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

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March 2006

Northwest Community Park by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 39.040 W 088° 14.400 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, GeoHo, CarleenP, Stunod

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

FIRST FOR THE DAY (FIRST FIND) We started out the day, and I had noticed that there was a series of brand new caches right by my house - so we made a quick stop to see if we could be First to Find. Of course, GeoRon had already beaten us by 30 minutes.

Ozzie by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 50.005 W 088° 22.404 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

SECOND FOR THE DAY (SECOND FIND) After arriving at Nelson Forest Preserve, being accosted by a poodle, and waiting for our fifth member (Trippy1976) to arrive, we trudged off to find the first cache. The coordinates pointed to a very obvious stump, but evidently the coordinates are WAY off. CarleenP found the cache some 100+ feet away.

Nel (or Half Nelson) by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 49.866 W 088° 22.495 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

THIRD FOR THE DAY (THIRD FIND) So we trekked on and came upon this site. Not too bad, but the final spot was RIGHT out in the open (as some of the linked pictures show). So we quickly signed and retreated from the angry dog...

Full Nelson by claypigeon58 N 41° 49.778 W 088° 22.845 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

FOURTH FOR THE DAY (FOURTH FIND) GREAT cache - best of the day, IMHO, and the one most likely to be the one added to my Top 10%. Clever hide, full-sized box, farthest from the parking lot - JUST PLAIN GOOD. And I had good company to boot!

Neckbone by Tripconey N 41° 50.443 W 088° 22.647 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

FIFTH FOR THE DAY (FIFTH FIND) Clever, clever. As the pictures show, it's a skull - hence "Neckbone" - and we just couldn't help but play with it like we were in some Shakespearean play.

Well Hung by Tripconey N 41° 50.483 W 088° 22.422 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

SIXTH FOR THE DAY (FIRST NO FIND) So we're walking the path, and we see this disabled cache. Trippy1976 says "But it's only a couple hundred feet over there!" and the lemmings follow him. It wasn't there.

The Kids Are Alright by Tripconey N 41° 50.219 W 088° 22.270 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

SEVENTH FOR THE DAY (SIXTH FIND) Nice, albeit predictable, cache. Good container, though and decent enough spot. But I'm surprised it hasn't been muggled in the nine months that it's been active.

Quarter Nelson by GeoRon N 41° 49.908 W 088° 22.242 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

EIGHTH FOR THE DAY (SEVENTH FIND) Good coords for a micro in the woods. I never thought that *I* would be the one to find it first though. Stunod was almost standing on it at one point.

Turn Up The Radio by Tripconey N 41° 51.935 W 088° 25.480 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

NINTH FOR THE DAY (EIGHTH FIND) OK - time for a lunch break. It's 2:15 and we're all HUNGRY. Stunod suggests Chipolte, and having never been there, I agreed. Best dang burrito I've had! But now I'm stuffed, and we're ready to head on to the next park. After we all take a slightly wrong turn, missing the shortcut, we get to the parking lot and start heading out. I haven't been to Johnson Mound since November of 2001 when I found Dudley's Enchanted Forest. This was a really nice return trip, and the first one was really good - chocked FULL of travel bugs. I snagged the Cheshire Cat. On the way in, we met up with a real cool Golden Retriever Pup (4 months old) and the owners, who had actually HEARD of Geocaching! How cool.

Two by Two by claypigeon58 N 41° 52.022 W 088° 25.753 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

TENTH FOR THE DAY (SECOND NO FIND) We searched and searched and searched. My GPS went WONKY out here (1029 MPH and said that it was August 16, 2008), and we even called home to get corrected coordinates. No luck. But I did get a decent shot of all 5 of us.

High But Not Up by GeoRon N 41° 51.828 W 088° 25.664 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

ELEVENTH FOR THE DAY (NINTH FIND) First spotter in the group! Yea me! Sun is getting darker now, and the air a bit chillier, but we can still keep on going!

Blackberry Maples Micro by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 50.463 W 088° 27.205 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

TWELFTH FOR THE DAY (TENTH FIND) Our last park for the day. We started in an easterly circle, and came upon the typical micro hide. I had suggested that it might be right near the errant traffic cone on the edge of the forest preserve, but nope.

