Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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August 2004

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD38-BYZY Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.3459° W 088.1267° State: Illinois Date Tried: 8/8/2004 11:25 am Hunters: Kelly Joliet Arsenal, between Elwood and Wilmington, IL 21.21 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Arsenal History Douq wrote: >but the streets around there have an interesting pattern, perhaps a collection >of transshipment warehouses near all those train tracks. I'll >have to wait for Markwell's report to find out what's there... OK - the point is completely unreachable, but is chock FULL of interesting history. The Joliet Army Ammunition Plant (JAAP), originally known as the Elwood Ordinance Plant (EOP) and the Kankakee Ordinance Works (KOW), and later as the Joliet Arsenal, was authorized by the federal government in 1940 to produce ammunition and explosives for the U.S. military. To construct the plant, 36,645 acres were purchased at a cost of $8,175,815. Construction costs totalled over $81 million. Seventy-seven such plants were built during World War II to support wartime needs. At the time they were built, the Joliet plants were considered the largest, most sophisticated munitions plants in the world. Both the Elwood and Kankakee plants became a training base that supported the Allies' effort. At peak production during WW II, over 10,425 people were employed at the two plants. The Elwood facility loaded over 926,000,000 bombs, shells, mines, detonators, fuzes, and boosters, and the Kankakee facility set a national record producing over one billion pounds of TNT. In 1993, the 23,500 acre Joliet Army Ammunition Plant 40 miles southwest of Chicago was declared excess federal land. The Joliet Army Training Area remains Army property and is still used for Army National Guard training. From JADA.org Joliet Arsenal Development Authority, whose purpose is "to facilitate and promote the utilization of property formerly occupied and used by the United States government as an ammunition plant and arsenal and to replace and enhance the economic benefits generated by those former uses with diversified projects and land uses that will create new job opportunities and foster new economic development within the area." From prairiepages.com/arsenal.html In February 1996, the area was designated as the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie - 19,000 acres that were part of the arsenal site which straddles Illinois Highway 53 (old Route 66) south of Joliet. And from www.cem.va.gov/nchp/abrahamlincoln.htm The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery lies in the northwestern area of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant, approximately 50 miles south of Chicago. So... This dashpoint lies on the old Joliet Arsenal (or Army Ammunition Plant) - hence the strange road layout and the trains leading in and out of the area. The arsenal has been mostly vacant for many years, and is undergoing some "sprucing" by transformation into a tallgrass prairie, an industrial park, and a National Veteran's Cemetery. There was much talk at one point of converting some of the land to a third Chicago airport to alleviate congestion at O'Hare Airport, but I think most of the talk has died down. The point is clearly unreachable except for all save Aquadyne or Bob!! - if they ask really nice - since it is behind a high chain link fence. Warnings abound like "No Tresspassing - violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law" and "U.S. Army: Restricted Area". The closest I could get was at 546 meters due west along the old Route 53. I was hopeful that the Midewin Prairie entrance might get me closer, but it doesn't look like they offer tours of the area, and that parking area was 600+ meters southwest of the point. At the closest spot, there was a natural gas pipe access, an electrical post marked with F356893 and across the street a billboard for a 200S Ford Focus (Slogan: I'd rather be down there with you"). Unreachable, but still fun!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD38-CAAS Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.9371° W 087.8624° State: Illinois Date Found: 8/11/2004 3:41 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sam, Wags Belmont and 25th, Northlake, IL 27.76 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Belmont Auto Tech This is my closest drive-by this month. The point lies just to the northeast of the intersection of Belmont and 25th Street in Northlake, IL, a near NW suburb of Chicago. As dmichael7 pointed out, the point lies within scoring distance near the grounds of Belmont Auto Tech, but can be scored at 28 meters by driving on Belmont. Interesting that my paths to and from took me past two recognizable dashpoints. First: GD09-04024 from March 1 of 2002, at Sun Chemicals (a failure due to the 6 foot chain link fence), and then AFTER hitting this dashpoint, GD02-295 - my first ever scored dashpoint in game 2 at an outdoor mall. What was an AMES store is now a HOBO store (a cheaper versionj of Home Depot - a home improvement store). Cool. As this has already been reported by dmichael7, 2 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Cloud Gate aka The Bean by Greenback N 41° 52.956 W 087° 37.380 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/13/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This was our first visit to the new Millenium Park in Chicago. A little expensive on the parking ($12!), but definitely worth it. The boys had a blast looking at the bean in all its glory. Probably the most fun were the shots from completely underneath the bean.

Between a Rock and a Wet Place by c+c N 41° 40.286 W 088° 03.621 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 8/14/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Jamie Z

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

When Jamie Z e-mailed and said he would be passing through and wanted to cache, I said - NO PROBLEM. Since he was coming from the north, I scoped out three caches near the southern edge of I-355, all 3 in this park. I had visited Passage to India previously, but not this or the other one (One Flew...). This was quite the ingenious hide. My GPS was a little screwy with the canopy of late summer, but Jamie Z spotted it before I did. Clever hide, and one I may duplicate in the future.

Passage To India by Eagle Son N 41° 40.245 W 088° 03.464 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 2/18/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Jamie Z

Steppenwolf

RCT2

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

As I had visited this one before, I thought I wouldn't have any trouble revisiting it. MUCH different hike than I did back in February of 2002. Tried 3 different but similar locations before finding the right spot. Dropped off two TBs that have been in my possession too long.

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by c+c N 41° 40.131 W 088° 03.598 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 8/14/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Jamie Z

Dru's Nuts

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We looked around for quite a while, after a GREAT hike to the cache (there ARE hills in Illinois!). Unfortunately, we were getting pressed for time for both my schedule and I believe Jamie's as well. So we missed out on this one, even though we think we might have seen where it WAS hidden. I sent a picture to the cache owner to verify... Jamie handed me Dru's Nuts back in the parking lot of the Jewel. Thanks to Jamie for taking this old cacher out on a great hike.

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Last Updated:
September 2 2004 14:00 CDT