Pocket Woods 2 - Hillcrest Park Amusement Park Traditional Cache
Pocket Woods 2 - Hillcrest Park Amusement Park
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Used to be a Can Can mini-series, then it was just a single, small, Lock-n-Lock cache. Now it's a regular sized Lock-n-Lock spaghetti container wrapped in camouflage tape.
A long time ago there was an amusement park on these grounds. All that is left is the elevated gravel roadbed for the miniature railroad. Stay to this roadbed for a nice walk around the lake.
Don't fret about the restrictions in the forest preserves. There are plenty of these 'Pocket Woods' in between subdivisions and industrial parks.
Hillcrest Park Amusement Park
The warehouses across the lake stand where the amusement park once stood.
Drive thru the entrance off of Joliet Road and follow the drive up to the lake. Turning left follow the railroad tracks around to the other side of the lake. To the left was a large white house, apparently a residence. To the right, a spacious, tree-shaded picnic grove.
Ahead and to the left was a small cookhouse and a large building containing a cookhouse, a cafeteria-style serving line, a small taproom, and restrooms. On down the hill, there are a couple of picnic shelters (including one specifically outfitted for bingo games) and a volleyball court and a small stage in a field.
Adjacent to this is a large swimming pool. At the bottom of the hill and to the far right of the picnic grove is the entrance to the midway. This includes a Mangels Roto-Whip kiddie ride, an Arrow Development merry-go-round, an Allan Herschell Helicopter ride, a building housing a set of SDC floor-pick-up bumper cars, and two closed-up buildings which housed Skee-Ball and a Bonanza shooting gallery.
The merry-go-round is set up in a large steel-framed canvas dome similar to the ones that used to be used for Cinema 180 theaters. The merry-go-round was metal, including the upper sweeps and rounding boards. It's also a four-row machine, which is unusual for a small carousel.
In the corner of the midway, diagonally opposite the merry-go-round, is a smallish wood coaster that was a TC junior train, push forward then pull back on the electric lap bar, and a moment later the operator would pull the brake lever and the train would start up the lift.
The roller coaster was Little Dipper that had a somewhat truncated layout. At the top of the lift there is a small dip and a turnaround, then the double-dip is on the first major drop. The front turnaround, then, is built directly over the semicircular station, and the oval portion of the layout completes around the back side. Little Dipper "hammers" a little bit at the bottoms of the drops.
The train was a Crown steam engine and was only used on special occasions because it is expensive to operate, largely because of the need for a suitably skilled and licensed engineer. Whenever they ran only one train, they used a Chance CP Huntington diesel set. The train struggled up the hill toward the parking lot, descended into the woods behind the house and pool, circles the lake, then returns on the trestle alongside the entrance road, circling behind the engine shop and minuscule boneyard before returning to the station.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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