I started out this year wanting to reach a GeoCaching “threshold”. I wanted to reach a “landmark” find.
I had my eye set on 400. Throughout the year I was slowly making my way towards that number, but then trailed off. After leaving deer hunting camp this year, I planned a massive push to find a slew of GeoCaches in and around the area I hunt, and by the time it was all said and done, I was WELL within the reach of my goal!
But, after a few more finds, I stagnated out and have been stalled at 399 finds for a while now. I kept putting off that last find, thinking there was always going to be time to find it. Days turned into weeks, and the weeks kept piling up.
The saving grace was that I did not have to work on New Years Eve – so in the back of my mind, I always had one last minute option, but it didn’t help that I had Backside of Fortypressuringmocking inspiring me to achieve my goal.
Well, I took it down to the wire. I waited until 30 minutes before sundown to actually head out. I loaded up my GPS. I grabbed my current inventory of Travel Bugs and Geo Coins, I took #4 of 5 and #5 of 5 with me and we ventured out into the sub zero wind chill.
The GeoCache I planned was less than a mile from my house. I had found the matching cache a couple of months previously, so I was pretty confident. We parked the car and headed out to the “beacon”.
There, in the cold wind, with the silo as our backdrop – and my trusty daughters #4 of 5 and #5 of 5 beside me for support – I found my four-hundredth GeoCache, and achieved my GeoCaching goal for 2014!
It had been a couple of years since my last GeoCaching adventure in Duluth. MUCH earlier this year I asked Best Bud Ed what he thought about doing it again. Ed was all for it, so we scheduled a weekend (several months in advance) to ensure it would work out.
Ed lives in one of the hardest hit areas of the 2012 Duluth Flood. (For more photos, check out here.) While I have been to Ed’s place since the flood, and have seen some of the damage done (from a distance) – I had not really had a opportunity to see the damage UP CLOSE and PERSONAL.
We decided to GeoCache around one of the nearby Trail Heads to the Superior Hiking Trail. This trail starts at Mission Creek Trail and winds in and around the creek gorge until it meets up with the SHT. This area was one of the major sources of flood damage to the area. According to the Mission Creek Trail web page…
“Mission Creek trailhead is just above the DNR holding dam which was built to catch and hold logs and other debris from spring runoff or heavy rains.”
That holding dam caught TONS (literally) of debris from several significant mud slides. Once the dam was blocked, the creek flooded and filled the town with flood water.
As you can see from the “terrain map” (and/or Topo map) below, Mission Creek cuts through a DEEP gorge in the landscape, and is subject to some “significant’ elevation changes.
Last year after the flood, we visited Ed and his family. He took us around and (as best as he could) showed us much of the damage that occurred. Many areas were completely inaccessible – so we could only get so far in to see.
This GeoCaching trip would take us deep into Ground Zero of the flood, and over / through / around many of the mudslides that ultimately caused the flooding of Ed’s town.
It’s been just under a year now since the flood – and unfortunately due to the economy – the cleanup is only partially complete, and there has been little (if any) actual repair to the damage. The trail we walked is still “officially” closed (photos below will indicate why) – but hikers, sightseers, and GEOCACHERS still regularly use the access.
In these two photos, we are past the most significant obstruction. Here you see the trail has been completely washed away. We are looking back toward the parking area which is way off in the distance. From the left edge of that photo to where the trail would have been is another wash out. That is a tiny little “stream” coming down from the hill. In the second photo (the one with Ed poised on the edge of the washout) you can see a portion of the culvert that USED TO run under the trail and out to where it would spill into Mission Creek. This is (I believe) one of the primary areas / reasons why the trail is closed. We had to navigate up that little stream until we could find a safe crossing, then make our way back down the stream to where the trail picked up again.
