Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
In chronological order
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Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
In chronological order
Back Home
June 2003
 Click on Dash Icon to see the MapGD24-BYYH Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 42.0071° W 087.9834° Date Found: 6/2/2003 1:23 pm Hunters: Kelly Elk Grove Village, Near O'Hare Airport, WNW of Chicago 28.16 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: Dash-Cache-ConfluenceAnother beginning of the month lunch time dash with a driveby. However the location for this dashpoint is quite interesting. First off, 24-BYYH is only 1.5KM from Confluence N42W088. Admittedly, this Confluence has been visited many times, and is just a house in a neighborhood, but it is a Degree Confluence nonetheless. The second interesting part of this dashpoint is the proximity to one of the meccas of Geocaching in the Chicago area. I once did a proximity query on active caches and found two major "centers" of caches. Busse Woods near Schaumburg is a forest preserve that second to the top in areas of high cache density, and 24-BYY has 19 active caches within a four mile radius.The dashpoint itself was far from interesting. The area was a typical suburban neighborhood of Elk Grove Village (a village that is being considered for purchase to expand O'Hare Airport), in a little neighborhood with schools and a community center. The divided highway of Elk Grove Lane was sectioned off today on the westbound lanes (but OK on the east bound lanes). I think I had heard that Grove Middle School, which I passed, had a natural gas main leak, and the area was being evacuated. I had no problems getting within 8 meters of the dashpoint on the road, but to zero out, I would have had to cross the police lines. |  |
| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD24-BYYC Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.5640° W 088.0249° Date Found: 6/6/2003 3:30 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Near Lockport, Illinois, SW of Chicago 11.90 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: Thanks for the Cache LocationFor quite some time, I've watched the dashers/cachers in California and Utah with some envy. They take a cache along on their hike deep into the Sonoma Valley, and when they find the dashpoint, they mark it with placing a cache. It usually can't happen like this around here in Illinois, but this was the neatest opportunuty since my visit to GD21-CAAJ back in March.While scoping this drive-by dashpoint out, I saw on the map a County Forest Preserve with no caches. So I gathered the necessary material together, and made a trip of it with the boys. The cache will be listed on the website as GCG83N.The dashpoint itself is a mildly interesting driveby. I could get within 25 meters from the North South road that transects the scoring radius. The dashpoint actually lies in a bowled out retention pond on the northeast corner of a new subdivision. The picture I'll upload is taken from southwest of the dashpoint at about 73 meters.3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers and a new cache titled: GD24-BYYC: Shall We Play a Game? | |
Photo of the Retention Pond| GD24-BYYC: Shall We Play A Game? by Markwell N 41° 34.178 W 088° 01.838 Difficulty:   Terrain:  Date Hidden: 6/6/2003 Hiders: Kelly, Sam, Drew |
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 Celia Cellfone |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| All righty! I'm always looking for ways to find new places to hide a cache. When the Geodashing point (mentioned above) showed up, I was intrigued with the Lambs Forest Preserve right near the point, and the fact the Team WO9LF hadn't placed a cache there yet. My guess is that they're first finders on June 7.So I get to the preserve and park the car. After taking care of the three-year-old's pea-sized bladder, my two sons and I start off to place the cache. But where's the trailhead? There is no trailhead. And what's that pervasive plant growing around the edge of the forest? It's everywhere. That would be poison ivy. So I mount the 3-year-old on my shoulders for the whole trip, tell the 7yo to keep his exposed arms above the plants, and we bushwack straight into the forest, until I can bushwack no more. Then we place the cache.Wow. This is really untamed countryside. Kinda neat. I hope there's not an easier path that I just missed.One of the really neat aspects of this placement was on the way back out. As we approached the edge of the forest, my 3yo pipes in and says, "I see a sign, Daddy! What's it say? Go that way?" Indeed it looks like many years ago, the path was more clearly marked. At about 11 feet off the ground was a sign attached to a tree with the word Exit and and arrow pointing toward the shelter. This is probably about 100 feet into the forest, and the sign is partially overgrown by the tree expanding around it. Very interesting! Wish I had taken a picture. Hope someone else does! |  |
| Shabbona Hollow Cache by Gary & Isabelle N 41° 44.925 W 088° 51.137 Difficulty: Terrain:  Date Re-Found: 6/7/2003 I won't claim this one as found, but it will be listed as "tried" in my stats at the bottom of the page Hunters: Pack 13 |
