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
April 2005
Who’s There by GeoRon
| Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Found this one rather quickly, even though it was a micro. The coords were good, and this was a great way to start off the day of hiking. |  |  |
Starting our adventureKnoch Knoch by seeker22
| Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Great hike along the trail. Got our shoes kind of muddy, but it was a very nice walk from Who’s There. Sammy complained a little about the mud, but the end result of finding the cache made it worth the while. This park never ceases to amaze me. Sherry found an actual arrow head at the cache site - doubtful that it had been placed by a cacher. | | |
Sam enjoying the area
Discussing the Cache
Arrow Head we found on the trail| Thumb Thing Elth by Markwell N 41° 42.415 W 088° 08.473 Difficulty:   Terrain:  Date Hidden: 4/2/2004 Hiders: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam |
Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
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What a great name for these caches. Knoch Knolls Park, which is home to a couple of my favorite caches (EAST MEETS WEST or you can’t get there from here. and Easter Egg Hunt) has had some new caches spring up - playing on the name Knoch Knolls.Knoch KnochWho's ThereTHUMBThumb, who?Thumb Thing Funny! I had been looking for a while at this park, and thought that one more cache on the south end would make a great circuit of caches. So, armed with a cache container, trinkets and a sense of adventure, me, the Mrs. and the boys ventured to the peninsula of Knoch Knolls park and placed a cache. The name? Thumb Thing Elth | |
Brothers enjoying a rest near the cache
It's bright out
Mr and Mrs MarkwellThumb Thing Funny! by seeker22
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  Prissy Kitty | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| We could have made a much shorter trek from where we placed the cache to finding this one, but it would have been much less adventure. I neglected to look at my printed aerial photography map of the park to see where the paths went, and missed the most direct path. So we bushwacked across some scrub prairie to the cache location. Cache was great, and a great punchline to the series of caches placed by area cachers. Grabbed a Travel Bug, too! | | |
Beaver signs and imitationsTHUMB by seeker22
| Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| This was the last of the series we would find today. Making about a 1 miles circuit of the park, this is now a fabulous series through one of my favorite places to hike. Today we saw evidence of raccoons, deer, beavers, hummingbirds and even saw a snake crossing our path. It was a good day! (Fabulous container here too). | | |
Drew enjoying a rest after the cache Click on Dash Icon to see the MapGD46-CAAS Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5955° W 088.3514° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/3/2005 9:35 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Wags Temperature: 55°F/13°C Between Yorkville & Plainfield, SW of Chicago, IL 7.11 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: Aux Sable Presbyterian Church and Abandoned Farm BuildingsWags, Sam and I had attempted this point back on April 1 at night, only to find that what I thought would be a farm house that I was able to drive up to and score was pitch black in the night. With no lights I didn't feel comfortable driving up with the younger Markwell and Wags. So we waited until Sunday morning.Much different in the daylight, the area was not a farmhouse, but abandoned farm buildings in the middle of tilled fields awaiting planting. There was a thin gravel road (as shown by the terra server image) that I was able to drive up (under the pretenses of asking permission to score) and score without ever leaving the car. There's about four buildings here in various states of disrepair and demise.Across the street to the west is the Aux Sable Presbyterian Church, literally a "little church in the country." It's about as far away from civilization as you could get, so it must serve the various farmers around the area. Nice drive on a warm sunny day in April. I didn't have my camera with me, but since it's so close, I may go back out and take photos again.3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers (and thus I have no outscored my abysmal GD45 score) |  |
| Erin’s Cache by Team WO9LF N 41° 32.112 W 088° 01.383 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Revisited: 4/3/2005 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew, Sam and Pack 13 |  | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| We went out as "Pack 13" again to Pilcher Park and I had my GPS as always. I knew that Erin's Cache was here, but I never pressed our being able to find it, as the Pack had found it last time we were out here. When it happened that we landed on the trail that was just a couple hundred feet from the cache, I explained it to the group and off we went. I had trade items for everyone, and no one was disappointed. Still a very cool cache. |  |  |