Sweet Maples Once More by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 50.343 W 088° 27.287 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

THIRTEENTH FOR THE DAY (ELEVENTH FIND) Very nice cache, even though the bridge stumped us all. Heavy metal, but didn't seem to be "bridging" anything. Later logs indicate that this area floods, but we saw no evidence today. Cool cache, but it's definitely getting colder. Trippy1976 comments that there's only about 20 minutes until sundown.

Jared's 5 Armed Cache by 2772 N 41° 50.440 W 088° 27.464 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

FOURTEENTH FOR THE DAY (TWELFTH FIND) I'm now wishing I had my full jacket that I left in the car. This cache is a Tang container - NOT waterproof, and there's a funky smell eminating from it. Ewww. I take a mildewy mini-sneaker to make into a really gross Travel Bug, and I sacrificed the map of the day to become the new temporary log book.

Rock A By Baby by GeoRon N 41° 50.523 W 088° 27.585 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/4/2006 Hunters: Kelly, CarleenP, Stunod, Trippy1976, GeoHo

Stu-Mark-Ho-Leep

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

FIFTEENTH FOR THE DAY (THIRTEENTH FIND) Last cache, and just as gross on the inside as the last. I ripped up a Google Earth map after we rummaged around for the cache, and we had Stunod sign our names. On the way out of the forest, there were some English riders on three horses. Cool. We milled around the parking lot for a while, taking photos with Travel Bugs and saying Goodbye to Trippy1976. Then it was a short drive back to GeoHo's car at the Home Depot just south of Orchard and I-88 and then back to my house. What a great day!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CAIJ Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5331° W 087.4991° State: Indiana Date Found: 3/25/2006 6:55 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 38°F/3°C Munster, Indiana 38.50 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: I always liked Marilyn best, but I also like Cheddar After exiting I-80 just east of the Indiana border, we headed down route 41 into the town of Munster, Indiana (presumably named after the cheese and not Herman). This dashpoint was just south of Highway 45 and into a subdivision whose main entrance was Poplar. There was a little turn around just opposite the point where we could stop the van and take a picture out the window. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CAYW Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.7227° W 085.0244° State: Indiana Date Found: 3/25/2006 9:45 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 41°F/5°C Far Northeastern Indiana at the intersection of Interstate 69 and Interstate 80 165.48 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Pokagon: Gotta Catch Them All After driving almost the entire length of the Indiana Toll Road, we got off at the intersection of I-80 and I-69 and headed into the area of Pokagon State Park. The dashpoint itself was in a small turnabout next to a group of homes who all have slips in their backyards ending in the body of water that lies within Pokagon State Park. We pulled up to the drive and reached within the magic circle and closest approach next to a home with a weeping cherry tree in the back yard (photo to be uploaded later). 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Life's a Beech by SafariBob & Tweety N 41° 43.060 W 085° 00.803 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/25/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We tried this one, since it was so close to the dashpoint we had just hit, but the road indicated on Streets and Trips didn't really exist. Turns out that was the trail. I did find an entry point for the nature preserve, but it had NO trail, and that wasn't what we wanted. By the time we realized what the trailhead was, we found that it was a 1.5 mile loop and we were already 25 minutes behind schedule for the day - so no find, but I did log the bugs in and out to rack up the mileage.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CIIC Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.7271° W 083.6561° State: Ohio Date Found: 3/25/2006 11:40 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 52°F/11°C Toledo, Ohio, right on the border of Ohio and Michigan 236.04 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Living on the Edge This point is an amazing little anomaly, almost right on the border of Ohio and Michigan - probably about 30-40 feet south of the border. There’s plenty of other areas in Ohio that are farther north in area east of Cleveland, but for the rest of the state, you’d be hard pressed to get a more northern for the area west of the dip of Lake Erie. Probably due to a lack of cooperation in the surveyors in the area, the road heading north to the dashpoint abruptly turns at the state line and heads east for about 300 meters, and then turns due north again (although there is a lake to the north as well). The direct area around the dashpoint looks like it’s undergoing a revival of old homes being torn down and replaced with newer, larger and more expensive homes. The point itself is smack at the corner where Flanders Road turns to the east, and there’s a small gravel pull off that allowed us to gather ourselves and mark the point. The farm to the southwest of the point sported a full size horse, and a Shetland pony out grazing in a fenced farm area. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Way Out In "B.F.E." by Tired Angel N 41° 33.639 W 083° 25.069 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/25/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