That was not the the only place the trail disappeared. Further down the trail we came to another area where the trail ended, and we had to ‘bushwhack” our way around a number of obstacles. (Downed trees and some significant mudslides… I call them “mudslides”, but the were actually “clay slides”. Very dense, wet, and VERY SLIPPERY clay…)
Here, you see me on the edge of yet another wash out. This one was further down the trail from the first one. The photo was taken from ahead on the trail, looking back.
As we progressed along the trail (and often off-trail), we were ascending the gorge. The further we ascended, the less trail washout we encountered. Instead we found ourselves having to cross a number of the mud clay slides.
Once we made it to the top of the gorge, it was very interesting to see where these mud clay slides originated.
They start relatively small, but as they progress down the hill, they wipe out more and more, cutting a wider and wider swath of devastation as the travel.
From this vantage point, you could hardly tell how significant this mudslide really was. The results all but decimated a small town.
Here we are. at one of the highest points of elevation. It’s difficult to see in the photos, but one wrong step and it’s going to be a quick (and I would suspect, painful) trip to the bottom.
Left: Another portion of the trail. Right along the ridge. Center: The same trail – with Ed a few yards ahead of me. Right: Ed, logging a cache find. LOGGING a cache find from the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! It’s amazing what technology will allow us to do.
We stumbled upon one anomaly. Something we both found pretty interesting. Think about this one. How does this happen?? I know how a tree braches off and becomes two trucks as it grows up, but how does two separate and distinct different trunks grow back together into one tree??
All totaled on our first outing… Five caches found for five caches attempted. A total of four hours, 4.2 miles and assent / decent of over 600 ft (highest elevation point was 984 feet and the lowest was 335 feet).
Thanks to my GPS and Everytrail.com – you can follow us along our journey!
Once we made it home, we enjoyed a well deserved (and amazingly cooked) dinner of Stuffed Pork Chops from Superior Meats while #3 of 5 and I tried to warm up / dry off near the fire.
Ed and I had previously discussed the possibility of trying to find a couple of “night caches”.
Night Caches are GeoCaches with night time attributes – such as reflective tacks - that lead you from waypoint to waypoint in order to aid you finding the GeoCache.
We never found any Night Caches in the immediate area to attempt, but Ed had another idea! Once we finished dinner and got the younger kids settled into bed – Ed, #3 of 5, and I headed out to find a couple of nearby Caches that Ed already knew about.
We Geoached by the light of the moon – only since it was so cloudy and overcast, we actually GeoCached by the light of our flashlights!!
One hour, nearly two miles, and three found GeoCaches later – we headed back home to call it a day!!
During my second and final day in Duluth, it was raining. It was very wet, cold, and windy. Much of the day was spent in Ed’s garage, playing cribbage, smoking cigars, drinking beer, and watching episodes of Sherlock and Dragnet.
Yes, before call me out on this, let me be the first to point it out… The deck of cards we were playing with do say “Sexy Girls” on them. But, it’s not what you think! They are reproductions from classic paintings of “Pin Up Girls” by well known artist Gil Elvgren. His work spans from the late 1930’s to the early 1970’s.
Honestly, between the beer, cigars, and these cards - I truly believe that Ed was trying to distract me from my most excellent cribbage playing skills!!
We decided that rain or shine, we would make one more attempt at GeoCaching before I had to head for home. We scoped out a nearby Multi-Cache (a GeoCache with two or more components to it) that was also near another traditional cache, and headed out.
The first phase of the Multi-Cache was located in a nearby park, located near the mouth of the St. Louis River and Mission Creek called John Jacob Astor Park. It required us to locate some data from a plaque within the park about the park’s history in the Fur Trade of early America, decipher that into data that was converted into GPS coordinates.
Again at John Jacob Astor Park, the mud, clay and damage from last year’s flood was still very prominent. There was still a layer of mud, silt, and clay from the previous mud slides all around us.
We took the deciphered coordinates and headed off to the final phase of the multi-cache. Here is Ed, again logging his find on his uber advanced technical smart-phone with installed geocaching app!