Pack on the March in April
Trading Trinkets
Afterwards| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD46-CAIC Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.6732° W 087.8231° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/9/2005 6:31 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Wags Temperature: 71°F/22°C Palos Park, IL - SW of Chicago 21.08 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: 121 Steps at Swallow Cliffs and a Nice HomeWhat a gorgeous day. Ths was such fun, I hope that Scout will endulge me a fourth photo.The area that GD46-CAIC lies in is one of the richest forested areas of the Chicago region. The Cook County Forest Preserve District has seen fit to capture and preserve forests in a great triange bounded by I-80 to the south, I-55 to the northwest and I-294 to the northeast. While we were in the area, we took it upon ourselves to visit the Swallow Cliff Toboggan Slide. My sons and Wags and I stopped off, talked to a very friendly Cook County Forest Preserve official and started hoofing up the stairs for a better view. My son counted 121 steep uneven steps to the top. From there we gandered all around at the forested area visible to the north. Quite a view.After heading back down, being passed by all of the exercise enthusiasts who use this instead of a stair-master, we took a few pics and romped with the dog before getting back into the car and finishing the dashpoint visit 2 miles away.The dashpoint is in Palos Park, a well-to-do suburb of Chicago, and the home that held the dashpoint did not disappoint. This was a simply gorgeous home with a turn-about driveway, and (according to the aerial shots) a pool in the back yard. Very, very nice. To let it be known that we were actually there: the front door on the house is a side-by-side double wooden door.Thanks to Scout for bringing me, the kids and the dog out here for some exercise and nice drive.3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers | |
Waiting at the bottom of the stairs
After 121 steps
Drew, Kelly and Wags
House with the DashpointWhere’s Waldo by Charles Street Gang
| Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
| Went to Veteran's Park on the way home. While I did this in business attire, in most circumstances, I would suggest not. I would also suggest exploring all possible access points to the cache. I did not, and was silly in getting there.But it was fun. | | |
Starry, Starry Night by Charles Street Gang
| Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache. |
A log that I'm particularly fond of, so I'll paste it here:
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Geo-Golf Course Completed Course: GGAAQYCourse Radius: 12.1 Center: 41.7067, -88.1909 Total Strokes: 32 3/18/2005 - 4/21/2005 GeoGolf is an offshoot of Geodashing, which uses randomly generated points. Geo-Golf utilizes a denser course of 18 “holes” - randomly generated points on the earth's surface radiating from a central point of the player's choosing and within a desired radius. The closer you are to the actual spot, the lower your score. An exact duplicate request for GGAAPG (ending March 18) |
| Hole | Latitude | Longitude | Date Hit | Markwell Name | Distance in Meters | Strokes | Description |
| GGAAQY-08 | 41.7081 | -88.2172 | 3/23/2004 | Across from Fry Elementary | 1.4 | 1 | Near 248th and 95th, Naperville |
| GGAAQY-13 | 41.7101 | -88.1741 | 3/23/2004 | This Road Has Sure Grown Up | 6.2 | 1 | 95th Street West of Plainfield/Naperville Rd |
| GGAAQY-07 | 41.7979 | -88.2037 | 3/21/2005 | Extended Stay America | 5.7 | 1 | Outside a Hotel, 59 and Diehl, Naperville |
| GGAAQY-03 | 41.7279 | -88.1977 | 3/21/2005 | But It's Not in the Preserve | 26.0 | 2 | Subdivision just west of Springbrook Golf Club |
| GGAAQY-14 | 41.6856 | -88.2064 | 3/21/2005 | Lamaze Revisited | 64.6 | 3 | Tamarack Subdivision, By Provena Outpatient |
| GGAAQY-18 | 41.7206 | -88.2820 | 3/22/2005 | Inflatable Buildings and Extra Garages | 61.0 | 3 | Sports Dome and Storage, 30 and 34 |
| GGAAQY-02 | 41.7337 | -88.2646 | 3/22/2005 | Condo Tennis | 9.8 | 1 | Behind Condos along 34 east of Copley |
| GGAAQY-15 | 41.7470 | -88.2226 | 3/22/2005 | Remote Angle of the Right Triangle | 6.6 | 1 | Intersection of 75th and Route 34 |
| GGAAQY-10 | 41.7551 | -88.1954 | 3/22/2005 | Turn Lane | 0.7 | 1 | Middle of Fort Hill Drive, South of 34 |
| GGAAQY-01 | 41.7013 | -88.1951 | 3/30/2005 | I've Been Here Before, But Not For Scoring So Well | 4.6 | 1 | Subdivision N of 103rd and E of 59 |
| GGAAQY-12 | 41.7791 | -88.1176 | 4/1/2005 | Go Spartans | 3.9 | 1 | Neighborhood off Chicago and Naper |
