Horseshoe Hideaway
A
cache
by DCexplorer, Really I'm Not Lost, & FireGeek
Hidden:
8/10/2003
Size:
 (Regular)
Difficulty: 
Terrain: 
(1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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This cache is located on Horseshoe Island,
off of the coast of Peninsula State Park in Door County,
Wisconsin.
 Of
all the islands visible from Peninsula's scenic overlooks only
one, Horseshoe Island, is actually part of the park. It lies
about one mile north of Nicolet Bay.
Norwegian immigrant Ole Larsen reportedly traded a few pounds of
tobacco for the island in the 1850s. In 1888, the Folda family
purchased Horseshoe Island for $500. They built an impressive
summer lodge, Engelmar. When the State of Wisconsin established
Peninsula State Park in 1909, E.F. Folda negotiated a selling price
of $5,000 and a life estate for himself as well as his wife and
sister, but they never received payment.
Horseshoe Island is accessible by boat or by walking in winter.
Visitors can also canoe or kayak, with rentals available locally.
The Engelmar Trail, a one-mile rustic path, meanders the
circumference of the island. The astute visitor may detect the
foundation of the Folda's lodge, a root cellar, and openings where
gardens once thrived.
A pit toilet is available. Visitors must carry out their own
garbage. Camping and fires are prohibited.
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| Too many caches
in Door County are located on busy roads, or places where there's
lots of people. I wanted to place a cache off of the beaten
path.
Horseshoe
Island is part of Peninsula State Park. There is no public
transportation, so you will have to get to the island somehow,
either with a boat in summer, or skiing/snowmobiling in winter.
There is a boat dock available, but if full, you may have to moor
it and swim/wade ashore. Horseshoe Island harbor is pretty deep, so
most boats are OK. Closest boat launch is in Nicolet Bay, but a
park sticker is required to park/launch inside the park. Beware of
treacherous ice in wintertime, though, especially on a
snowmobile.
Other than pit
toilets and a fire ring, there are no amenities on the island.
Didn't see any water faucets or pumps. There is no overnight
camping on the island itself, but you can moor offshore
overnight.
There is a
hiking trail that follows the perimeter of the island, and the
cache is located off of this trail a few dozen
yards. |
The cache is an
ammo can. Once you're on the island, it's not too traumatic to
reach, so little ones should be OK, but strollers will not
work.
As you may
guess, this isn't a cache I can keep a close eye on, so if
something is amiss, let me know.
Mini-Spoiler:
The cache is located in a fairly typical fashion, such as under a
fallen log, or in a tree's base, or any of the normal cache hiding
spots. Nothing too sinister about the actual
placement. |
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If you
don't have a boat, rentals are available in both Nicolet Bay in the
park, or in Ephraim.
Nicolet Bay is the closest departure point to
Horseshoe Island. |
Additional Hints (
No hints available
)
(Decrypted Hints)
Find...
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2 user(s) watching this cache.
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Logged Visits (
117 total. Visit the Gallery (16 images)
)
Warning.
Spoilers may be included in the descriptions or links.
Cache find counts are based on the last time the page generated.
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 November 1 by fortuna 3 (1 found)
Found this one by sheer luck. Heard about it from a friend. Didn't realize there were gps coordinates that would take me right to it, as I had not visited this website. Seems like it is alot more fun to look without the cheats, although it took me 5 hours to stumble on it. It is a ruggedly delightful island and it was a pleasure to explore the whole thing. There are remains af a private owners retreat from 1900, and a little cemetary.The only clue he gave me was "it's in a stump" There are 1 million stumps, 7 million burrs and 9 million spiders on this uninhabited, windswept little island.
The cache itself was kind of boring as there wasn't much left in it. I intend to return this weekend and liven it up. I live here and still have a boat in the water in Ephraim for a little while yet, so it might be more interesting for the next cacher.
Thanks so much for a very fun experience....
[view this log]
| September 22 by dgoebel (78 found)
Kayaked out with first time cachers Jerry and Terri, walked the island perimeter trail first, loved the views and walk, found the cache, took outdated Camp Snoopy tickets (we're from MN).
TFTC [This entry was edited by dgoebel on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 9:47:20 PM.]
[view this log] | September 19 by andygrafenauer (12 found)
We rented a kayak and found this cache today. Great spot.
[view this log] | August 24 by wlzgarmin (118 found)
Rented a canoe and visited the island on a nice day! Hiked the trail around and my son was the first to spot this one- TFTC!
[view this log] | August 13 by ho11ywood885 (101 found)
This one was really neat!! Don't make the same stupid mistake I did....this place is really wild and overgrown, and when I left the boat I was so excited about the cache I forgot to hit my "mark waypoint" button on my GPS. When I finally found the cache I didn't know which way the shore was!! Luckily I had other Pen. State Park locations programmed in and was able to go in the general direction and find the beach!! Thanks for a great challenging cache!!
[view this log] | |
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Current time: 11/22/2009 7:14:25 AM
Last Updated: 11/3/2009 5:01:38 PM
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum
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