Tux the Penguin |
 | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| First off, we visited Determination and Deet on a maintenance check in May, and picked up Tux the Penguin. I don't know if he was already injured when we got him (he was stuffed in pretty tight) or whether he was injured by the Markwell boys playing around with him later. Either way, he required some extensive back surgery. The details of the operation can be found on his website.We camped at Shabbona State Park at the Youth Camp, which was precisely 0.18 miles from the cache. Very cool. On Saturday night, the boys and some siblings of Pack 13 trudged through the woods and poison ivy to the cache, where they all traded items in and out. We left the cache MUCH better stocked than when we left it, and included Tux before sealing everything up. Great time, and we got to practice some orienteering skills as well. |  | |
| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD24-BYOP Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.5631° W 088.8754° Date Found: 6/8/2003 9:48 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry West of Chicago, almost E-W center of the state, near Leland, IL 33.83 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: I Camping!Back in December of 2001, the dashpoint GD06-03903 afforded me with a rare opportunity: a dashpoint had rested in the boundaries of a State Park. Even though it was only barely in the park, it brought Shabbona State Park to my attention. This weekend, my son the cub scout and his pack had a familiy camping weekend. When they were looking for suggestions to campsites, I suggested Shabbona, and we were greeted warmly. The weekend was great, including the Pack hunting "Shabbona Hollow Cache" (GC35EE) which was only 0.18 miles (290 meters) from our campsite. This was our youngest boy's first camping outing. We were reminded briefly of our oldest boy's first experience when he was three. All night long four years ago, he kept saying over and over, "I Camping! I Camping! I Camping!"After breaking camp on Sunday morning, I turned to SWMBO and said, "How crabby are you?" "I'm not really. What did you have in mind?""Mind if we take a little detour for a dashpoint?" "Sure. Why not." I love my wife.So we drove country roads in the general 180° direction to the point 14 miles away from camp, and pulled along side a little country road. The dashpoint is 50 meters east of the road in a corn field that is little more than ankle high. Just to the north is an "open shed" obiously belonging to the farmer living NW of the dashpoint. We pulled alongside of the road and flashed our hazard lights to take pictures (uploaded). A nice little diversion, and the third dashpoint this month for Team Markwell.3 points, please for Markwell and Team Trailblazers | |
A little valley to the south of the point, very scenic
From 50m east of the point, looking north at an open shed
From the dashpoint, looking NW at the farmer's house| Northern Border of Illinois by bspeng N 41° 38.261 W 088° 39.313 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/8/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| I can never seem to catch a break when I use the "find the nearest waypoint" feature on my GPS. Such was the case again here. I knew Sannauk's Simple Treasures cache had been in this park. I had even marked the sledding hill. I also knew that bspeng had "revitalized" this cache. I just didn't know it was a multi-stage. I'll be back now that I've taken a picture of the required information. |  | |
| The end of the runway by Smith N 41° 38.234 W 088° 39.080 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/8/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
All right - foiled with Northern Border of Illinois, I went on to this cache, at 0.20 miles away. Here's the mistakes:
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| LET’S PLAY DOCTOR by Dogdoc N 41° 50.550 W 088° 03.822 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/11/2003 Hunters: Kelly |
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 Freja |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Every once in a while, a cacher places a real head-scratcher. This was one of those. I knew where the cache was, but getting to it was something else.It started with some difficulty in parking. The suggested parking coordinates in the encrypted clue seemed kinda iffy, and the secondary ones, while OK, were not to my liking. However, once I found the right parking, it was only a couple hundred feet away.Evidently, the initially entered coordinates on the cache page were transposed, and that's what I had loaded into my GPS. Luckily, I figured out I was wrong, and looked at the cache page I had just printed off before lunch. Ah, 03.822 not 03.882.I got to the spot, knew my job, and figured everything out, snagging the travel bug in the process. But that left me precious little time for the other nearby cache: No Firest Here Please. | | |