| GGAAQY-11 | 41.6181 | -88.2114 | 4/1/2005 | Bypass and Parade Route | 87.4 | 3 | Near New Van Dyke Road and Old Van Dyke Road |
| GGAAQY-06 | 41.6739 | -88.1713 | 4/2/2005 | Farm Field to east of Plainfield Naperville | 83.7 | 3 | Just south of 111th Street near Joe's Flower Shop |
| GGAAQY-17 | 41.6601 | -88.1176 | 4/9/2005 | Frontage Road Scrub | 74.3 | 3 | Along I-55 near Windham Business Park (near Weber Road), Bolingbrook |
| GGAAQY-09 | 41.7715 | -88.2510 | 4/9/2005 | Backyard of the Condos by Park | 25.3 | 2 | Liberty and Eola - Subdivision to the West, Aurora |
| GGAAQY-04 | 41.7231 | -88.3223 | 4/16/2005 | Behind the Wendy's | 9.2 | 1 | Douglas and Route 30, Montgomery |
| GGAAQY-05 | 41.7502 | -88.0626 | 4/21/2005 | Busy Corner | 33.0 | 2 | Intersection of 75th Street and Route 53, Bolingbrook |
| GGAAQY-16 | 41.7012 | -88.0981 | 4/21/2005 | The New Subdivision | 42.2 | 2 | New Subdivision in Bolingbrook, southwest of Boughton and Schmidt Roads |
| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD46-BYYM Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 42.4179° W 088.7059° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/22/2005 1:04 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sherry Temperature: 42°F/6°C Harvard, IL - NNW of Chicago 58.86 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: The Brick ChurchWe were headed up to Lake Geneva, WI for our annual retreat with 300 high school kids. I usually find the time to hit at least one dash for the weekend, and I had scoped out two. My wife was along for the trip, and we got a later start than I had wanted, but we eventually found the right road to our target. Following the aptly named County Line Road straight north, we straddled McHenry and Boone counties until we reached ground zero. We were only 5 meters from the point while on the road, so we took our readings and looked around. There was a beige farmhouse right to the west of the road with green shutters and a silo - but otherwise, open farmland as far as the eye can see.As we continued on we eventually took the roads that got us to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and turned east. Thus, we were straddling the state line as well. If my wife who was drive were to pass a car and go to the left lane, we would be north of the state line and thus in Wisconsin, but most of the time we were south of the border.The only other interesting tidbit was getting to Aurora University in Williams Bay by way of Brick Church Road. There was even a sign for the Brick Church. We wondered what all of the fuss was...Finally we saw it: a church that was made of bricks (I'll wait for a while so you can digest that thought...) There was nothing grand or splendid or even mildly shocking about this church. It just happened to be made of bricks.I guess it doesn't take as much to get the locals excited.3 already reported points for Markwell and Trailblazers | |
| Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD46-CACU Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 42.1762° W 088.1334° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/24/2005 3:24 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sherry Temperature: 61°F/16°C Barrington, IL - NW of Chicago 37.17 miles from home | Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint. |
| Dashpoint Name: The Cuba Marsh in BarringtonAfter the weekend with the kids (and a Great weekend it was), my wife dozed in the car, sawing logs. I was left to my own devices to stay awake and get us safely hoome. So - I focused on the remaining unvisited dashpoint in the greater-Chicago area. CACU is in Barrington, Illinois, home of stately estates, lush vegetation on the sprawling lawns, quaint shopping centers, and the Cuba Marsh. In describing the Marsh forest preserve, ChicagoWildernessMag.org says..."The 130 acres of wetland include a hemimarsh, a mixture of plants and open water that attracts a great variety of birds. Endangered species such as pied-billed grebes, least bitterns, and yellow-headed blackbirds all nest there." Cool.The point itself lies in the yard of one of the houses just to the west of the preserve, and while we were there, we saw numerous redbud trees in bloom as well as lush rhododendrons. Since the latter plants don't naturally thrive around here (believe me my wife has tried) someone with a very green thumb lives at this two story house.3 already reported points for Markwell and Trailblazers | |
| This Month | Cumulative | ||
| Tried Caches | 6 | 425 | |
| Found Caches | 6 | 317 | Not counting the revisit to Erin's Cache |
| Dashes | 4 | 197 | |
| GeoGolfCourses Completed | 0 | 13 | |
| Placed Caches | 1 | 29 | |
| Hitchhikers Released | 0 | 15 |
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Last Updated:
May 1 2005 16:45 CDT
April 17 by Markwell (316 found)