This topic contains 16 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by 
Astro_D 15 years, 7 months ago.
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Looks like in the past, people have been successful getting to these across the hard water in mid-February. Just wondering how ice conditions have been this year, especially given the recent warmer weather.
We have a longer weekend mid-February and it would be fun to look for these. Not organizing anything, though, as our life situation has been very unpredictable the past few months and we really can’t reliably plan more than a day or two ahead. Maybe.
I can give you a visual on it as to whether we can see snowmobile trails to the point. That will give you a good idea.
The bigger problem however is the snow. The very tip of the point is most likely heavily drifted. Without giving the hide away here, let me just say that it is not winter-findable without some very lucky and pinpoint excavating, and since it is not metal there is the risk of damage from poking and prodding. But that’s just my 2 cents!
On the Left Side of the Road...I’ve had some folks contact me about organizing something here and got gotta run’s input on possible approaches and he responded with the same type of response (posted here) which I passed onto others. Haven’t heard back on the topic since.
I did not get close to the snowmobile “launch” site today but got a good view of the bay, and it looks as it has most years about this time with a thin sliver of channel open, and then gradually thickening ice as you go either way toward shore. I know that doesn’t give you a lot of detail but it would take someone to go to the launch site to see if sleds are traveling around the point.
In 2007, two different excurisions hoofed it across the Bay from the west or southwest (?). I’m not sure where they parked specifically but it’s about 1.5-2 miles across, meaning in the middle you’d be about a mile from the nearest shoreline! Here is what your journey would look like:
I will say that in 2010, the ice does not appear to be as solid as in this picture, which is from February 2007.
The route we took was to drive along the northeastern edge of the tail. We parked at the boat landing at 44 37.910 / 88 00.877 and took the ATV out on the channel out to the bay then followed the shoreline. The advantage is you will be over shallower water so in theory better ice, and in most wind conditions you will have the most shelter taking this way.
The other option would be to walk the southwestern edge of the tail. Park at the boat landing at 44 37.237 / 88 00.824 and walk straight across Dead Horse Bay, which should be well frozen if anything is. This would also be the shorter of the two walks.
Finding the multi cache will be a challenge at WP1. We were very lucky to have found that in winter. Other teams have found it in winter also, but it’s a challenge, which is about all I can say without being a spoiler. The final should not pose a problem.
Finding the cache at the tip of the tail will be more problematic. Again, some teams have found this in winter and some have had to dig for it. This is not a spoiler because it’s noted in their logs and pictures. But as you can imagine, conditions out there are extremely variable. You might get lucky and find little drifting or you might be faced with what we were in February 2008:
Which as you can see is about 3′ of snow based on how it looked in May:
So, anything’s possible, but it will be very difficult. Bring lots of bodies and lots of shovels. The cache owner doesn’t mind me sharing intel on this one because the object is to get out to the tip of the point, so if you have any other :?:s, let me know!
On the Left Side of the Road...When we did it back in 2007, we parked at the End of Lineville Road. There used to be a Tavern there, but it had burned down sometime in the past. We were able to park in that old Parking lot, if you would call it that. Mostly Trees, and such there now. I think our total mileage for that day was about 7 Miles.
And that was all across Ice, which means, you are not taking full strides……
The ice when we went was about three feet thick.
When we tried it we parked at the end of Bayshore Drive at the end of lineville road. There is a hiking trail there (its a SNA or a Grouse MGMT area or something like that. There was a very junky house with dogs there, but they did not bother us. Walked down the hiking trail about a quarter mile before it turned towards the bay. was on the ice about 3.5 hours total, but came up empty on both caches it was about this time of the year if I remember right.
Bartrod was saying that he was planning to take his boat out there in the summer. So I think I’m gonna go with him at that time. I got a fear of walking on ice in a river, bay, or lake and will not attempt any caches in such areas even if I see shanties and ice fishermen out there. I’m not about to take that risk.
Good luck to anyone that attempts Longtail on the ice.
By now, some of you have heard of the 2 trucks that fell through the ice on Lake Winnebago. One driver died, the other was rescued because he was wearing a life vest, which was required by the company he was driving for. I, and I’m sure many people, were surprised by this! But it happens, unfortunately.
With the warming and freezing the last few days, it is hard to predict what is safe, and what is not.
Be careful!
Just watched the 10 o’clock update…
The trucks that fell through the ice were LOADED DUMP TRUCKS!! They were hauling boulders about 3 miles out into the lake, for a man made reef.
You couldn’t pay me enough to try that. And a family is grieving now.
I guess they thought they were ice road truckers like you see on TV. Those guys have the experience driving on ice, plus it’s much colder up north in their area.
My condolences to the family that lost the driver in that accident.
@k0rpl wrote:
When we did it back in 2007, we parked at the End of Lineville Road.
I checked and in the image I have above, the “2007” route starts at the end of Lineville road. That does take you straight across Dead Horse Bay which, while not as active as the “big bay” itself, is lots of hard deep water to cross, for my tastes anyway. That is a winter sat image I believe and you can see how the ice is much more “finger like” where Dead Horse spills into the main bay, versus to the northwest end of Dead Horse.
On the Left Side of the Road...Well, maybe we should see if our brother-in-law in DePere would like to take us on a three hour tour in his big boat next summer. We’re not chickens about ice, but conditions can change on such a big body of water and if happens a mile out…..well, I can’t swim that far.
I heard that the trucks that went through were volunteers working on creating reefs for fish habitat. My thoughts go out to the family.
Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:Well, maybe we should see if our brother-in-law in DePere would like to take us on a three hour tour in his big boat next summer. We’re not chickens about ice, but conditions can change on such a big body of water and if happens a mile out…..well, I can’t swim that far.Quote:If you decide to do it this next summer, drop me a line. Maybe we could plan a flotilla…I know Sweetlife and Todd300 have both expressed an interest too…nd there may be others out there 😀Oconto...the birthplace of western civilization:)
A Caching Boat tour, that would be different, are there other caches in the Bay that are assessable by Boat? Depending on the size of the Boats, Chambers Island and Horseshoe Island could be possible.
I only own a canoe and am not crazy enough to take it on the bay so Ill have to park my butt in Bartrods ride.
@sweetlife wrote:
A Caching Boat tour, that would be different, are there other caches in the Bay that are assessable by Boat? Depending on the size of the Boats, Chambers Island and Horseshoe Island could be possible.
I only own a canoe and am not crazy enough to take it on the bay so Ill have to park my butt in Bartrods ride.
In addition to the ones you mention, we also have our “Cat Island Chain” cache: GC1YTW8. That one is pretty much in the middle of the main navigational channel.
I placed this one by kayak and it was a nice little paddle out from the boat landing to the south.
Back to the caches in question, I still think they are fine choices to try in winter. We tried them and were 50% successful! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
If you do take the boat route in warmer weather, you should have a captain who is VERY familiar with the area due to the presense of many sandbars and other nasty stuff in the water. I gave Bartrod some intel on that, but I’m not a power-boat guy myself so my knowledge is very limited.
On the Left Side of the Road...
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