Wing

Tux the Penguin

Got a message that the cache that we placed for the 2002 picnic had full a full camera. Went out on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and quickly grabbed the camera and traded bugs, leaving the Agelaius Wing bug and picking up Tux. Tux is in bad need of repair (which we'll do). This is a nasty cache!

Spyders Seed Cache by Spyderuser N 41° 44.817 W 088° 16.722 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/27/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Drew

Celia Cellfone

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

My son and I were out at a Kane County Cougars game on Memorial Day, and came back south on Farnsworth Avenue. This cache showed up as one of the closest ones to the path, so I decided on a little detour after the game. We hit the cache at about 4:00 in the afternoon, evidently missing a whole bunch of other cachers that had been there on Memorial Day. The little climb up the mountain (as my son called it) was beautiful on this clear day. Interesting that I could see Rush Copley Hospital to the south, and Fermilab National Accelerator to the north - about equidistant. Grabbed a travel bug - second for the weekend. Life is good!