| No Fires Here Please by Da Batt Man N 41° 50.504 W 088° 03.840 Difficulty: Terrain: Date First Tried: 6/11/2003 Date Found: 6/12/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Too many eyes of groundskeepers to do more than grab the initial coordinates. Anything more would have compromised the cache. I'll be back another day to snag the container.Came back the following day, and found the cache in last than five minutes. | | |
| Nucquette’s Rest by K9&Purr N 41° 21.423 W 088° 25.408 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/14/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| It was to be an adventurous day, and hopefully, I would hit the 200th find. This was our second stop - the first being an undisclosed location for possible cache placement with the Den4-Pack13 group. After driving up to the area, I quickly found the intended marker and got the necessary information. Seems like a rather simple virtual, and only gives me a "neat" instead of the WOW! that virtuals are supposed to give. But it was a very interesting diversion, and as the rest of the day would show, the only cache I would FIND today. | |  |
| A Good Turn by QBall&WillyH N 41° 20.207 W 088° 51.868 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Visited: 6/14/2003 Visitors: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| A rather interesting stop. My son the Cub Scout and his mom the Den Leader wanted to make a stop out in Ottawa at the Scouting Museum complete with its Pine Wood Derby track. Both boys enjoyed the race track, and my older son found the knot display particularly enjoyable (especially when he found the Figure 8 knot that he had been practicing).After a short visit to the museum, it was on to the "A Good Turn" cache. We did it as a drive-by, but it was quite interesting. Little did we know that Flag Day (June 14) is also "Founders Day" for the Ottawa Scouting Museum. An interesting stop over on this grand day. | |  |
| Cachiversary 1: Forget-Me-Nots N 41° 17.388 W 089° 01.595 Difficulty: Terrain: Original Placement Date: 3/13/2002 Date Pulled Due to New Restrictions: 2/23/2003 Date Replaced Under Guidelines: 6/14/2003 Hiders: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam |
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Freja |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Gosh - this was FUN! And this was the main reason we went out to where we did. Back in February, Dan North of the IDNR posted the IDNR Geocache policy in the Midwestern Forums. At that time, I had Knot_Lost pull my cache and he stored it in his Starved Rock Outfitters business (THANKS!). It wasn't until June 12 that I was able to get back in touch with the Land Manager for Starved Rock/Matthessien State Parks and talk to him about placement. We agreed on a location, and my follow up, and thus the cache was to be replaced!First stop in Utica was at the new location of the Outfitters to pick up the cache. Then we traded the items out of the ammo box and into a transparent rubbermaid container (to conform to policy). Next stop - the trail. Sam and Drew whined incessantly for the first quarter mile, and Sherry was ready to turn back because of it, but I knew from experience that they would eventually stop and settle in to good hiking.We got to the general area - and avoided much horse poop. When we got to the agreed-upon spot, I found a good hiding spot and took some pictures for the land manager. After swatting a few more mosquitos, we headed back.Now was the time for the part of the trip that Sammy was looking forward to the most - finding the Smiling Rock. Every time Sam had gotten a little whiny on this hike, we reminded him that we were going to find the smiling rock that he had seen on the computer. He would giggle and say "Yea!" and trudge on without complaint. We got to the area and Sam laughed with delight when he spotted it. Picture of the Markwells on the rock is posted below. So, the cache is back up waiting for its first new finders, and has a Travel Bug in it. Sherry and the boys were tired from the LONG hike, and Sam fell asleep before we even got to I-80 in Utica. | | |
Sherry, Drew and Sam on the Smiling Rock
Sam completely worn out after the hike.| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD24-BYJY Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.5688° W 089.3038° Date Found: 6/14/2003 5:29 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Farmland in the middle of northern Illinois, west of I-39 55.74 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: Mundane MendotaMy family and I were heading out for a day of maintenance and fun with the GPS. We started off by scoping out a locaion for a new cache and hitting a virtual. Then it was off to the Boy Scout Museum in Ottawa, Illinois, and then to replace my Cachiversary 1: Forget-Me-Nots cache.From there, Mendota was a short drive up I-39 and over to Route 34. Nothing really unusual about the trip, just lots of grids of gravel roads (typical for Illinois N-S and E-W roads dividing up farmland. The dashpoint was about 68 meters north of one of these roads, near a farm that was using Agri Gold corns seed (supplied by Bruce Beattie). There was a Winnebago camper by the farmhouse and a satellite dish in the yard. The field that held the dashpoint was a new crop of beans as was the field to the south. The field SW of the dashpoint was about mid-calf height corn. | |
Farmhouse that owns the dashpoint (NW of dashpoint)