First successful cache hunt of the trip. Man - it was COLD. We left Illinois and the weather was pleasant, but we got on the other side of Lake Michigan and the wind picked up and the temps dropped below 50°F - my normal minimum for caching. I donned my jacket and then braved the cold, finding the container empty except for the log book, so I found a piece of bark and scratched my name into the book. Bug Drop and Capture again, as I didn't want to abandon either one here.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CIJO Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5508° W 083.3781° State: Ohio Date Found: 3/25/2006 2:15 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 48°F/9°C Southeast of Toledo, Ohio 250.73 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Middle of BFE After a lunch at Applebee’s for the family, we hit the road again with me behind the driver’s seat, and my wife and youngest son promptly fell asleep. Both my oldest boy and I were wide awake, but the weather was turning icky on this side of the lake. Rain was turning into freezing rain, which was turning into snow. After traveling through the main area of the city, I soon realized that Interstate 75 wouldn’t get me where I needed to go, so I got off and headed to downtown Toledo, passing by the Mudhen’s Stadium and Pocko’s, made famous by Jamie Farr in the TV show M*A*S*H. Soon we were crossing a neat-o suspension bridge going over the Maumee River, and picking up Interstate 280 to the dashpoint. First, though, I stopped and picked up GCAB38, a cache called Way Out In "B.F.E.". I have a general guideline that I don’t like to cache in temperatures less than 50°F/x°C, and now I remember why. There was a BITING cold wind in my face after finding the cache and returning to the car. A short drive later, and I was in Clay Center, near the intersection of Township Road 53 and Winfield Road. Oddly enough, no llamas at this point along the trip. On Sunday, March 26, we started off the day to drive the rest of the way to D.C., and made a quick stop across the West Virginia border to find the Rest 81 cache (GCGZTH), and we DID see some llamas near mile marker 1 and Hykes Road off to the east, gently grazing in the grass. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Rest 81 by Phideo N 39° 35.280 W 077° 50.799 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/26/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We specifically did this one because I wanted to say I had "cached" in West Virginia. So we hopped across the border, parked the car, found the cache and took some pictures, and continued on our journey back to Washington DC.

Uncommon Valor by jandkl N 38° 53.427 W 077° 04.188 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/26/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I had visited Arlington before, but this cache gave us a new reason to really search the length. It's a terrain 1.0, but really, based on the distance alone, it should be a 2 or 3 even though it's almost handicapped accessible. We found the first point, the first grave and the second grave, but just ran out of time.

The Summer House by Roostermiesters N 38° 53.483 W 077° 00.634 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/27/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Very cool - sorry for the pun. My wife and I had both been to DC prior to this, but had never even NOTICED this location, and many others in DC today on this WARM day were the same.

Capitol View by Buddhavista N 38° 53.386 W 077° 00.591 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/27/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Cool pictures - need I say more? There were a lot of people here today protesting the new imigration laws being proposed. Al Sharpton was preaching as we came out.

General of the Armies by Salvo N 38° 53.753 W 077° 01.945 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/27/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Pretty easy virtual - but a nice resting spot on a long day of walking. There was some interesting history at the memorial, but I'm not sure this was worth a "virtual" on the newer guidelines.

Expanse of Freedom by Salvo N 38° 53.753 W 077° 01.900 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/27/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Now I see why they tightened up the regulations on caches. Oy - less than 250 feet from the Pershing one, and um - it's info is hardly difficult to find.

FDR Memorial by Jorgy! (adopted by mtn-man) N 38° 52.960 W 077° 02.523 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/28/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Very cool memorial - having a friend who is bound to a chair, this is very fitting. It was great to be here when the blossoms were in bloom. At least it was for me - my son with allergies wasn't so lucky.

