This cache is placed during the 100th Anniversary Year for Devil's Lake State Park. We hope you take time to discover some of the the beauty of this Park, and join in Devil's Lake's 100th Anniversary Celebrations
In the 1940's the Devil's Lake Recreation Club, a group of Baraboo businessmen, leased land and constructed a downhill ski run with rope tow and shelter building north and east of Devil's Lake.
For several winters there was a special "snow train" from Chicago that stopped at the Park. In later years, the lease was transferred to a group from Chicago, the Windy City Ski Club. Their lease expired in 1970 and the land was purchased as part of the Devil's Lake Master Plan, and the buildings and equipment removed. Remains of the rope tow foundation can be found nearby the cache at N43* 26.103, W 089* 43.220.
This cache is best accessed from the Johnson Moraine hiking Trail from the parking lot on County DL. From the top of the hill north of DL, you will be hiking along the terminal moraine from Wisconsin's last glacier on a portion of the Ice Age Scenic Trail.
The artificial high point near the cache location was the top of the downhill ski run. ( I worked on the trail crew during the time this land was purchased, and remember this being known as the "Alps" ski hill. I have not found confirmation of this elsewhere.)
Just south of the top of the hill is an old pulley left from the rope tow, still clinging to a leaning tree. The pulley still turns. If you look downhill, you can still make out the ski run, but Mother Nature has done a lot of reclaiming in the past 50 years. I used to cross country ski down the hill after the nearby trail opened in the 70's.
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to Steve Schmelzer of the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource managed lands require permission by means of a notification form. Please print out a paper copy of the notification form, fill in all required information, then submit it to the land manager. The DNR Notification form and land manager information can be obtained at: http://www.wi-geocaching.com/hiding