Lake Michigan Caching

One of my favorite places to go is the beach on Lake Michigan.  We live close enough to hit several different areas within about half an hour's drive.  The water temperature in July usually averages around 70 degrees.  Personally I prefer warmer water, so I don't swim there too often.  But I do like to visit the lake at different times of the year.  Here are some pictures taken last winter.

We have some beautiful lighthouses dotting the lakefront.

Last summer we went caching at a wonderful park down on the lakefront.  It's called Millard Park and it's in Evanston, IL.  The park is built on land that once belonged to the Robert Schaffner Estate.  This was also the location of a multi-stage geocache and had us hiking all over this vast estate.  On the property were beautiful gardens, a gazebo, an old abandoned building, ravines and gorgeous lakefront beaches.  We had to visit 5 separate areas and find clues to tell us where the final cache was hidden.  The geocaches have been hidden by permission of the park.

The gazebo...

Here we are at the abandoned building.  I could just imagine how beautiful this building once was, with its floor to ceiling windows.  I think they must have held parties out here.  What a fantastic view of the lake!

Hiking to the gardens, where they often hold wedding ceremonies.  There was a clue written on the bottom of this rubber snake, which we found in the garden.

3 hardy souls in our group stripped down to shorts and tee shirts and braved the cold water to swim to the end of this breakwater wall.  I was not one of them.  A clue was attached to a metal wire on the end of the wall.

After 4 stages we had collected 4 clue cards.  We had to figure out how to line them up properly in order to figure out the co-ordinates for the final stage.

It took us about 3 hours, but we finished it and it was a lot of fun.  Here's a photo of part of the happy group!

We ventured further down the beach afterwards.  Lake Michigan is lined with huge boulders.  We had a lot of fun climbing all over them.

I even found some beautiful sea glass and a geode on the beach.

All in all, Lake Michigan is a wonderful place to spend the day.  The next time you're near the lake, be sure to take the time to stop and explore.