Our final cache for the weekend was located in Chambers Gove Park. Chambers Grove park is a beautiful park located along the St. Louis River above the mouth of Mission Creek. It too saw a significant amount of damage from the flood. Damage that has yet to be repaired. Most notable was the boardwalk that runs along the river.
In the first photo, we are standing near the beginning of the boardwalk, looking NW along the river. In the second photo, we are looking back SE towards where the first photo was taken. You can see the warping of the boardwalk in the first photo, and the washout of the support under the boardwalk in the second photo.
This short outing lasted just over 30 minutes and added another mile and two more caches out our weekend GeoAdventure!
All totaled, Ed and I spent more than 5 hours traveling over 7 miles to locate 10 GeoCaches. We had a great time and made some fun memories! I want to thank Best Bud Ed and his family for their hospitality, and good times!!
I am looking forward to being able to do it again sometime soon!!
Most of you know it by now… I enjoy GeoCaching. It’s an opportunity for me to get up and enjoy the great outdoors (something I enjoy doing, but struggle to find the time to do). It’s much less of a time commitment than loading up the canoe, or packing up for a camping trip – and is a little more focused (with a destination and a goal) than simply going for a walk. Plus, getting to use the GPS really tickles the “gadget guy” gene in me.
Honestly, it’s almost the perfect activity in my book. A little bit of many of the things I enjoy doing!!
I had not been out GeoCaching much this summer and when I checked my calendar I noticed that I was not scheduled for work that day! It was a lock! I added it to my calendar and began planning a family GeoCaching adventure! (Unfortunately, the Mother of Five and #2 of 5 had to work – but I made plans for everyone that was going to be around that day.)
The first thing I wanted to do was find a suitable area to cache. I wanted find a place that was not to far, but had a high enough concentration of GeoCaches that I could “up” my statistics a little bit! That’s when I remembered something!! While checking for GeoCaches along the route of our Minnesota River Canoe Trip earlier this year I stumbled upon an “anomaly”. The anomaly was a high concentration of GeoCaches in an area known to me to be pretty “rural” (farmland).
I did a little research and discovered that this area (of high GeoCache concentration) is not farmland, but it’s the Ney Nature Center! It was the first I heard of the place. I did a little further checking and really liked what I found. I placed it in the back of my mind as a future destination. It was the PERFECT place for our International GeoCaching Day adventure!
When International GeoCaching day arrived – I packed a picnic (turkey sandwiches, loaded baked potato Pringles, Trail Mix, and High-C drink boxes), gathered a few misc items that would make the day a little easier, and perhaps a little more fun for all (GPS, FRS radios, and a camera) and we headed out!!
Destination Neys Nature Center!!
About twenty minutes later we arrived at Neys. We pulled up to the Ney Center and did a little poking around to try and acclimate ourselves with the surroundings. I noticed a Cub Scout Den that was breaking camp near the visitor center.
There were a number of “outbuildings” (barns, corn cribs, storage sheds, etc – all presumably from when this was a working farmstead), a hand operated well-pump (also presumably from when this was a working farmstead), a campfire ring, and the Visitor Center (which was closed that day).
My GPS indicated that the caches were located in areas other than the visitor center. We located an information kiosk (with maps of the Center) and got a better idea of where we needed to go. We headed back to the car and drove to the “Farmstead” area of the Nature Center.
Right away the GPS locked on to the nearest GeoCache and we were on our way!
They Ney Nature Center is an AMAZING place!! It features several features of the Minnesota landscape. In addition to the historic farmstead there are areas of native prairie grasses, remnants of the big woods (woodlands), a large wetland, several reforestation plots, a wooded ravine with natural streams, and the historic Oxcart Trail. Throughout these areas are pre established trails Don’s Pond Loop Trail, the Ravine Trail, the Native Prarie Walk, the Oxcart Trail, and the Hidden Windmill Trail. The Trails are mowed and marked with signs and maps to help you navigate the Nature Center!
