UPDATE: 3/1/2024:
2019 was the 100th Anniversary of Michigan State Parks and we're still celebrating!. Join the Michigan Geocaching Organization (MiGO), the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Geocaching.com for the first official GeoTour in Michigan.
This tour was originally scheduled to run for three years, kicking off on Friday of Memorial Weekend in 2019 and continue through May 31, 2022. The success of this awesome tour has not gone unnoticed. On February 2, 2022, The DNR announced the extension of the GeoTour through September 24, 2024! Join us in making a final push to complete this very popular and very successful GeoTour before the sun sets on it.
Each geocache is in one of Michigan's state parks. The geocaches are arranged by MiGO Region, with twenty-five geocaches per region. The Ticket to Celebrate 100 is available for download from the DNR's Geocaching page. It explains how to qualify for prizes in each of the four regions and for the GeoTour as a whole.
Day use areas of state parks are open from 8AM to 10PM. Geocaching is limited to those hours. Entry into Michigan's State Parks requires a Michigan Recreation Passport. See the Resources section below for more information.
The sun will set on the MSPCGT at midnight Tuesday, September 24, 2024. The MSPCGT will go off the air as a GeoTour and the caches will disappear from the map. There is a lot of construction going on in our State Parks in 2024. Some of the GeoTour caches will have to be pulled earlier. The remaining geocaches in the tour will be archived October 1, 2024. Players will have until December 31, 2024 to claim any prize they have earned. Hiders will be contacted to request removal of the geocaches they hid unless they have made arrangements with park managers and have their own permit in place to keep the geocache in play, with a new GC Code.
Now for some good news: MiGO and the DNR are busy working on a new project that will kick off in the Spring of 2025, code named MSPGT 2.0. Are you interested in helping? Keep your MiGO Membership up to date and stay tuned to the website.
Cache:
This cache was hidden as part of the Michigan State Parks Centennial GeoTour, presented by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Geocaching Organization. Record the codeword printed on the log book and on a label inside the cache container to the appropriate box on the Ticket to Celebrate 100 form. See the instructions on the form to claim prizes.
This is a mystery cache and is not at the posted coordinates. To determine the coordinates, solve this puzzle using information from the cache page:
- The cache can be found at N46° 28.ABC W89° 05.XYZ
- The Ontonagon River drops AYZ feet from Bond Falls Flowage to Lake Superior.
- Agate Falls is a C9-foot-high waterfall.
- If Agate Falls is upstream of Bond Falls, then B and X = 5.
- If Agate Falls is downstream of Bond Falls, then B and X = 4.
- Verify your coordinates using the checksum: A+B+C+X+Y+Z = 31
You are looking for a Regular size container. Please return everything as good or better than you found it.
Thank you
CCSquire
for creating, hiding and maintaining this MSPC GeoTour cache.
Photo by Gabriel John Lamer © 2018, used with permission
Agate Falls
Agate Falls Scenic Site:
The Agate Falls Scenic Site obviously includes a waterfall. The scenic is site located in Interior Township, in southeastern Ontonagon County, Michigan. The waterfall is 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Bruce Crossing, Michigan on the state highway M-28.
Agate Falls is a 39-foot-high (12 m) waterfall of the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River. Dropping down from the highlands of the western Upper Peninsula, this river drops 875 feet (267 m) from the Bond Falls Flowage to Lake Superior, and Agate Falls is part of this change in elevation. The water flows over a shelf of erosion-resistant sandstone.
Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources
M-28 Highway Bridge upstream from Agate Falls.
The falls can be seen from a trail accessible from a parking lot on M-28 or from a sturdy railroad bridge which now is part of a snowmobile and ATV trail. This bridge, which once carried the tracks of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, spans the falls. Parking and a roadside picnic area are also available.
Google Earth imagery annotated by Migo Sparks
Information:
For more information, reservations and a calendar of events, follow this link to
Agate Falls Scenic Site.
Special thanks to
Wandering Tracks
for help with this geocache.
Special thanks to Cherry Capital Cachers for the Upper Peninsula regional prize.
Resources: