THE POSTED COORDINATES ARE FOR PARKING AT THE STARTING POINT OF THE RIDE.
To find this cache you will need to take a bike ride down the three major regional trails that go through Villa Park. The Salt Creek Trail (SCT) begins in Busse Woods and heads south/southeast 32 miles to it's end at Brookfield Zoo. The Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) has it's starting point in downtown Wheaton with it's main branch heading east to Forest Park. There are also an Elgin branch with a spur to Geneva and an Aurora branch with a spur to Batavia. All four of these connect to the Fox River Trail. The Great Western Trail (GWT) begins in Villa Park and heads west 12 miles to West Chicago where it intersects the Elgin Branch of the IPP. There is also a 17 mile section of the GWT between St. Charles and Sycamore.
IMPORTANT-Sections of the Salt Creek Trail become flooded after a heavy rain and the trail will be closed. You could still do the ride but you will have to detour around the closed areas. I have included a link that will allow you to check the level of the creek. If the creek level is at 8 feet or higher you should wait to go on the ride until it drops. Look for the number under "Gage height, feet".
Click here to check the level of Salt Creek.
The posted coords are for a small parking lot in the southern part of Cricket Creek Forest Preserve. While most of the preserve is in Addison the lot and the southern-most pond, (Riverbend) are in Villa Park. If you drove to the lot and it's full you can park at the north lot at N41 55.260 W087 58.300 or at the large parking lot at the NW corner of North Avenue and Route 83.
From the lot turn left on the trail and take it around the pond to the first of 3 bridges that you will cross Salt Creek on. When you get to each bridge stop and look for a small metal square on either end. At the bottom of each you will find a number that starts with 0 (zero). This first bridge has a number like this : 0XXX-X. Write down the number but skip the "-" and the zeros on each of the numbers aren't important, you can write them if you want to but they won't be used. (I should say that the second and third bridges have a zero in the middle of each of their numbers, you do need those) Cross the bridge and follow the trail through the woods and then under North Avenue. After the underpass there is a very short on-road section, turn left and another left to get back on the trail. When the trail ends follow the road straight ahead to the cross-street, watch for traffic and turn left. You're now on Villa Avenue. Take Villa south over the train tracks and look for the left turn on Thomas. At the end of Thomas you will get back on the trail and come to the second bridge and the second set of numbers. Take the trail south, under St. Charles Road and to the third and last bridge. Now, take the three sets of numbers and subtract them from 11,199. The result is the last three digits of the final's north coords. N41 53.XXX.
Follow the trail to where it meets the next short street section. Turn right on Wildwood and take it to the stop sign at Monterey. Turn left on Monterey, go past the parking lot for the Ovaltine apartments and when you get to the intersection with the IPP turn right, not left like the arrow points you. You'll see a white sign welcoming you to town. There is a year on the sign, write down the number and call it "B". Continue down the trail past the historic Ovaltine building and look for a mile marker on your left, when you see it write down the number and call it "C". Cross Villa Avenue and you will be at the Villa Park Historical Museum.
The museum is the old railroad station from when the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad operated on the land that the IPP uses now. Stop and look around the museum for the year that the station was erected. That number is "A". Take A, B and C and use them in the equation A-B-C=D. Place "D" in the west coords for the final here : W087 59. DXX. Now go west until you see a side trail on your right and a sign like the one in the picture you saw above. This will take you to the GWT. You'll pass the old Villa Park Post Office, the Nike missle and the old train depot. At the GWT turn right and take it to Villa Avenue. You'll see a lightpost with a stopsign on it. The lightpost looks like this one.
Turn around and including the post with the stopsign start counting all of the lightposts that border the trail. Don't look for any that are down any side paths, just the posts along the trail. The trail continues past Ardmore Avenue and the lightposts end at Harvard Avenue. Take the number of posts that you counted and subtract "C" from the other equation and call the answer "E". (It's a two digit number) Place "E" in the coords for the final and you"ll have them. W087 59.XE. The trip to this point is just under 4 miles from the Cricket Creek parking lot and the final is a little over .5 mile from here.
Remember at all street crossings there are stopsigns for trail traffic. You need to at the very least yield to street traffic which does have the right-of-way. If someone in a car stops and waves for you to cross make sure you check that nobody's coming from the other direction. Be smart and be safe.
Dupage County has a section of their website on bikeways that can be found here.
You can find Bike To Metra Guides for many area communities, including Villa Park, by clicking here. You may even recognize someone in a couple of them.