The view of an "Honest Man" by wv-explorers N 38° 53.355 W 077° 03.021 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/28/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Been here before, but very nice to visit again. My boys are kind of "toured-out" having seen a lot of memorials in a very few days.

I can see Lincoln by Robert L. and Dawn L. N. Dutra N 38° 53.263 W 077° 02.847 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/28/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Nice visit after the Honest Man. I had not been to this one before, even though my dad served during this conflict.

Wash National Cathedral by pkpaul N 38° 55.807 W 077° 04.297 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 3/29/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

What can I possibly say about this one? The scale of this cathedral is beyond words, and the docent did a great job giving us the tour, but I think the boys have had it - time to head home.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CYMI Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 39.7275° W 075.6672° State: Delaware Date Found: 3/30/2006 11:41 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 67°F/19°C Northwest of Wilmington Delaware 670.75 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: My first dash only worth 1 point Small little house red brick ranch house in the subdivision, with “Lawn Care” trailer in the driveway. Since so many have already written a description, I can't do much better. 1 point for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CYKY Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 40.2295° W 075.7187° State: Pennsylvania Date Found: 3/30/2006 4:46 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 71°F/22°C North of Philadelphia, PA 659.64 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Old Spiky Bridge After visiting the factory of Schulmerich Handbells in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, we trotted over to this dashpoint. It was on the way, but the roads were winding and a little more slow in the traveling. Both Mrs. Markwell and I commented that this was gorgeous country to drive through with wooded forests and hills on either side of the winding roads - nothing like the flat plains of Illinois. When we turned on to Temple Road next to a small church, we had a spectacular view of a small valley below, right off of a Currier and Ives print, had it been winter. This was breathtaking. We traveled down the road and came to a small gulley where we reached 17 meters on a small stone bridge that must have been laid many, many years ago. We both found it EXTREMELY interesting that the bridge itself had pointed stones on top so that the top edge of the bridge sincerely looked like this: ^^^^^^ A marker on a nearby telephone pole indicated a 707 and a 30, so that will claim my close score. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Paw Prints by G(e)O NINA! & Aji N 40° 14.995 W 076° 39.960 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/31/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I thought it would be cool to find a Letterbox Hybrid on this trip near Hershey Pennsylvania - but I'm not sure the cache is even still there. I looked for quite a while (picking up a tick on the way), but didn't see it. Subsequent logs indicate that it's not been found there since.

Captain Jack's Cache by basher_boy and pandagirl N 40° 32.570 W 077° 45.552 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 3/31/2006 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam

Kitten 4

Smelly Old Sneaker

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This was the coolest hike of the whole trip. Terraserver images of the topo map put it as a ridge at about 1900 feet and a road running along the spine. I think I know where the cache is, but since I didn't have the encrypted hint, I never found it. Bummer. This would have been a cool cache to leave my Smelly Sneaker in.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD57-CUDU Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 40.6176° W 077.7514° State: Pennsylvania Date Found: 3/31/2006 1:15 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 74°F/23°C Northwest of Harrisburg, PA 550.85 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Sunrise Masonry and the Pennsylvania Dutch This was to be the last stop on the way home from our trip to Washington DC. We had stayed in Hershey, Pennsylvania for the best chocolate cake (with peanut butter icing) we have ever had (one piece feeds four or five people), and a quick stop at Chocolate World for some purchases and we were off heading northbound to pick up Interstate 80 and head home. But we would also be making two stops - one at a cache that really looked interesting: Captain Jack's Cache - GC88F0 - very cool even though I took a DNF on it, and the dashpoint just five miles to the north, CUDU. This was Pennsylvania Dutch country, and obviously an Amish valley. The road was littered with road apples (horse poop), and the homes sported children playing in the yards instead of glued to the video games. The actual point was in the driveway of the business of Sunrise Masonry, and pulling up into the establishment, which was also the home, we scored, and were able to turn around and leave quietly. I doubt that any of the locals would have had an appreciation for the art of reaching a specific point on the earth for no reason other than to visit it and claim 3 imaginary points for a game with no prizes. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

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Last Updated:
April 13 2006 16:00 CDT