This is not your usual type of geocache. For one thing, there is no physical geocache for you to find. Rather, this is a special type of virtual cache known as an EarthCache.
An EarthCache teaches an earth science lesson. The cache page must include logging tasks that help teach the same lesson. Geocachers must complete the tasks before they log the EarthCache as found.
For more information on EarthCaches, see the Geological Society of America's website.
NOTE REGARDING ACCESSIBILITY: The given coordinates and those for Waypoint 2 are not wheelchair accessable, although one can get very close on sidewalks or asphalt parking. For those with difficulty accessing the exact coordinates given, the CO will accept "best efforts" based on observations and elevation reports from as close as you can get.
Finding this Earthcache:
In order to get credit for finding the cache, it is not enough to log it below. You also must complete the following six tasks. Include the photograph with your log. For the remaining five tasks, send the answers to the Cache Owner in a message or EMAIL. DO NOT place your answers to tasks 2-6 in your log entry!!!
NOTE: The logging tasks require a bit more thought and effort than many Earthcaches, thus justifying the higher D rating. However, perfection is not required. A good faith attempt to fulfill the logging requirements should be sufficient.
Tasks to be Completed:
Include with your online log:
1. To prove you actually visited the Earthcache site, take a photo of yourself or a personal item with the Kickapoo River Valley as seen from the overlook visible behind you. Post this photograph with your online log.
Email or message me with the following information. Do NOT include this information in your online log:
2. Describe in your own words the landscape you see looking out across the valley West from the given coordinates. How do you think the view would have been different had you been looking the same direction from the same place some 400 million years ago? Explain why you think so.
3. Using the informational markers near the given coordinates, locate Mount Pizgah. How do you think Mount Pizgah was formed, and why do you think so?
4. What is the elevation at the given coordinates?
5. What is the elevation at the Wildcat Landing canoe launch at Waypoint 2?
6. What is the difference in elevation between the original coordinates and Waypoint 2? Do you think that water alone would have been able to carve that deep a valley through solid rock? Why or why not?
River Valleys in the Driftless Area
From the overlook at the given coordinates, you see before you the Kickapoo River Valley. “Kickapoo” is said to be an Algonquin word meaning “that which goes here, then there.” That is an appropriate name for this river, which meanders back and forth, traveling 125 miles while covering the 65 miles from its source to its confluence with the Wisconsin River.
This is the Driftless Area, that portion of the upper Midwest that was never covered by glacial ice during any of the glacial cycles over the past approximately 2.6 million years. The term Driftless is derived from the word 'drift,' which was the term for glacial sediment (sand, soil, rocks, and even boulders moved and ground up as glacial ice advances and retreats) that was in use during the latter part of the 19th century.
The Driftless Area covers southwestern Wisconsin, comprising 85% or the Driftless Area, with smaller portions of southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. The region consists of an eroded plateau, resulting in steep hills made of Cambrian sandstone and capped by dolomite overlain by varying thicknesses of loess, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams.
The rugged terrain comprising most of the Driftless Area is distinct from the rest of Wisconsin. The steep ridges, numerous rock outcroppings, and deep, narrow valleys in the Driftless Area are in marked contrast with the rest of the state, where glaciers have modified the landscape.
According to the Major Landforms of Wisconsin website of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (“WGNHS”), the Driftless Area
is marked by a complex pattern of branching river and stream valleys cut into nearly flat-lying layers of sandstone and dolomite that were deposited during the Cambrian and Ordovician Periods between approximately 500 and 450 million years ago. The branching, or dendritic, pattern of the valleys is characteristic of a landscape formed exclusively by stream erosion rather than glacial processes.
In other words, the area you see from this overlook originally was as flat as northern Iowa. However, it was eroded over time to form the current vista full of hills, ridges, and valleys.
Just because this area was not covered by the most recent glaciers of the past 2.6 million years does not mean that those glaciers did not impact the area. All major rivers in and adjacent to the Driftless Area have deep, dramatic canyons giving testimony to the immense quantity of water which once surged through them as a result of the nearby melting glaciers associated with the miles-high ice sheets during recurring ice ages. It is also possible that melting glaciers resulted in even more dramatic scouring of the river valleys when ice dams holding back huge prehistoric lakes gave way, resulting in a catastrophic release of water as the lake emptied in a very short period of time.
So, if the bedrock layers are not covered with glacial drift, where did all this dirt come from? Apparently, it was blown here over time from areas that, unlike here, were subjected to glaciers. Again according to the WGNHS,
Upland surfaces in the Driftless Area are topped by a layer of windblown silt, known as loess, that was deposited during the last glacial cycle. The loess is as much as 40 feet thick near its source, the Mississippi River valley, and progressively thins eastward. The steep valley-wall slopes in the region often have a few feet or less of soil and sediment covering them. The layers of sandstone and dolomite bedrock that the rivers and streams have cut into are exposed far better in this region than anywhere in the glaciated portions of the state. Valley bottoms are often filled with 10s to 100 or more feet of sediment that provides unique insight for scientists into the evolution of the Driftless Area.
Permission
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to, and permission granted for this placement by, Andrew Haffele, Superintendent -Wildcat Mountain Team . Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource managed lands require permission by means of a notification form. Please print out a paper copy of the notification form, fill in all required information, then submit it to the land manager. The DNR Notification form and land manager information can be obtained at: dnr.wi.gov/files/PDF/forms/2500/2500-118.pdf (visit link)
MAY THE FOG BE WITH YOU!