Just after noon on May 5, 2005, a fire was started illegally in
Central Wisconsin by a landowner trying to clear some grass and
debris from his land. Unfortunately, due to carelessness and poor
planning, this small fire got out of control. By midnight that
night, the fire had spread across 3870 acres or 6 square miles,
traveling over 5 miles north of where it originally started.
Despite the efforts of the Wisconsin DNR, 20 fire departments, and
over 250 firefighters, approximately 30 homes and about 100 other
structures were destroyed. For more information on what has been
named the Cottonville Fire, the largest wildfire in Wisconsin since
1980, read this newspaper article (link).
The cache is not placed in an area that was burned by the
Cottonville Fire, but is within a quarter mile of the eastern edge
of the burn area. While placing the cache, I could actually smell
the charred pine plantation to the west. I was initially looking to
place this cache in an area that was burned, but no public lands
were touched by this fire... this is actually a good thing, because
it means that you won't get covered with soot/ashes as you hunt the
cache, and the cache won't be accidentally discovered as the fire
damage is cleaned up.
I recommend driving to the cache from Hwy 13 on Buttercup
Avenue... this will take you through the middle of the burned area.
There are burn maps in the cache container that show the extent of
the fire and what was done to stop it (fire breaks, etc.). There is
also a newspaper article from the day after the fire. Please read
this material but leave it in the cache. As you drive away from the
cache, take the time to explore more of the burned area using the
information you saw in the cache container as a guide... for
instance, heading north on 8th Ave, then west on County C will take
you through some of the worst destruction.
Parking is on the grassy shoulder on the south side of
Buttercup Ave. at N44 04.979 W89 45.156. I parked directly
across from the driveway labeled "864 Buttercup".
Final cache container is a rectangular tupperware style
container, about 12"x6"x3", painted black. Cache is not far off of
an old logging road/fire lane... there is no need to bushwhack
until you get within a tenth of a mile. Cache contains the usual
geocache stuff. Featured cache items: Norah Jones CD, Tim McGraw
CD, and a Spongebob watch.
Thanks to my dad, Steve Vechinski, Assistant Chief, Port Edwards
Volunteer Fire Department (link), for providing the
various detailed burn maps and helping me locate a piece of land on
which to place this cache. (The Port Edwards Fire Dept. was
involved in fighting this fire... they were primarily focused on
saving homes, cottages, and structures in an assigned sector just
north of the cache.) He even went out in the woods, following me as
I walked much of the public land here trying to find a good place
for the cache.
Extra credit: If you have some time to spare, continue
down the trail and when it forks, head to the right (SW).
Eventually the trail will end at N44 04.334 W89 45.460. You'll be
face to face with something known as Minnie Rock, and will be
scratching your head wondering how the heck something like this got
here. If you could climb this rock, you would have an excellent
view of some of the area burned by the fire, but you can't because
it is on private property. Again, do NOT climb Minnie Rock,
but only look at it.