Top row L to R: #5 of 5 blowing a dandelion – Can you spot the GeoBeacon in the photo?
Bottom row L to R: Example of a mowed trail between the ravine area (on the left) and the prairie grass area (on the right) – TRAIL CLOSED?? There is a GeoCache a little over 400 feet down that trail – Sorry folks, that sign did NOT stop me!!
Note – Here is the GeoCache located in the “Closed Trail”.
Out of respect we did find the cache (down the closed trail) but we did head right back out and off the closed trail…
I may be civilly disobedient at times, but I can also be respectful when doing so!
After a few caches we headed back to the car to grab our cooler and lunch – then headed into a shady spot on the farmstead to have lunch and take a little rest.
If you look close enough in the photo – you ca see a little white speck under the trees in the right side of the photo. That’s were the kids sat down while I grabbed lunch!
I did say “rest” didn’t I??
I actually dosed off while the kids finished their lunch.
Sneaky #4 of 5 thought it would be funny to catch her daddy sleeping in photographic form.
After lunch and a short little nap, we headed back down the trail for a few more Geocaches.
As we approached the trailhead from the Farmstead, we learned a little more history about the Neys Nature Center.
Another unique feature of the Nyes Nature Center is the Oxcart Trail.
This historic road is believed to have been a part of the system of Red River Oxcart Trails. It is believed to have been first used by Native Americans who camped along the top of the hill each fall as a foot trail. It’s use expanded as it became used by traders and early explorers.
In addition to being an oxcart trail it also became a portion of one of the local stagecoach runs, then it was used as a county road for many years. Later, the road was turned over to Tyrone township. Along the portion of the Oxcart Trail in the Ney Nature Center we located the remains of the Stagecoach stop.
In the photo you can see the two remaining walls of the Stagecoach stop building.
A little further down the Oxcart Trail is a scenic overlook. At the edge of the overlook is a flagstone ring. The photos do not do the view justice. It was simply and amazingly beautiful! I did not get it captured in the photos, but way off in the distance, along the opposite side of the river valley, was a bright white colored church steeple poking out of the lush green of the river valley – it was very pretty!!
Interesting facts about the Minnesota River Valley – The valley itself is as large as five miles across and 250 feet deep in it’s widest and deepest zones. It was cut by the River Warren which flowed from the Glacial Lake Agassiz through the Traverse Gap (a gorge cut from water over spilling the southern end of Glacial Lake Agassiz when the Laurentide Ice Sheet began melting).
We had a great afternoon! Neys Nature Center was an AMAZING place, and we will be certain to return there again soon!! The weather was perfect. We found all but one of the GeoCaches we looked for. The picnic lunch (and nap) were rejuvenating, and spending time with these great kids is never anything less than a ton of fun!!
Here you can see the “after” photo once I entered all my GeoCaching finds on geocaching.com. (The yellow “smileys” are caches I have found. The green “ammo boxes” are caches I have not yet found). You can see that there are still plenty of opportunities for GeoCaching during future visits to Ney’s Nature Center!
If you are interested in seeing our trek (or at least the GPS data played out in time lapse over a map overlay) be sure to click through THIS LINK to the EveryTrail site.
On a side note… About a week after International GeoCaching Day had occurred, GroundSpeak (the parent company of GeoCaching.com) sent out this message on Latitude 47.
International Geocaching Day Success
You did it! You made International Geocaching Day the biggest day in Geocaching.com history. More than 94,000 geocachers from around the world charged into the wilderness or perhaps walked casually down the sidewalk to find a geocache on August 18. A souvenir for the day could be earned by logging a “Found it” for a physical geocache or an “Attended” on an Event Cache. Thank you to all those cachers who organized the more than 250 events, including 3 Mega-Events, on International Geocaching Day this year.
International Geocaching Day is the third Saturday of August each year. Next year it will be commemorated on August 17, 2013
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