Looking right at the point| Shabbona Hollow Cache by Gary & Isabelle N 41° 44.925 W 088° 51.137 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Revisited: 6/14/2002 Hunters: Kelly |
Tux the Penguin |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Came back to replace the log book that I had inadvertantly snagged last week with the scouts. Also grabbed Tux the Penguin for replacement back in our general area. | | |
| The Phoenix by Markwell N 41° 45.491 W 088° 51.441 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Hidden: 6/14/2003 Hider: Kelly |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| My wife and I had been wanting to place a cache with the Scouts last week, but since we were in a State Park and didn't have the permission, we couldn't. Upon further reflection of the map, we found that part of this large park area is actually the Chief Shabbona County Forest Preserve of DeKalb County and not a State Park. Cool.We took the remaining contents from Cachiversary 1: Forget-Me-Nots's cache fodder and some additional materials and used the ammo box from Matthessien and got everything ready. It was about 6:30 p.m. after a full day, so I just booked it into the preserve and found a fairly decent spot. Took the readings and I was back out in a VERY short time. Not by best cache placement, but it's a head scratcher. After the placement we were going to head out to the restaurant on the grounds of the state park, but it was closed. Instead we went to the Tempo Family Restaurant at Route 23 and 30 near Waterman. I would HIGHLY recommend the Tempo Omlette!Why the Phoenix? The Phoenix is a mythical bird that bursts into flames every 1000 years and then is reborn from the ashes. Since this cache was born from the discarded remains of the original Cachiversary 1, I thought it appropriate. | |
| Don’t Stop Here by Ron Schmars N 41° 38.503 W 088° 20.751 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/15/2003 Hunters: Kelly |
Steppenwolf |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Number 198 on my way to 200 The Mrs. said I could take a couple of hours in the afternoon to hit a few caches. The weather was gorgeous. I decided to head out and hit some of the "nearest caches" that had been nagging my proximity search for too long. This was the first (and the closest).The first stage of this multi was innovative, and I knew the second stage location quite well, seeing as I placed a stage of a multi-cache in this park in October, and subsequently found another cache here in February. Found the cache quickly and grabbed the Steppenwolf Travel Bug. On to the next one! | | |
| Skaters Waltz by Ron Schmars N 41° 41.824 W 088° 19.733 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/15/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Number 199 on my way to 200 This one almost got the best of me in two ways. I pulled up the closest cache on my GPS, and it indicated either this one or Son of Iron Giant. I was all set to hit the Son, when I got to Grove Road and Route 71. Traffic was backed up as far as I could see in ALL directions. Prairie Days - ugh! I crept my way east until I got past the intersection of Routes 34 and 71, and decided to continue on as originally planned - to this cache.The parking was extremely close, and I knew what to look for (as I had seen this micro in the Spyders Seed Cache when I found that one last month. Only problem was that as I was narrowing down the locations, I heard the tell-tale "BEEP-BEEP" of low batteries. Ah well, turned off the unit, found the cache and made it back to the car without incident. Then I "field dressed" the GPS in record time with a new set of batteries, and was on to number 200. | | |
| Over the Log Jam by jason.murray N 41° 43.412 W 088° 17.531 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/15/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Find Number 200!!! I got to the right parking and took the obvious path. I knew that I should have been on "X" side of the creek, but due to bikers and other trail hikers, that didn't seem to be prudent. So I stayed on "Y" side of the creek. Of course, that meant that I needed to cross the log jam. It was pretty sturdy, and held my considerable weight. I'm sure glad I had the extra grip of my hiking boots. Once on the correct side, I quickly figured out the cache placement. Traded stuff, signed the log, and was back out. This time, I stayed on the "X" side, so as to not have to cross the log jam again. It was easier, but it SURE looked like private property.  One more! | | |
| Rush to the Hospital by jason.murray N 41° 43.792 W 088° 16.445 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/15/2003 Hunters: Kelly |
Smylee |
