Schaper Park Cache Traditional Cache
irvingdog: Looted...... :. (
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Located in Schaper Park, which is part of the Golden Valley park system. An easy walk, a brief climb, and worth exploring. Neglected Parks 2 is a very realistic walk from here, but plotting how to get to it from here will require a little research with maps that show all of the property owned by Minneapolis Park and Rec board (upon who's land N.P.2 is placed). You can't really park much closer to N.P. 2 than in the Schaper Park Parking lot.
This beautiful park has sad story.......
Simply put, the park runs contrary to the wishes of the man who owned and then left the property to the city. William and Frances Schaper were pretty "green" people, according to someone who knew them. He wanted this land to be used as a nature preserve of sorts. The city chose to leave a small portion of the park as a wet-land, and then built 2 enormous ballparks on the majority of the land. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not exactly a "greenie", I drive a big 6.3 liter V8 F150 pickup, I hunt, fish, boat and the like. I am concerned about the environment, but I tend to put people first. However, the huge expanses of grass used for the ball parks do nothing to keep the adjoining lakes healthy. The wetland in Schaper park is a primary skimmer and filter for Sweeney and Twin lakes. Since the creation of the ball parks, the quality of the water in Sweeney lake has fallen every year. Sadly, no upturn in the water clarity or quality is forseen. This is not how the Schapers wanted it. This info is gathered from an extremely reliable source who lives on Sweeney lake.
That said, this park is marvelous. The playground is really cute, the ballparks are fabulous, and the path that you will follow is a great little urban jaunt. I think you'll love it. Start by parking at N44 59.134 W093 20.581 and walk counter-clockwise around the pond. It is chock-full of dithering carp, water fowl and redwinged blackbirds. The cache container is a disposable blue tupperware container and started out with:
1 pack Nasturtium seeds
The "Luis Gonzalez" travel bug (send him back to Az.)
Dragonfly clip
Butterfly clip
small wodden terrier
2 fresh batteries
1 handy velcro strap (trust me, you'll find a use for it)
lock and key
1 clean, new belly button ring (I KNEW my wife wouldn't go through with it!!)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sebz jurer gur ynaq ehaf erq, lbhe cngu fubhyq or yrq.........
Bar jbhyq guvax guvf pnpur jnf ohevrq, ohg vg jnf abg. Vg vf jryy uvqqra haqre n snyyra gerr. Vs lbh svaq gur cynpr jurer gur "erq" cubgb jnf gnxra, vg vf va gur hccre yrsg unaq pbeare bss gur vzntr.
Treasures
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