THE CACHE IS NOT LOCATED AT THE POSTED COORDINATES, see below for directions to the cache. This is one of over 50 caches placed to commemorate the 2021 Waukesha Janboree theme this year of Once Upon a Time. The cache involves a 1,700 foot walk (.32 of a mile) each way along wooded trails and over a small stream in Waukesha’s Woodfield Park. Street parking is available on Cambridge Avenue near the playground at N 43° 00.536 W 088° 15.303.
Once upon a time, before the internet, before satellites, before geocaching, there was an outdoor treasure-hunting game people played called letterboxing. Similar to geocaching, participants looked for weatherproof containers placed outdoors, but rather than having GPS coordinates to follow, they followed written clues and descriptions to get to where they needed to go. They then recorded their discovery in their personal journal with the help of a rubber stamp that stayed in the letterbox. Although letterboxes have been around since the mid-1800s in England, the game didn’t become popular in the United States until the 1990s.
This geocache is a letterbox hybrid cache. It is both a geocache and a letterbox. It includes both a narrative (“clues”) and coordinates to follow to get you to the cache container. Within the container is a log book for geocachers to sign. However the log book is also for letterboxers to mark with their personal stamp, and then stamp their own journal with the stamp from the cache (please do not take the stamp that is in the cache).
YOUR ADVENTURE AWAITS
As mentioned before, parking is available on Cambridge Avenue near the playground at N 43° 00.536 W 088° 15.303. This is where it all begins!
1. Head over to the posted starting coordinates by the pond at N 43° 00.502 W 088° 15.266. Welcome to Woodfield Park, featuring 2 ponds, 2 playgrounds, a park shelter, and open play fields. The 59-acre park contains plant and animal communities that are representative of wetland, woodland, and upland. A small stream connects the two ponds, and the park is valuable as an educational site, nature preserve, and recreation area.
2. Make your way 265 feet around the pond to the trailhead that leads into the woods at N43 00.461 W88 15.246. Did you know that the pond has a variety of fish and is stocked periodically with trout? It’s part of the DNR Urban Fishing Program.
3. Head south about 46 feet, then cross the little stream over the rocks. Continue south another 12 feet past the stream and stop. You’re now at the main trail at N43 00.452 W88 15.242 which goes two directions: it goes somewhat straight to south/southeast and also goes to the right, which is west/southwest. You’ll want to take a right and head west. You’re going to be on this trail for pretty much the whole way.
4. Continue west on this path, as it winds its way through the woods. In 286 feet you’ll see a trail that swings south from the main trail you’re on. Ignore that diversion and continue straight. Another 100 feet after that you’ll encounter several cut logs and branches on the left and right. When this cache was originally placed, there was a fallen tree here that blocked the trail, but it has been cut up and you can see some of the remnants. Keep going!
5. Just 72 feet past those logs you’ll walk past a rather large tree on your right, more than 3 feet wide, at N43 00.428 W88 15.335. Continue on, but this time without any more coordinates; just measure the distance from that tree!
6. Almost done. Just continue on the path exactly 500 feet or so from that large tree, until the path sort of ends and comes to a T-intersection. You’re there. Kind of. To the left, the path continues, going mostly south. To the right, the path goes north for a very short distance, up to the nearby stream that you crossed earlier. But only 20 to 25 feet north/northeast 15° from the T-intersection you're at, you’ll find the cache, hanging knee-high on a grouping of trees. We hope you enjoyed the journey!
7. Since you're already here, Woodfield Park also features another letterbox hybrid cache, as well as a very fun multicache, a traditional cache or two, and an EASY mystery cache. Without leaving the park you could find four types of geocaches!
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