MnGCA

Greenback · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 9:35 pm Post subject: Camping & Cache Recommendations

I've heard great things about the caches in Minnesota and I've decided to take a week long vacation to come hunt caches in and around Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'm bringing along three good buddies; Spyderuser, Genius Loci and Geogeek65 and we're expecting perfect weather Wink

We'd like to find a nice camp ground to stay at, preferably with showers. I’m hoping that you can suggest a good camp ground to be our base for five days of cache hunting.

Maybe more importantly I'd like to hear what caches you think we should hunt. I've already checked out your cache of the month reviews and will take those into consideration. I'd love to hear from everyone, if you have a list of your top ten caches or maybe you just have a few you think are extra special. I’d love to hear about them, feel free to post a reply or send me a personal email at greenback@gogeocaching.com. Any recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to run into you on the trail.

Mike aka Greenback

rickrich · Geocacher Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 673

We've had perfect weather all summer. One of the best in years. You
know what that means.

Sorry, can't help you with the camping part. I've only camped near
the Twin Cities at one park (Baker Park Reserve).

Here's a few caches I pulled off my pitiful found list of 100 or so.

As a general rule, any cache by Rock Johnson (R.J.) (usually found
near Mpls) is likely to above average in quality and have an
intellectual component. I have not yet done enough King Boreas caches
(usually found nearer St. Paul and outstate) to come to a conclusion
about the "King of Cache Denisty". I've seen clever, intellectual,
and sadistic from the "King" so far.

Scenic:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=83212
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=63850
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=14093

Historic:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=63850
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=56814
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=67385

Hard Multi-multi:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=61508

Multis:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=53201
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=52973

Tricky:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=40676
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=24229

bobhiker · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:47 pm Post subject:

The Three Rivers Park District has a wonderful campground just west of the twin cities on hyway 12 in Maple Plain. Check it out at
www.threeriversparkdistrict.org

Good luck and enjoy your stay!

Jillibean · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 9:39 am Post subject:

Any of the caches in the northern part of the state - the Iron Range or North Shore of Lake Superior - are great and in my opinion you shouldn't miss that part of the state if you want to see Minnesota. I don't have any specific recommendations for campsites, but you could look at the web sites for the MN State Parks or for northern cities like Duluth to see what kinds of facilities are available.
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Jillibean

EelSid · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 7:52 pm Post subject:

My wife and I camped at Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth a few years ago and loved it. It is right on the Munger state trail and it does have showers, electricity, water etc. We spent a lot of time in Duluth checking out the harbor and the north shore and not much time actually in the campground though.

hardware · Geocacher Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 157

there's a state park across the border from duluth, although the name escapes me. it is about 15 minutes south of superior, wis., and is home of the tallest waterfall in the state. (unlike the hawaiin waterfalls i envisioned, this waterfall breaks a few times on its way down, making it less spectacular.)

the park has nice hiking trails, and if they're permitted there, more than one geocache, i'm sure. if so, it might be a nice place to set up camp for one evening, allowing for a few wisconsin and duluth/superior caches before heading up the north shore.

pogopod · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:05 am Post subject: camping

I would try William O'Brien State Park near Marine on St.Croix. This is a full service park in a beautiful location. It is near many caches, convienient to the Cities and very close to Stillwater Surprise, my new favorite cache! Highly reccomended.

rickrich · Geocacher Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 673

I have to add one more TC metro area cache to my list. This one has a 1.5 mile hike in, which is one of the longer hikes to a cache in the TC metro area. I don't think there is any "cheater" parking to shorten the hike, which is one of the reasons this is a worthy virtual cache. There is also a real cache to visit on the hike in.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=49432

Took me a 2:30 to do the two caches, iincluding driving, hiking, snooping around, and picture taking.

Greenback · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 10:39 pm Post subject: Thanks

Thanks for all the cache and camping recommendations. I'll be sure to post a note about how the trip went, I'm hoping to find most of the caches recommended... thanks again.
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I'd rather go geocaching!