This is located in the Richard T. Anderson Conservation area that was dedicated in 2004. The Park's hours are 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. There is plenty of parking and you will see a delightful fountain with a natural spring flowing from it at the trailhead. Richard Anderson was a leading voice in the preservation of Eden Prairie's parks and open spaces. The moderate hike to this cache will be rewarded with beautiful views of the mighty valley that was carved by the Glacial River Warren between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago.
Glacial Lake Agassiz was an enormous body of water, up to 600 to 700 feet deep and covering areas totaling over 110,000 square miles in southern Manitoba and Ontario in Canada. Blocked by an ice sheet to the north, the lake rose until about 9,700 years ago. The lake eventually breached the Big Stone Moraine at Traverse Gap near Browns Valley, Minnesota. The outflow became the source of the Glacial River Warren. The enormous outflow of the river carved the mighty valley you see below you which is now occupied by the much smaller Minnesota River, one of the only remnants left of the former River Warren.
To receive credit for this earth cache, answer the following questions;
1. What is the altitude at this spot?
2. What is the altitude at the parking lot? Calculate the height of the bluff.
3. What is the composition of the trail? Why do you think this material is predominate?
4. Looking to the south, estimate the width of the mighty valley you see below that was carved by the River Warren.