KAWISHIWI FALLS EARTHCACHE EarthCache
KAWISHIWI FALLS EARTHCACHE
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FAILURE TO EMAIL ME THE ANSWER AT THE TIME YOU LOG THE CACHE WILL RESULT IN YOUR LOG BEING DELETED. .I WILL DELETE ANY SPOILERS (LOGS/PICTURES) THAT INDICATE WHERE THE CACHE IS LOCATED.
Start at the KAWISHIWI TRAIL HIKING sign at the edge or the parking lot. The hike in is about 1 mile around trip – or about 10-15 minutes one way. Wear hiker boots that are waterproof and ankle supportive. HANG ON TO CHILDREN NEAR THE FALLS. WEAR BLAZE DURING HUNTING SEASONS.
Kawishiwi Falls has been called by many names throughout history: GAWISHIMEN, GAWISHKAWA, KAWASACHONG, and now KAWISHIWI. Read the information sign to tell you the meaning in English of these Ojibway words. The falls form the division line between Garden and Fall Lakes, both of which are damned sections of the Kawishiwi River.
Check out the nearby caches that explain more about this watershed.
GC1QPMP -GARDEN LAKE
(visit link)
GCQPEP KAWASACHONG FALLS
(visit link)
Over the years, Native Americans, fur trading Voyageurs, explorers, loggers, and modern day water route travelers, fisher people, and hikers have used and portaged these falls.There is even a ship named after the falls:
(visit link)
Although Ely Greenstone (some of the oldest rock on the planet at 2.7 billion years old) can be seen in many places in the area, none is more spectacular than here at the falls, which fall, not perpendicularly, but in two parts, sloping and separated by a ragged rock wall. The noise, especially at spring run off, can be heard 2-3 miles away.
The heavily irregular bedded and refracted rocks of the falls indicate that this site is truly one of igneous (volcanic in origin) activity. The dark greenstone (a metamorphosed basalt turned greenish from minerals like chlorite) that separated the falls into 2 streams is a dike (vertical rock layering) that was thrust up into the softer, older sedimentary (formed by pressure under water) jaspilite (a colorful form of chert and gneiss (coarse grained metamorphosed rock) and schists (rock containing the scaly plated mineral mica) that were irregularly bedded.
This cache location shows that Ely Greenstone is very erosion resistant in that it has withstood eons of water erosion and glaciers to produce the falls you see today. If the harder rock had not been thrust into the softer overlaying rock, and if it weren’t so weather resistant, the river would have eroded upstream into Garden Lake and there would be no falls.I have brought you to these falls to give you a unique sight of river change in elevation and direction in a small area. The water from Garden to Fall Lake flows at a descent of 71 feet. Coming from the dam to the waterfall, the water is flowing in a NNW direction. It will eventually flow north.
REQUIREMENTS TO LOG THE CACHE: email me the following answers:
1. Read the sign and tell me at the end of its 2000 mile journey, into what body of water will this water eventually flow?( Sign has disappeared. Disregard question. Answer is Hudson Bay)
THEN CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
2. Using your GPS, or compass, sight down the river valley and tell me what compass direction is the river flowing?
OR
3. Standing on the path at approximately the same level as the top of the falls. (A) Using your GPS altimeter, mark the elevation at this point. Walk the portage trail which leads to Fall Lake until you come to lake level (one of several spots- doesn’t make a difference which one). (B) Mark the elevation you are at, at lake level. This is not a far distance, but the trail is rough in spots.
Subtract (B) from (A). This will give you the approximate height of the falls. Email me your answer.
Reiterating: I need 2 answers from you to log the cache:
1. What northern body of water does this water eventually empty into?
AND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: ( Directions given above)
2. What direction is the water flowing once it leaves the base of the falls?
OR
3. What is the approximate height of the falls?
A friend of mine, Tauno Maki, of Winton, told the story of and Indian man who dared to ride his birch bark canoe down the river to Fall Lake and he invited people from near and far to come and watch this brave deed, which ended in disaster. He says that in 1919, Ivan Benson, was vacationing in Winton, and wrote a poem about this event - which became a classic legend in local Indian lore. In his book SPIRIT OF THE NORTH, Benson wrote this poem:
THE LEGEND OF KAWISHIWI
As I stood on the cliff by the lone tamarack,
Overlooking Kawishiwi Falls,
I thought of the legend, the Indian tale
From the land where the timber wolf calls.
How a young Indian from the Camp of the Loon,
Having scattered his boast far and wide,
Called together the Indians from Basswood to Birch,
To see Blackstone's impossible ride.
In his birch-bark canoe, down Kawishiwi Falls,
The Great Spirit defying, he rode.
But the Master of Waters, with fingers of wrath,
Clutching firmly, drew down his new load,
How the Indians worship this King of the North,
This great wilderness spirit of yore,
How the swirl of the waters, the far-scattered spray,
Are the makers of legend and lore.
Additional Hints
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Treasures
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