UPDATE: 3/1/2024:
2019 was the 100th Anniversary of Michigan State Parks and we're still celebrating!. Join the Michigan Geocaching Organization (MiGO), the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Geocaching.com for the first official GeoTour in Michigan.
This tour was originally scheduled to run for three years, kicking off on Friday of Memorial Weekend in 2019 and continue through May 31, 2022. The success of this awesome tour has not gone unnoticed. On February 2, 2022, The DNR announced the extension of the GeoTour through September 24, 2024! Join us in making a final push to complete this very popular and very successful GeoTour before the sun sets on it.
Each geocache is in one of Michigan's state parks. The geocaches are arranged by MiGO Region, with twenty-five geocaches per region. The Ticket to Celebrate 100 is available for download from the DNR's Geocaching page. It explains how to qualify for prizes in each of the four regions and for the GeoTour as a whole.
Day use areas of state parks are open from 8AM to 10PM. Geocaching is limited to those hours. Entry into Michigan's State Parks requires a Michigan Recreation Passport. See the Resources section below for more information.
The sun will set on the MSPCGT at midnight Tuesday, September 24, 2024. The MSPCGT will go off the air as a GeoTour and the caches will disappear from the map. There is a lot of construction going on in our State Parks in 2024. Some of the GeoTour caches will have to be pulled earlier. The remaining geocaches in the tour will be archived October 1, 2024. Players will have until December 31, 2024 to claim any prize they have earned. Hiders will be contacted to request removal of the geocaches they hid unless they have made arrangements with park managers and have their own permit in place to keep the geocache in play, with a new GC Code.
Now for some good news: MiGO and the DNR are busy working on a new project that will kick off in the Spring of 2025, code named MSPGT 2.0. Are you interested in helping? Keep your MiGO Membership up to date and stay tuned to the website.
Cache:
This is a Daytime Only. Absolutely NO Night Caching!
This cache was hidden as part of the Michigan State Parks Centennial GeoTour, presented by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Geocaching Organization. Record the codeword printed on the log book and on a label inside the cache container to the appropriate box on the Ticket to Celebrate 100 form. See the instructions on the form to claim prizes.
This cache is on property owned by Mecosta County Parks and shared with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. This is a two stage multi-cache with a field puzzle and is not at the posted coordinates. To determine the location of the cache, go to the posted coordinates and answer the following questions with information there.
- Stage 2 is at N43° 47.ABC W85° 30.DEF
- A = Fourth digit of the first year the Wolverine was used.
- B = Fourth digit of the year the site was reopened by the Mecosta County Park Commission.
- C = Fourth digit of the year the hatchery was closed by the DNR.
- D = Fourth digit of the year the hatchery first opened.
- E = First digit of the registered state site number.
- F = Third digit of the last year the Wolverine was used.
- Checksum: A+B+C+D+E+F = 23
You are looking for a Regular size container. Please return everything as good or better than you found it.
Thank you
aghudley
for creating, hiding and maintaining this MSPC GeoTour cache.
Photo by Kevin Springsteen © 2018, used with permission
Hatchery building with a blanket of fresh snow
White Pine Trail State Park:
The White Pine Trail State Park one of the more unique parks in the system. It is a linear park, ninety-two miles in length, stretching from Comstock Park on the north end of Grand Rapids, to Cadillac. As of the fall of 2018, all but 29 miles of the trail are paved. As of December 20th, 2018, the Michigan State Senate approved funding to pave the remaining stretch between Sand Lake and Big Rapids.
Photo courtesy of Dan Barber, Michigan Photos & Stories (MPS) Facebook group, used with permission.
1909 photo of the Hatchery near Crapo, (pronounced Craypo) a station just north of here
History - The Fishing Line:
When the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad was built from Richmond, Indiana to Mackinaw City, the primary purpose was to harvest timber in Northern Michigan and get it to markets in the south. The lumber boom for Michigan White Pine lasted about three decades and harvesting hardwood lumber for the furniture industries in Grand Rapids a couple decades longer. The railroad saw the writing on the wall early and began to marketed lands it owned along the right of way for agriculture and began marketing Northern Michigan itself for tourism. The GR&I partnered with the Michigan Central Railroad to build the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.
Photo by Kevin Springsteen © 2018, used with permission
Ice was harvested from the pond and stored for summer use
Fish Hatcheries, like the one here in Paris, sprang up at various locations around the state to stock lakes and streams with fish for sportsman. The GR&I shipped plenty of young salmon and trout from this facility in milk cans, aboard specially configured baggage cars, on passenger trains. This facility was run for decades by the DNR and now is jointly operated by Mecosta Parks. Ice was harvested and stored at an ice house just north of the Hatchery complex.
Map courtesy of Michigan Department of Transportation
Activities:
The White Pine Trail is open to bicycles, roller bladers, hikers and cross-skiers from end to end. North of Pierson, it is open to snowmobiliers if there is a minimum base of snow. Trailheads and parking are available in several places up and down the trail. You will find good parking and restroom facilities in many of the small towns that are found along the trail. There are also plenty of caches to be found along the trail and in the nearby towns. Caches are placed here by many different Geocachers making for lots of variety.
Information:
For more information, reservations and a calendar of events, follow this link to
White Pine State Park.
Special thanks to
Redhed Mary
for help with this geocache.
Special thanks to Cold Cache Crew and Silent Whistles for the Southwest regional prize.
Resources: