My friend turned me into a WSI (Woods Scene Investigator)
He worked for the National Forest Service for almost 33 years. He started out working in the Ottawa National Forest and eventually relocated to Eagle River and worked in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. He worked as an Engineer, one of his biggest responsibilities was Surveying. He surveyed all the section corners that were laid out on the 1800’s. He also surveyed out many of the existing roads that are in the national forest today.
A big part of finding the original section corners was to be able to read and understand the survey notes that were done by the original surveyors. A lot of times they would refer to bearing points, sometimes bearing trees. You can imagine how the forest changed in 100 years, in order to find bearing trees he had to be a WSI.
He has taught me so many things about the forest, he taught me how to scan the landscape and see How the Hand of Man changed the landscape. He taught me how to figure out witch way the wind was blowing and how thick the forest was when this entire area burned off many, many years ago.
Most of all he is a mentor to me. I originally met him through Boy Scouts, He’s a fellow Woodcarver, But most of all He’s a Terrific Person that I someday hope to match up to.
A while back I asked him if he remembered any unique landmarks that he came across in all his years of working in the National Forest. He told me of several, all he needed to do was to be able to remember where they were. This is one of those unique landmarks and we hope to bring you many more throughout this summer.
Magic told me of a Campground that was abandoned before it ever was used, I told him I thought that this would be great landmark to show Cachers. We parked at the parking coordinates and started hiking the old Campground, if you watch as you hike you can see where the pull-offs (Camp sites) were laid out.
It turns out that this Campground was built back in the 1962 - 63 Kennedy Administration. It was built with money that was a Federal Program called “Administrated Public Works” (APW).They were nicknamed “Kennedys Woodpeckers”. The reason this Campground was abandoned was because it was discovered as a Geological site.
As you hike your GPS’r will take you to the “Hidden Lakes Trail System” we found a foot bridge that was built in 2005 that will take you to a primitive Camp Site on the shores of Butternut lake near the outlet into the Pine River.
After you cross the bridge you will find a 3 sided kiosk.
Hidden Lakes, Hidden Lives.
There is a wealth of information on the kiosk, so plan on taking a little time to read about this area.
original contents of the cache include some small SWAG and a TB.