Please note that this virtual cache is in the Detroit Zoo. The Detroit Zoological Society is a nonprofit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center. There are fees for parking & entering the zoo, as well as hours that the zoo is open to the public, that information can be found HERE.
The historic and famed Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain, located in the center of the Zoo, was built in 1939 and dedicated to the first president of the Zoological Commission. Also known as the Bear Fountain, it was designed by Frederick A. Schnaple and sculpted by Corrado Parducci. The fountain features two 10-foot-tall bronze bears in a 75,000-gallon pool with life-sized sea lions, turtles and frogs and is one of the Zoo’s most-photographed attractions.
Parducci's maquette for one of the bears has survived in the Detroit Historical Museum collection.
About his commission, Parducci said, "I didn't like that. I made it against my will. They wanted, Mrs. Rackham was sold on that, bears..."
Logging Requirements
Note: The fountain is winterized during the winter season, but all the logging requirements are unaffected
1. Please upload a picture with your found it log of you with the Rackham Fountain in the background. Per guidelines, the photo does not have to have the geocacher's face. In that case a GPSr, trackable, or hand in the photo instead will suffice.
Please message me answers to the following questions
2. At waypoint 2 (north side of the fountain view area), find a plaque embedded into the fountain's barrier.
What was completed in 1991?
3. At waypoint 3 (south side of the fountain view area), find a plaque embedded into the fountain's barrier, there are two on this side close to each other.
What date was the 'Memorial Fountain Maintenance Fund' established?
4. At waypoint 3 (south side of the fountain view area), find a plaque embedded into the fountain's barrier, there are two on this side close to each other.
What date was The Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain dedicated?
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Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.