Tux the Penguin |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Find Number 201 on my way to 200 Yea, I know - 201 on the way to 200, but it was the same afternoon.The parking for this one seemed the worst part. The cache owner indicates that you can "short cut" but that means parking on hospital property and bushwacking on to the trail. I saw two cop cars sitting in the lot where I would have parked, and didn't relish the fact that I might get hauled in for suspicious activity.I drove around for a while, and found an entrance to the trail about 0.4 miles from the cache, but there was no obvious parking there either. So I decided to take my chances in the parking lot.I parked, bushwacked and found the cache. I then donated a pint of blood to the local mosquitos (even though I was covered in deet), traded travel bugs (got Tux into the hospital and picked up Smylee) and headed back out.Once I got back to the parking lot, it was obvious the police had seen me even though they made no motion to pick me up. I decided to be forthright and pro-active. I walked over to the officers and politely talked to them about the trail, and asked where the best place to park would be for access. They indicated a location quite a distance away. I smiled and thanked them (they smiled back) and I was done for the day. Find #200 and I deposited Tux just where he needed to be: Rushed to the Hospital. | | |
Tux Checking In| PIGGY BACK by Dogdoc N 41° 51.979 W 088° 08.863 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Another lunch-time cache grab with Ugly Troll. Found the micro but it was virtually buried under a TON of poison ivy. Wow. If ever I need to show my son's scout troop what it looks like, I'll take them here. | | |
| UGLY TROLL by Dogdoc N 41° 52.092 W 088° 08.920 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2003 Hunters: Kelly | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| SPOILER AHEAD READ WITH CAUTION OK. This is one of the neater caches I've been on only because of where it's hidden. I have this affinity for great big large trees, and that's just what I found here. The exact hiding method I won't mention, but this immediate area of the park had 4 or 5 considerable-sized trees, making it a treasure trip for me. Cache was nothing remarkable, but the location (and the joke with the title and cache page) were very good. | | |
| A Shot in the Dark by Dad and the Dynamic Duo N 41° 49.731 W 088° 18.773 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/22/2003 Hunter: Kelly |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| (Click and drag over the text (highlight it) to read - get it? It's in the dark.) Bummer.I was REALLY excited about finding this cache. I've been looking forward to it ever since it went up in January. Of course, I would have to pick the longest day of the year to head out, but that's besides the point. There still should be more than adequate time after darkness sets in to find this cache. The park closes at 10:00 pm, and I pulled in to the lot at 9:00. Dad and the Dynamic Duo indicated that it should take about an hour, so I'm set.I start off on the trail quickly hoofing it, and shining my flashlight in the fading twilight desparately seeking the beacon.  I'm not really sure what to look for, so I'm scoping out everything, including the occassional light green firefly catching the corner of my eyes. Then I see it. No mistaking it. It's a green reflective beacon.Now I'm energized. I head down the path again almost at a run. Somewhere in the distance, I hear an emergency vehicle belt out a short "wonk-wonk."Wait - I'm supposed to look for the next beacon with my flashlight while I'm standing at the first one. D'oh!So I turn around and head back to the first marker. I do a full 360° with the flashlight. No second beacon. I do a couple more. Hmmmm. Nothing yet. Then I see it coming. Down the paved path is a police car approaching.
"Is that your blue Saturn out in the parking lot?""Um, Oldsmobile, but yea.""We need to close up the park." I looked at my watch - 9:13 "Doesn't the park stay open until 10:00?""Um, yea. But we've got some abnormal activity, so we need to close up." "Can I get a ride back to my car? Otherwise it will be about 5 minutes before I can get back there.""Nope. I'm heading out the other way." "OK - thanks"
Ah, well. No use arguing the point, so I head back to the car. Turns out the officer is waiting in his vehicle right next to the gate. I hop in to my car, thank him for letting me know that the gate was closing, and head off, muttering like Paw Rugg of The Hillbilly Bears.I'll be back. | |  |
| If You Feel Lucky, Step On Stage by m2orris N 41° 47.641 W 088° 04.894 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/24/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Jake the Intern | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Tried this one with our work's summer intern. He seemed interested in caching, so I figured I'd break him in on a lunch hour cache.We scoured the area for a good 10-15 minutes. Without many hiding places avaible, it didn't look good. We gave up after a decent search.Turns out that Greenback also went out and searched and came up empty handed. I'm actually kind of glad, since I would have been ticked if he HAD found it.The "intern" also went back after working hours and searched again with no luck. | | |
| This Month | Cumulative | ||
| Tried Caches | 15 | 288 | Not counting the return to the virtual Good Turn Cache |
| Found Caches | 10 | 203 | |
| Dashes | 4 | 94 | |
| Placed Caches | 1 | 25 | |
| Hitchhikers Released | 0 | 11 | |
| Replaced Caches | 1 |
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Last Updated:
Wednesday, June 25, 2003 10:00 CDT