Entry for August 16, 2008 - Oakfield, WI (near Waupun)

For this nearly perfect weekend of fair weather in Wisconsin, I chose to visit a section of "The Ledge" northeast of my home. I have been working a list of somebody else's recommended Wisconsin geocaches off and on this summer. Last year I visited a county park just outside of Horicon, Wisconsin that preserves a section of The Ledge (the western edge of the Niagra Escarpment which forms a raised plateau in the Great Lakes area). The place I visited this time is farther north, has a higher cliff-exposure, and is more scenic IMO. East of Waupun, right by little Oakfield, is Oakfield Ledge State Natural Area

This area is raised above the land to the west, making it a good location for a wind-farm. I wonder if these will be considered "charming" in a couple of hundred years like the windmills in Holland?

The trees are kind of thick here, but this kind of shows how this area overlooks the landscape to the west.

It is a challenge to photograph rock formations like this. You have to be there to experience the "depth". I think I managed to get that depth translated into 2-D in a couple of shots.

The cedars growing in the rock cavities get such a "haunted" look sometimes.

This walk was unusual as my sister and I spent more time standing and looking than walking. Nice visit, but not so good on the fitness aspect.

This shot is neat because you can see here how the trail above is so close to the edge of a fissure, and how the fissure runs directly under the rock you are walking on at times. Makes you wonder if it could turn into a Wiley Coyote moment.

The geocacache was less than a mile from the parking area, but it took an hour or so to get here due to all the stops to look at everything.

This one has a new container this year, but the cache has existed for 5 or so years. Kind of a lonely one in recent years. That is the kind I like to visit.

More rocks to look at. There is another geocache about 2 miles further along the cliff-face, but pressing on it was obvious that it could not be walked to from here. There is a stone quarry in-between the public land along the cliff. Had to walk back and drive there.

We took a path more inland to walk out. It was almost like it was paved with all the rock exposed.

The second cache location is truly just south of the hamlet of Oakfield, with a very nondescript and rustic parking area. The path is little-used, mainly for hunting I think.

The coordinates took us right back to another section of The Ledge, and an intense search in the hiding-spot rich environment. It literally was beneath my feet when I found it.

Rescued a "Travel Bug" to move along to another geocache. Also replaced the ziploc bag inside to keep things better sealed.

The rocks are more overgrown here, but kind of pretty.

I mentioned that this area was used for hunting right? On the way out we spotted a family of turkey around a corner. I had to do a very quick lens-change (24mm prime put away, 70-300mm zoom on) and we stalked them a little. Here are some trying to hide in the taller grasses.

Managed to photograph the young ones as they followed their mama across the trail.

Caught a robin red-breast getting closer to the Jeep.

And I thought the "charming" windmills made for some photo subjects too.

Also to round out the day, we stopped by a "cache-n-dash" type hide along the road on the way back. I don't enjoy these much, and normally just pass them by. However today I decided to pad the numbers a bit. It was hiding in this area.

See why I normally pass those by? This one was kind of clever though because it is hidden unconventionally, and designed to make you jump a little when you retrieve it. It is tied to a line and suspended down 5 inches inside under a cap on a pipe sticking out of the ground in back. As you pull the tight cap off, you wind up jerking the entire works out quickly, and makes you momentarily think a small critter is jumping out as you release it. It is titled "A Shocking Find" so you know it was intentional - after the fact.

On the day we only walked just over 2 miles. Kind of weird, because I was out for almost 3 hours. Very nice scenery though. Here's the walk overlaid on an aerial photo.