This topic contains 20 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by 
sandlanders 16 years, 2 months ago.
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Greetings from Ottawa, Canada. I am an geocaching addict!!! Every vacation, business trip or even car ride for the past two years has become a geocaching adventure.
My husband, son and I will be in Waunakee June 10 – 13. Hubby is taking a course and I am tagging along for the heck of it (hellooooo virgin caching territory). 😀
We will probably be staying in Waunakee and I hope to cache around the area including Madison.
I basically have a rented car and 2 free days (June 11 – 12) to cache.
I love to solve puzzles and therefore I’m very pleased to see a variety of them to do in the next few weeks.I really like places with a view, history, nice walks, parking. Does anyone have a suggestion for a particular area / series of caches I would enjoy? Are there any bookmark lists I should be looking at for this area?
Last but definitely not least, are there any special precautions, safety concerns I should know about when caching in the area?
meow
cavecatsI am not real familiar with the area around that part of the state. However, I spent a day last September in the southwest part of the state. If you have time and don’t mind the drive, I would recommend the driftless area. The lower Wisconsin River valley and out towards the Mississippi River is just beautiful. Lots of hills, bluffs, and great scenery. You might want to try contacting Trekin’andBirdin’. I believe they are from this part of the state. If not, I’m sure they have spent a lot of time in the area. Or they may put you onto someone else in the area. Have fun.
As far as anything to watch out for, while around Madison, stay away from anyone that looks like a politician.
Hi Cavecats,
Welcome to the Madison area.
A good series you may want to look into is the Leopold Legacy series, which has caches in the parks around Dane County. There is a link to a bookmark list of the series in the ‘Bookmark Lists’ section of the WGA website (upper left). They are pretty spread out so you probably won’t want to try for them all, but they are all good caches. If you hunt GCKAKC – Leopold Legacy: May, be sure to check out the big spring(s) at the bottom of the hill on the south side. Its pretty neat to see the water bubbling up the way it does.
Furfool is right that the driftless area is more scenic than the area around Waunakee (IMHO), but you don’t have to go as far west as the Mississippi to be in it. The terminal moraine from the last ice age runs through Dane county, and the western 1/3rd or so is in the driftless area. A good earthcache to see the effect of the glacier and compare glaciated/driftess landscape is GC1BQGR – Twin Valley Terminal Moraine. Generally caches to the west will be in the driftless area, caches to the east in the glaciated area. There are not as many caches in the driftless area, but they do tend to involve a hike more-so than the ones right in/around Madison.
If you want a cache right in Madison check out GC1BM7P – CAPITOL PUNISHMENT. I haven’t done it yet, but it looks like a lot of fun and should have the history you enjoy. The building/block you will be in is the state capital building. (If you go there, State Street runs from the southwest corner of capital square to the University of Wisconsin. Mainly a pedestrian mall but buses run up and down it. Lots of different ethnic eateries and interesting shops along the street, but no caching).
A Madison cache with a hike and a good view: GC1EEC – Picnic Point Cache
Some other Madison Area/Dane County caches I’ve liked (in no particular order):
GC1GQ2M – Token Springs & GC1GTZZ – Deeper into the Conservancy…
GC14GW5 – The Bridges of Six-Mile Creek (Right in Waunakee)
GCWBNR – WaunaCache #1
GCYBZJ – Giant’s Glen (a bit farther west, but awesome view!)These are a bit south of Madison, so may be farther than you want to drive:
The Rock (GC6670)
Sweet Dreams (GCR1T4)
Tunnel of Terror!!! (GCYQAX)
Magnolia Bluff (GC65B) & spelunking in magnolia (GCQRXZ)
Dane County Mountain Climbing (GCVENG)All the above are just my opinion and your mileage may vary. I’m sure I unintentionally left out many great caches. As to what to watch out for – the area around Waunakee can be low and marshy – bring boots. And watch out for the politicians.
I hope you enjoy the caching.
Lisa – L McG. is meWow!!!
Furfool, and LMcgisme thanks so much for the quick response and food for thought.
I will definitely check out some our your suggested caches Lisa.
At this stage of planning, I wasn’t really intending on driving great distances but if there was say the oldest cache in Winsconsin within driving distance, I would probably put that on my to-do list and then create a PQ route to cache there and back.
Speaking of which does anyone know which and where the oldest cache is?
Also, will I be needing bug spray in June? And if so for which bugs?
What about animals?Oldest active Wisconsin cache is GC3B1 northwest of Milwaukee. Not too close (less than two hours?), but easy enough to get to.
Bugs in June? YES! Could be mosquitoes if it’s been wet, wood ticks if you’re in the right environment (woods, long grass). Animals? No bears, just don’t stick your hand in any holes (see thread elsewhere in the General forum). City caching won’t be bad–just watch for the politicians!
Read up about poison ivy and stinging nettles .. depending upon the areas you are going to .. you could encounter those here too.
@auntienae wrote:
Read up about poison ivy and stinging nettles .. depending upon the areas you are going to .. you could encounter those here too.
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 I could show you pictures of my body riddled with hives from the stinging nettles and poison ivy. 😳
Actually here’s one from a couple of years ago…seriously I’m addicted.
The week before this picture I had pinched a nerve in my back while jumping across a creek.
A few days later, a tree branch slapped me, knocked me down and left me with a black eye and a smashed baby finger. Oh and then just before heading on vacation, I discovered that I had managed somehow to get a new batch of poison ivy.
Oh what lengths of pain we’ll go through for a find or two or 900.
I’m probably a little more careful now!!! 😉The area is fairly restrictive in terms of allowing placements….I’d consider leaving the city and exploring a bit.
In town I did like what an Honest Man Sees GC8406 and it’s neighbor cache Observation Point GC3850. These are both Virtuals.
@cavecats wrote:
I could show you pictures of my body riddled with hives from the stinging nettles and poison ivy.
Actually here’s one from a couple of years ago…seriously I’m addicted.
The week before this picture I had pinched a nerve in my back while jumping across a creek.
A few days later, a tree branch slapped me, knocked me down and left me with a black eye and a smashed baby finger. Oh and then just before heading on vacation, I discovered that I had managed somehow to get a new batch of poison ivy.
Oh what lengths of pain we’ll go through for a find or two or 900.
Are you sure you’re not from Wisconsin?
Thought of a couple of other interesting caches north and west of Waunakee:
GCVHF2 — Colsac III (ride across the Wisconsin River and back a few times on the free ferry boat)
GC9E5E — Dr. Evermore and Lady Eleanor (whole area of unique metal sculptures and more)
Oh, and it costs to go into a Wisconsin state park–$10/day for out of state residents (per car), or $5 for one hour. Canadians? Well… 😉
@sandlanders wrote:
Thought of a couple of other interesting caches north and west of Waunakee:
GCVHF2 — Colsac III (ride across the Wisconsin River and back a few times on the free ferry boat)
GC9E5E — Dr. Evermore and Lady Eleanor (whole area of unique metal sculptures and more)
Oh, and it costs to go into a Wisconsin state park–$10/day for out of state residents (per car), or $5 for one hour. Canadians? Well… 😉
Now these are cool sounding caches…keep them coming!!!
Expand your horizons …. Appleton is only 125 miles away.
The Kingdom of Selzzup awaits you!
See the bookmarks for Appleton lists ……
And how about cemeteries? There are several bookmarks on those as well.
Hmmm. Maybe you show move here. 8)
@sandlanders wrote:
snip – > City caching won’t be bad–just watch for the politicians!
I’m from the capital of Canada. Federal politicians are everywhere. I’m still learning how to identify this unique species though.
I even introduced, not knowingly at the time, our Prime Minister’s wife to geocaching http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=e7a8257f-0eb4-43e7-a7b1-2bbb5a6a42a4.
Wow! That’s like us running into Michelle Obama on the trails. Guess you can handle any Madison politicians you may run into, cavecats!
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