Welcome to Punderson State Park!
The park is open to the public every day of the year from 6 am to 11 pm. While caching at night after dark is an option, all visitors must leave Punderson by 11 pm when the park closes. In order to find this cache, you will need to visit several places around the park and pick up pieces of information that will help you determine the coordinates for the hiding spot of the final cache.
The locations may not be the most spectacular areas of the park, but they have special meanings for me, both old and new, from the many times I visited the park when I was just a kid, to the uncountable miles I’ve hiked on these trails as an adult. I promise you won’t have to hike nearly as far as I have to find the cache, but you will need to be very accurate when gathering your information.
Okay, so let’s get started. The coordinates for each of the three stages are listed as waypoints on the cache page. There will also be nearby parking for each stage, and the parking coordinates are also listed. You can visit the stages in any order you like, regardless of how they are numbered.
Stage 1
The Punderson boardwalk is one of the newest features in the park. It allows you to walk right along the shoreline below the lodge building and get some spectacular views of the lake and the surrounding area.
You will need to walk out to the Stage 1 coordinates, which is where the boardwalk takes its first turn, roughly from the northeast to the east. You will recognize the turn easily, as the two end sections have been cut diagonally to facilitate the turn. The boardwalk is made up of small sections that are hinged together so that the entire thing can move and shift just enough to keep the wood from undergoing major amounts of stress.
What you need to do is count the sections of the boardwalk beginning with the first piece at the turn, all the way to the far eastern end. Do not count any of the sections that lead out to the first turn! You can identify where sections begin and end by the separation in both the planks and the side trim. Don’t be fooled by some of the splits in the side trim though. They do not always match up to the end of a section. If you are totally unsure how to recognize the end of a section, look down on the side of the boardwalk and you will see a large L-shaped pin at each point where the sections begin and end. These pins hold the sections together.
Remember to begin with the first section at the turn (the one that is cut diagonally at one end) and go all the way to the far end at N 41° 27.090 W 081° 12.394. If you go any farther, you’ll get wet! Also be aware that not all sections are identical in size.
Update!
The park has now extended the boardwalk so that it reaches almost to the southern end of the lake. The instructions above still apply, but you need to make sure you stop counting when you reach the noted coordinates. You will know that you're there when you see the boardwalk turn to the left at a 90 degree angle. The old and new wood color is slightly different as well, but that may change with time. Stop counting at that point and do not count the section that turns to the left.
Now that you've done all the counting and you have the number, use the formula below to get your first piece of the puzzle.
JK = number of boardwalk sections MINUS one
(Don’t forget to subtract 1 from your number!)
Stage 2
Hopefully this will be a little easier than Stage 1. This stage will take you down to the Punderson beach. There you will find a sign which gives some rules about beach usage. Find the two lines on the sign that are not written in black. Count the number of letters on these two lines. Remember to count letters only. DO NOT COUNT NUMBERS!
LM = number of non-black letters
Stage 3
This stage should be the easiest one of them all. Park near the gazebo and find the sign at the stage coordinates. This area is dedicated to a wonderful and dedicated employee of the park who sadly passed away a few years ago.
Using the standard letter / number conversion (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.), determine the value of P and Q based on the letters on the sign at this location
P = value of the second letter on the first line PLUS the value of the second letter on the second line
Q = value of the first letter on the third line
Now that you have each of the pieces, you are ready to put them all together and find the cache. Use the formula below to determine the final coordinates.
N 41° 27 . (JK) (P) W 081° 12 . (Q) (LM)
The cache is a regular size lock & lock container, and it is a nice hike from an obvious parking area. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your visit to beautiful Punderson State Park!