Description: While one of the main aspects of Prophetstown SP is prairie restoration there are also other interesting areas. This cache will lead you through one of the most fragrant parts of the park. Follow the wandering path, smell the forest, and forget your worries.
Cost:
This is an Indiana State Park so unless they are not collecting fees that day there is the normal $4-$5 entrance fee or $26 yearly pass.
Driving directions: Perhaps the hardest part of this cache is finding the park itself since it is so new that it is probably not on many maps. There are good signs that will lead you from the interstate towards the park. However if you just follow your GPS to the cache you will probably find yourself lost or at least confused. As a first step aim towards N 40 29.000 W 086 52.000 -- this will get you started in the right direction. Then head NE on Swisher road.
Please note: Permission to place the cache was granted by the State Park land managers using the DNR's non-rule policy #46. This is the first cache allowed in the park. Please stay on the trails and treat the park with respect. If you meet a park official (and if the following is true) please tell him or her that geocaching was an important reason to come to the park.
Personal story: Prophetstown SP has been a long time in being formed. I have seen it evolve from farmland into a, well if not a mature park, at least into something fun to wander around in. In the 1800s America's and Indiana's emphasis was mainly on using the land for farming, factories and cities but not for enjoying the beauty of nature. In the 1900s as we became richer and as mechanical power became common we were able to look around us and see what had been plowed under. The national park system was formed. The Indiana state park system started saving bits of Indiana. Now in the 2000s we have another part of Indiana restored. I am sure that years from now people will think that the park has been here forever but to me ... well, it has been a long journey. What will the park be like in the year 2020? I hope that I am around to find out.
Cache goodies:
As is typical for my caches I did not put a really big first-to-find prize but rather stocked the cache with a bunch of nice items that I hope kids will enjoy. Please trade even if at all possible. However if your child really has to have one of the items and if you do not have an even trade then by all means let him/her have the item.
While placing the cache
... I stumbled out from the forest into a large field. There was a herd of whitetail deer. They looked at me in bewilderment. I stared back at them. They looked for several more seconds and then started bounding over the field with the white side of their tails held high. Being the city boy that I am I just do not get to see deer that close very often. What a wonderful sight. If I had been walking those woods in the 1800s it would be a quick glance, a shouldering of my rifle, a careful aim and -- bam! -- venison. As it is, in the year 2005, I just got into my car, drove to the store, and bought myself a steak.