There is plenty of parking nearby but please obey all parking signs. The nearby parking lot can be very busy at times but there is lots and lots of parking. It will be best to look for this cache either after school hours (after 5pm Monday-Thursday and after 3pm Fridays), weekends, or holidays. Rain garden path closes at dusk.
A little about the Cache Location:
One downside of urban living is the need for paved parking areas. In more rural areas, when it rains, water is able to soak into the soils and eventually into the areas watershed. In urban areas, rain water cannot soak through the paved parking areas and as a result, runs off. This run off can cause erosion issues as well as contamination/pollution issues for the surrounding area. As such, large paved parking areas must have some sort of stormwater management design. Often these only consist of unsightly fenced off run-off/retention ponds.
Rain gardens are an excellent and environmentally friendlier alternative. A rain garden is a planted shallow depression that collects rainwater runoff from roofs, parking lots, and other surfaces. While a rain garden can blend into the landscape and serve as a garden area, its main function is to retain and treat collected stormwater.
Rain gardens (also known as bioretention areas) are either bowl-shaped or surrounded by berms to retain water. They are typically planted with native or adapted vegetation that tolerates both waterlogging and drought. Rain gardens use the chemical, biological, and physical properties of soils, plants, and microbes to remove pollutants from stormwater through four processes: Settling, Chemical reactions in the soil, Plant uptake, and Biological degradation in root zones
Rain garden benefits include: less stormwater runoff, slower runoff, less pollution in the runoff, and more water to replenish groundwater supplies
Take some time and look around this rain garden pathway and see what wildlife you might spot. This location supports a variety of birds year round. If you spot anything interesting, make a note in your log.
Please close up and replace cache as found so it is ready for the next seeker and please do not damage any landscaping.
(Placed with permission from Associate Vice President of Facilities and Director of Environmental, Health & Safety)