This is not your typical geocache, it is an EarthCache, you will not be looking for a "cache container" rather, an EarthCache is designed to bring you to a geological feature.
This Earthcache is located in Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin. A vehicle admission sticker (annual or daily) is required.
Please note there is a designated trail to get to this cache.
This EarthCache location will take you on a beautiful hike in Wyalusing State Park to a unique geological feature, Pictured Rock Cave. Pictured Rock Cave is a sandstone outcropping.
As with any geocache you can earn a "find" for this EarthCache if you complete the requirements listed at the bottom of the page.
Rock you see in Wyalusing State Park was formed over hundreds of millions of years. Around 570 million years ago the Cambrian Ocean flooded the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin. Sand accumulated on the bottom of the ocean and water pressure and chemicals turned the sand particles into sandstone. The sandstone that formed during this period is 110 feet thick and lies under the Mississippi River.
The Cambrian Ocean receded about 500 million years ago and was soon replaced by the Ordivician Sea. Once the Ordivician Sea formed, tiny shelled creatures in it fell to the bottom when they died. Thirty-five million years of this accumulation of shells turned into limestone, also called dolomite, due to the pressure of the water and chemical reactions.
The Ordivician Sea became shallow 460 million years ago and once again sand collected at its bottom. This turned into what we now call St. Peters Sandstone.
The sea deepened again and after another 20 million years of those dead, tiny shelled creatures accumulating at the bottom additional limestone was created. You can still find many of these tiny creatures as fossils when you pick up and look at pieces of limestone. The Ordivician Sea receded about 430 million years ago and no new rock has formed here since.
As you walk down the path to Pictured Rock Cave, you will be retracing the footsteps of Native American and early settlers. During earlier times, Pictured Rock Cave offered protection from the elements and relief from the heat for Native Americans and early settlers. At one time the walls of the cave had Indian paintings (pictographs) and Indian carvings (petroglyphs). However, over time and also due to vandalism, the pictoglyphs have disappeared.
Carving initials, names, or anything on the sandstone walls is strictly prohibited by law.
Please help preserve the beauty of this special place.
Take nothing but photos. Leave only footprints behind.
To get to the Earthcache:
Drive to the Homestead Picnic Area.
P
ark at N42 58.460 W91 07.579. This is near the Homestead Picnic Area and is the small lot east of Homestead picnic shelter along Cathedral Tree Drive.
Walk along the Sugar Maple Nature Trail
Take the wooden bridge crossing a small ravine. Continue down the wooden steps until a Y in the trail is reached. Turn left along a wooden fence. Follow the short trail to Pictured Rock Cave.
If you hike the full trail, it is a 1.5 mile loop, about 1 1/2 hours round trip (but depends on your walking rate). There are some slopes, steps, and steep areas, gentle slope downhill from road.
Dogs are not allowed on Sugar Maple Nature Trail.
Your GPS will probably get quirky after WP1 but you are almost at the cave at that location and you will be able to find GZ easily from there.
Submission Requirements to log the EarthCache:
**DO NOT ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS IN YOUR LOG**
In order to get credit for this cache you must send an email to us with answers to the below questions.
Waypoint1 (WP1) coordinates listed will bring you to a sign. Use it to answer questions 1-5.
1. What layer is below the layer you are standing and how deep is it?
2. Are you standing above, at, or below the Mississippi River level?
3. Pictured Rock Cave is made of what type of Sandstone?
4. The _____ and _____ colors in the rock were caused by _____ concentrations.
5. There is an example of what at the bottom of this sign?
6. Standing at the sign, what is the elevation?
7. What additional geological feature is at the cave location?
Please do not make any reference to these answers in your log.
Please do not wait on a reply from us to log your visit.
Failure to email the answers to the above questions within one week of logging a "find" will be quietly removed without notice.
Any log containing spoilers (ie. photos of the sign or answers to the above questions) will result in log deletion without notice.
UPDATE 2015: EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: Eathcaches are not virtual caches. Answers are required per Geocaching.com guidelines. Too many are logging that they visited at the time of their visit using their phones but then never follow through with the required submission of the Earthcache answers. This is even after we message them that their answers still need to be submitted to claim the find--they don't respond, ever. There is no method available on Geocaching.com to track all this and it is extremely time consuming to keep track of who has and hasn't submitted answers. Answers must be submitted at the same time your are logging your find.
(Special circumstances will be allowed on a trial basis to see if it works: if you mention in your log that you will be submitting your answers within the same week of logging your find AND you do follow through and submit your answers, then your log will not be deleted prior to the submission of your answers.)
UPDATE 2021: If people did not submit their EarthCache answers, we had been messaging them requesting their answers be sent (even though the info above has always said logs would be quietly removed). The following has been added to the first lines of the cache description: Too many are ignoring our request for un-submitted answers so we have decided in the interest of time and sanity, we will no longer message you prior to deleting your log if you do not submit the answers at the time of logging your find.
If your log is deleted, you are welcome to submit your EarthCache answers and re-log your find. Thank you.
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to and permission for this EarthCache approved by the Wyalusing State Park Manager.