Fort Sheridan Re-Visited

Last week we had a nice day, so we scooted back to Fort Sheridan to finish up a couple of caches that we didn't get to find the last time we were up there.

We had a DNF on Anti Aircraft Gun  when we previously had way too much muggle traffic, so we couldn't search.  This time there was no one around and we had more time to investigate the many possibilities.  I was convinced the cache was hidden in one spot, but I was clearly wrong.  Louie felt it was in another spot and after continued prodding, I grudgingly looked, and damn if he wasn't right!  It was cleverly hidden someplace on this gun.

I really liked the next cache location, Red Hawk Eyes, because it's a huge nest, with a hawk and giant eggs for kids to climb all over.  Well, maybe a few adults like to climb on it as well, but I'm not saying who...  Louie definitely had his geosenses going that day, because he found the super tiny cache at this location....

The next cache was hidden someplace near this overhead cable system.  Again, Louie quickly found the cache...

I always enjoy geocaching near Lake Michigan.  Here we had to climb down a huge wooden staircase to get to the shoreline trail for the next set of caches.....

After finding a few caches, we explored the beach and then headed back up the stairs.....

We ended up finding 7 geocaches that morning, stopped for a little phooning and called it a day!

Visiting Fort Sheridan

Last weekend we drove to Highland Park, Illinois to hike the trails and find some geocaches placed along the trails at historic Fort Sheridan.  Fort Sheridan was established in 1887 as an army post and named after Philip Sheridan who was a Civil War cavalry general.  Beginning in 1898, Fort Sheridan became a mobilization, training and administrative center.  Many famous officers lived at Fort Sheridan, and among them was George Patton.  Fort Sheridan processed thousands of soldiers who were returning to civilian life, my father being one of those solders in the 1950's.  My husband's family lived in Highland Park and he remembers seeing the barracks and the soldiers when he was a kid.

One of the distinguishing features of Fort Sheridan that can be seen for miles is the original water tower.  At one time this water tower was the tallest structure in the Chicago area.  The buildings radiating out from the water tower were the barracks that originally housed soldiers.  Many of the 94 original buildings were built with bricks that were molded and fired on site from clay that had been taken from the nearby lakefront bluffs.

  

I liked the large, ornate lamp posts.  And they were huge!

The parade grounds consist of a beautifully manicured expanse of grass in front of the water tower.  It's impossible to walk across the grounds and not imagine the soldiers and the history that existed here...

In 1984, 94 buildings sitting on the 110 acre historic district were designated a National Historic Landmark.      Fort Sheridan officially closed as a military operation in 1993, although an Army Reserve base continues to operate on a 90 acre parcel.  Since then local developers have transformed many of the historic buildings into private residences, including the barracks that are attached to the water tower.  The developers have done a wonderful job of preserving the old buildings and have also set aside land for a possible golf course,  installed miles of biking and hiking trails through a Nature Preserve, and placed interactive exhibits along the trails.  We ended up walking about 3 miles of trails in our quest for geocaches, and I'll show you some of that in the next post.  In the meantime.....

       

Don't forget to hit the link and time warp over to CacheCrazy for today's Fright Week story titled "3:00 AM."  This one comes with a WARNING of GRAPHIC writing and is NOT for kids or those with weak stomach's.  Proceed at your own risk for today's tale.  You've been warned!!!   One new tale each day from now until Halloween.  See you there. Oh, and I hope you can sleep tonight.  LOL!!!

Highland Park Geocaching.

Last weekend we went to Highland Park, Illinois which is right on the shores of Lake Michigan.  They recently completed a new section of a walking/bike trail along the lake front and I wanted to check it out.  There are a series of geocaches conveniently placed along the trail, so it was kind of hard for me to resist that type of temptation.....  you know, geocaching, hiking and the lake front - It's all good!!

You can't beat the views.....

See that breakwater wall in the distance?  Remember that for later!

We probably walked about 3 miles round trip and found several geocaches along the way.  One was hidden along this stairway to the beach....

It's hidden practically in plain sight but my lips are sealed...

Another one was cleverly hidden on this bridge that crosses a ravine....

Then we walked on some footpaths through a wild prairie....

...and we had to find these strange doors that were built into the ground.  Then we had to find the cache.  If that door would have opened up while I was sitting there I would have crapped my pants!

Another cache was hidden here.  We found it and then sat for awhile and enjoyed the view....

Believe me, it's there....

Next we headed down to the beach towards another cache....

This cache was hidden someplace along that breakwater wall.  That's the one from the earlier photo.

When we got to it, we had to decipher a puzzle using clues on this wall.  I am horrible at puzzle caches.  I was ready to march out along the wall, guessing it might be on the end, but the waves were pretty rough and Louie talked me out of it.  We decided to forego this cache and when we got home I emailed the cache owner and got a puzzle hint.  We'll go back another day and try solving this one again.

We walked the rest of the way back to our car by taking the beach route and picking up stones and sea glass....

We had one more cache to get and we drove over to this one.  It was hidden near this mural.  You can see Chablis standing in the bottom of the picture to get an idea of the size of it.

After we found the cache we climbed up the drain pipe and called it a day.  There's still about 8 more geocaches hidden along this trail, so we have to pick a day and go back for the rest of them...