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...

Standing Bear on the Ozark Trail

Phase 2 of Mike's Hike4Kids Journey/Fund Raiser involves leaving the Appalachian Trail and immediately beginning his hike on the Ozark Trail in Missouri.  Mike is well on his way!  Go to his blog to read about his first days on the Ozark Trail.  So far he's completed 101 miles.

If you would like to see a quick video of Mike at Trailhead P of the Ozark Trail, visit his Hike4Kids FB page.

Keep up the good work Mike!
If you'd like to make a donation to Hike4Kids, please visit their official page.

(photo courtesy of Mike McLaughlin.  Do not use without permission)

Random Geocaches I Liked Sept. 2012

We've been busy the past couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to go geocaching as much as we like.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite caches with you today, but I won't tell you the GC numbers in order to protect the hides.

We went back 3 different times before we finally found this sneaky cache.  Louie finally located it and I signed the tiny log sheet....

Can you see a geocache hidden here?  My dad finally spied this one....

I loved the location of this cache.  It was hidden in a tunnel that runs underneath the street.  It was damp and dark down there.  We had to use our flashlights and sense of touch, and my dad again came up with the winner!

I always like to find geocaches disguised as birdhouses...

We looked all over for this cache, including walking down to the lower level.  The cache was up by mom the whole time....

Bridge caches are always a challenge because there are so many possibilities....

Can you see the cache?

We really had to improvise to retrieve this cache from deep inside the water drainage pipe....

The hint on this cache was something about looking near the lily pads.  Mom finally spotted it.

Loved the view overlooking the lake at this one...

This cache took us to a skate park, where we did a little phooning!

Snoopy and Honeybee did a little skating too...

This last one was quite a hike in the woods to get to.  We've gone there 3 times in the past year looking for this one.  Once in the winter, once last spring and then last week.  We finally found the cleverly hidden cache...

It's always fun to finally find the ones that elude us.  Those are some of the ones that I like the best!

Q & A With Standing Bear 6-5-12

Mike and Brooke at the half way point on the AT - miles hiked so far.... 1115!

Explain what the half Gallon ice cream challenge is.  What flavor did you eat and did you eat the whole thing?  How long did it take?

The half gallon challenge is for hikers to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting after making it halfway through the Appalachian Trail.  I ate 1.42 liters of chocolate and .473 liters of cherry in about 50 minutes.  I felt a little woozy afterwards.  We had to do a climb immediately after I completed the challenge and I felt like I was going to tip over.  I felt better after a few miles!  You can watch the video here.

Tell me about some of the interesting trail names you’ve heard.

Machete Mitch (hikes with just a machete and a military poncho, and thus has no food bag)

What is Brooke’s trail name?

Brooke's trail name is Molasses because she hikes slow.  Brooke hikes uphill with all the urgency of an elderly person going outside to check the mail!

Are you signing the shelter log books and have you taken the time to read through any of them?

I typically sign the registers.  They are a good way to communicate with other hikers.  I put a warning in one register about a crazy hiker named Pro Visions.  In the shelter on the summit of The Priest, hikers make a "confession.". There were some pretty funny entries, but it was a little lewd for a blog... lol

How does the filtered stream or pond water taste?  Is it actually clear once you filter it?

Stream and spring water tasted weird at first but I got used to it.  I chemically treat the water with Aquamira to make it safe, but I do not have a filter so there is sometimes dirt particles in the water.  I never drink from ponds; what you want is flowing water because it is typically less contaminated than standing water.

How do you feel now that you’ve reached the official half way point on the trail?  Was it harder or easier than you expected it to be?

It feels great to have passed the halfway point.  It has definitely been harder than I expected.  I did not expect

as many injuries or difficult climbs.  But the difficulty makes the experience that much more rewarding!  I've had one heck of an adventure and I'm sure the second half of the journey will be just as exciting :)

Mike after 1140 miles.....

And here's a triumphant Brooke after a long and hot day.  Way to go Brooke!!

Visit Hike4Kids for more information about Mike's journey and make a donation to this worthy cause if you want.  You can also check out his FB page and LIKE it for more updates.

(All photo's property of Mike McLaughlin.  Do not reproduce without permission)