Guarded Bike Path Traditional Geocache

Travel about six miles north of downtown Fairbanks on the Steese Highway to this scenic viewpoint at the Hagelbarger turnoff.  This is a great place to view the city lights and aurora when it is dark and clear and when it is light, the Tanana Valley, Alaska Range, and Denali may be viewed. This is the Ladybug Kids' eighth in a series of caches accessible via popular bicycling routes.

Okay, so this isn't exactly a bike path, but it is one of my favorite places to ride.  The Fairbanks Cycle Club uses the viewpoint's parking lot as a staging area for the penultimate stage of the Tour of Fairbanks (June 11 in 2006).  I'll ride up McGrath Road from Farmers Loop to Hagelbarger and then drop back into town on the Steese Highway.  If I have more time or want more elevation gain, I'll cross the Steese Highway and ride to the top of Gilmore Trail.  Both descents offer one the opportunity to exceed 40 mph on a road bike if you dare!  There are several mountain bike rides described on the Fairbanks Cycle Club's website (link above) that also branch off these roads.

Please bring a bag for Cache In Trash Out (CITO) in the parking area because I routinely pick up a bag or two of trash each time I visit this location.  I finally learned where all the beer bottles come from at this location the Saturday evening I hid the cache.  In addition to people who just want to stop and enjoy a view, this is a popular place for teenagers to hang out and share a drink.  Because of the area's popularity (and because there is no good place to hide a cache right at the parking area) I hid the decon container some distance away.  However, the location is still in sight of the parking area, so exercise stealth when retrieving and hiding the cache.  Hagelbarger is a low traffic road and it has some shoulder, but do watch for two- and four-wheeled vehicles when approaching the cache location.

Starting contents of the cache include a glass ladybug signature item and Ladybug Kids geocoin for the first finders.  I also left a couple of geocoins picked up during our recent visit to New York and New Jersey that should be moved and logged like travel bugs and you'll earn new icons in your profile if you log them.  Also included are a couple of WheresGeorge dollars, an Alaska key chain, and a Quoddy sig. item.  Have fun!

Be sure to record the mystery cache code word from the cover of the cache log book . You will need the code word to find an upcoming bonus mystery cache.

Note on maps: Trust the pointer on your GPS more than the map.  My Magellan software places the cache on the wrong side of the Steese Highway as does the cache page map, but Google Maps gets it right.