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 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 is a 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. Posted coordinates are next to public parking for the trailhead. At posted coordinates you will find a sign post with two or three different signs. You will need to answer the following questions using only the blue and white triangular shaped sign. Final stage is at:
- N 43° 07.ABC W 085° 33.XYZ
- A = Number of letters in second word on bottom line.
- B = Number of letters in second word at top.
- C = Number of letters in first word at top.
- X = Number of words on sign minus 1.
- Y = Number of letters in second word at top.
- Z = Number of points on the star.
- Checksum: A+B+C+X+Y+Z = 37
You are looking for a Regular size container. Please return everything as good or better than you found it.
Thank you
Kneel More
for creating, hiding and maintaining this MSPC GeoTour cache.
Photo courtesy Friends of the White Pine Trail, Hudson Keenan, 2010
White Pine Trail between Belmot and Rockford
White Pine Trail State Park:
White Pine Trail Linear State Park is 92 miles long. A 92-mile section is open from Cadillac to Comstock Park. The trail surface is natural ballast and hard packed gravel, with 13 miles of asphalt pavement from Reed City to Big Rapids and over 20 miles of asphalt pavement from just north of Sand Lake to Comstock Park. With many miles of well-maintained trail, you will find many people enjoying the trail every day of the week. You will see walkers, runners, bikers, dog-walkers, and even roller-bladers. During the winter months you'll see cross country skiers and in certain areas, snowmobilers.
Photo courtesy Friends of the White Pine Trail
Early GR&I Passenger Train
History:
The trail started as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad in 1854 and provided passenger and freight service from Ohio to the Straits of Mackinac. Over many years, the rail system saw many improvements and expansions. The railroad was eventually purchased by the Michigan Department of Transportation in 1975. By 1984 operations had come to an end from Cadillac to its southern reaches. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources purchased the right of way in the mid-1990s and with the help of Grocer Fred Meijer's legacy, was turned into the White Pine Trail State Park.
The GR&I was one of six Land Grant Railroads in Michigan. The Federal Government conveyed every other section (square mile) within six to ten miles on both sides of the right of way, to the railroad companies to sell in order to finance the railroad. Given that the population of Grand Rapids was just under 2,700 people in 1850 and the only means of transportation with the outside world was by boat on the Grand River or by stagecoach to Kalamazoo, it is not surporise that the lands north of the fledgling city were nothing more than a wilderness. The lands granted to the railroad north of Grand Rapids were through this wilderness with almost zero population.
The Land Grant by the government stipulated that the first twenty miles of railroad line be built within ten years. The rail line could not sell any lands until that twenty miles were completed. Economic hardships and the Civil War got in the way of railroad building. Extensions were made to the GR&I to get the first twenty miles built by the end of 1867. No work started until 1867. The construction of the first twenty mile segment to Cedar Springs was completed in early December, 1867. The first regular train service began on December 23rd, 1867. At the time, there was almost nothing at Cedar Springs.
Map courtesy Michigan Department of Natural Resources
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 including caches from the Silent Whistles Series. Caches are placed here by many different Geocachers making for lots of variety.
There are times of the day when you may be sharing the trail with deer, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and other wildlife. Remember that if you encounter wildlife while using the trails, please give them their space and allow them to pass and do not disturb them.
Information:
For more information follow this link to
White Pine Trail State Park.
Special thanks to
Huntroth
for help with this geocache.
Special thanks to Cold Cache Crew and Silent Whistles for the Southwest regional prize.
Resources: