The new Falling Waters Challenge

[zuma]

Hi all,

A new challenge cache has been published. See GC1XKGZ.

A couple of notes of interest:

On the 52 pickup challenge that Lil Otter did, and that this cache is a tribute to, she actually only placed caches by 42 waterfalls. 23 of of the 42 caches she placed are still active.

No one ever completed the original challenge 52 pickup challenge, though Natloh was close. I have to assume, without looking that several teams will be close or have already found 26 waterfall caches–THB, T&B, Timberline Echos, Sweetlife, and of course Natloh. There are probably others too. I wanted to make the challenge hard enough to be challenging, but easy enough that those who do a lot of waterfall caches can complete it.

Amazingly, Wisconsin’s largest waterfall, Big Manitou, has no cache within a half mile, despite there being lots of possible places to place one there. Also another of the top 10 falls in the state, easy to access and on public land without a cache is Peterson Falls. Very surprized that 2 of the most cache worthy places in the state do not have a cache.

This is going to be almost an entirely northern WI challenge. There are very few falls in the lower 2/3 of the state.

One of my sources for waterfalls was http://geology.com/waterfalls/michigan.shtml It is not a complete list, but the map is cool.

Another source was a 1998 book I got from the library, Wisconsin Waterfalls, by Patrick Lisi. Pretty good book for those interested.

And the third major source that I used was the WWF bookmark list started by Lil Otter and now maintained by Team Deejay. Pretty interesting bookmark list for historical reasons, though I started a new bookmark list that includes several waterfalls that Lil Otter did not include.

I looked at several other references to find where waterfalls are located. No 2 sources agree and no source included all of the waterfalls that I knew about. I hope that my list is fairly complete, but if folks know of falls in WI that I missed, i would appreciate hearing about it.

thanks

zuma

[Team Deejay]

You missed Sheboygan Falls.

[zuma]

@Team Deejay wrote:

You missed Sheboygan Falls.

Thanks. I added “Worse Cache Ever” for Sheboygan Falls which looks accurate from the maps.

z

[Trekkin and Birdin]

This should be fun….I’m not sure how many we actually have, there are a lot over on the northeastern corner of the state, where we’ve barely touched the surface.

I like the idea of a challenge like this. FAR better than getting a jillion rest stops on the Interstate! LOL

[Trekkin and Birdin]

You may want to consider adding this one to your bookmark.

GCB9E3

And no. We have not found it. Yet!

[Grandma & Grandpa]

RE: La Salle Falls

Check out GC62B0

We found this cache back in 2005, and apparently it’s still live. A Found It log was posted a couple of weeks ago.

Pretty area. I don’t remember much about the cache, except that it took two seperate trips paddling from a campsite downriver, we could not find it the first time. It is a beautiful area, highly reccomended.

Thanks for putting together this challenge. What a great way to see some of the spectacular sights in our home state!

cYa, Jim & Chris

[zuma]

@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:

You may want to consider adding this one to your bookmark.

GCB9E3

And no. We have not found it. Yet!

Added. Cant figure out the name for it though. It is not in any of the waterfall guides, and doesnt show up as a waterfall on terrain maps. But I can see from the photos that it is a waterfall.

On Sheboygan falls, from what I can tell it is a historical falls, with a dam there now, but if anyone has been there knows otherwise let me know.

z

[Barry Butrymowicz]

Zuma,

Here are a couple that have caches by them that are on your list,

McClintock Falls (Marinette Co) My Favorite Park Cache by sweetlife GCNE70

Strong Falls (Marinette Co) 52-Pickup – WWF #30 (Strong Falls) by lil otter adopted bysweetlife GCG5QD

LaSalle Falls (Florence Co) LaSalle Falls by LtMan & the Geo-Junkies GC62B0

And a couple of ones not on your list

Bull Falls by sweetlife (Florence County) GC1X0MP

Meyers Falls by sweetlife (Florence County) GC1X0N8

[zuma]

@Gram&Gramps wrote:

RE: La Salle Falls

Check out GC62B0

We found this cache back in 2005, and apparently it’s still live. A Found It log was posted a couple of weeks ago.

Pretty area. I don’t remember much about the cache, except that it took two seperate trips paddling from a campsite downriver, we could not find it the first time. It is a beautiful area, highly reccomended.

Thanks for putting together this challenge. What a great way to see some of the spectacular sights in our home state!

cYa, Jim & Chris

awesome, thanks.

z

[zuma]

@sweetlife wrote:

Zuma,

Here are a couple that have caches by them that are on your list,

McClintock Falls (Marinette Co) My Favorite Park Cache by sweetlife GCNE70

Strong Falls (Marinette Co) 52-Pickup – WWF #30 (Strong Falls) by lil otter adopted bysweetlife GCG5QD

LaSalle Falls (Florence Co) LaSalle Falls by LtMan & the Geo-Junkies GC62B0

And a couple of ones not on your list

Bull Falls by sweetlife (Florence County) GC1X0MP

Meyers Falls by sweetlife (Florence County) GC1X0N8

Thanks a bunch!!

Also I noticed that you have done a great job in keeping the Lil Otter caches you adopted alive. thanks a ton for that too.

z

[One Paddle Short]

Maybe more of a rapids yet they’re named “falls”. And they’re surely as much of a falls as Rainbow Rapids is a falls.

Scenic Big Rib Falls

Fun idea. Now if you let us include UP waterfalls we’d be all set as we spent last summer seeking those out. Oh, and we do have that one but I think we’re way short on Wisconsin falls so it’s not like it’ll put us over the edge on finishing this…

[zuma]

@One Paddle Short wrote:

Maybe more of a rapids yet they’re named “falls”. And they’re surely as much of a falls as Rainbow Rapids is a falls.

Scenic Big Rib Falls

Fun idea. Now if you let us include UP waterfalls we’d be all set as we spent last summer seeking those out. Oh, and we do have that one but I think we’re way short on Wisconsin falls so it’s not like it’ll put us over the edge on finishing this…

Thanks. I added that one.

A couple more notes: I included Rainbow Rapids as a waterfall purely because Lil Otter did, though it is not much of a falls. I am guessing that you paddled it?

Sometimes it is hard to know where the line is between a falls and a rapids. I went by what the topo map called it in most cases, and also whether it would be reasonable to paddle it in an open canoe. I also am trying to limit it to falls with decent amounts of flow, though I made an exception for Parfrey’s Glen which has minimal flow.

I did choose to leave off all of the historical falls, falls that are no longer there, replaced by a dam. Except for the one that Lil Otter included, GCG5RD Sturgeon Falls. I almost did not include that one since there is no falls actually there, but in the end decided to include all the ones that Lil Otter did, plus the logs describe it as an interesting spot.

If Sheboygan Falls turns out to be just a historical falls replaced with a dam as I suspect, I plan to delete that one.

z

[One Paddle Short]

I’ve had fun this morning just going back through our finds trying to find waterfalls we’ve done. And we are no where close to finishing this- maybe half. And I like that, it’s inspiring that there are so many more waterfalls to visit. I own a copy of the book Wisconsin Waterfalls by Patrick Lisi and I was going to comment that the cover photo is not even a Wisconsin Waterfall. I looked up “Steven’s Falls” as it’s credited in the book but the only falls with that name I could find was in Canada. But a little more research this morning and I realize the cover photo is “Stephens’ Falls” in Governor Dodge State Park. So that’s one I’d like to visit some time.

And yes, I did paddle Rainbow Rapids (one of very few remaining rapids/falls on the Wisconsin as the result of so many dams flooding out the historical falls and character of the river). No falls at Rainbow Rapids but a beautiful place and I’m sure Lil’ Otter couldn’t resist placing a cache there for her series. I’m glad she did and I agree it should be on your list too.

There was once a cache at the Eau Claire Dells also (hidden 10/2001). It was not in sight of the falls but it was on the same side of the road. It fell victim to the SNA restrictions. It was off in the woods but it’s too bad caches can’t be placed along the heavily compacted trail around the river as hundreds of folks walk it every week. Old Man in the Dell
I would say this one was perhaps too far from the falls to qualify but thought I’d add it for interest and because we’ll never have one closer.

[Crow-T-Robot]

This looks like a very fun challenge cache, zuma! It might take me years, but I plan on finishing it. I looked up my stats and I did find two of the caches required already, so only 24 to go! Of course, the two I found were the two closest caches to me 😕

[furfool]

I don’t know by what definition of waterfall one is going by, but I remember Cedar Falls from my childhood. It was off of Cedar Falls road SW of Hazelhurst, just up river from the Willow Flowage. During high water it seemed to be a very fast moving rapids, but during lower water periods it was more of a small falls. Of course this is coming from one who hasn’t seen it in 25-30 years.

If interested, maybe try contacting a cache owner. I saw a handful of caches just south of the mentioned place. Looking at a map, it would be just NW of Skunk lake.

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