Muggles and MiGO

I don't know why the term "Muggles" irritates me as much as it does.  The label, is used to refer to non-geocaching people, or those folks who are calling the police because you look like you're up to something.  Now, I'm not suggesting you gear up like Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, just be aware of who is around you. It is a good idea to have a couple of people around who can warn you as Muggles (shutters) approach.

Now on to more pleasant things........MiGO!

For the past eight years the Michigan Geocaching Organization has partnered with Huron-Clinton Metro Parks to give geocachers an opportunity to explore parks in their area.  Having lived in Michigan all my life, it blew my mind to realize how much I've missed. Playing the 2011 Geocaching Adventure has opened the doors to many gems hidden within an hour drive from our homestead.  Anyway, the MiGO game has 11 caches hidden in 11 metro parks.  You find the caches, locate the keywords hidden in the cache and mark it on a word search (that can be downloaded from the MiGO website). You only have until December 31st to complete the search and turn it in, so there is still plenty of time.

Wanting a true adventure, we decided to hope in the car and just pick a park or two to explore.  Where did we chose? Going in "blind", we chose Indian Springs and Kensington Metro Parks.

Indian Springs is located in White Lake, Michigan, and turned out to be more than we could have asked.  First, the area is truly beautiful, but it was what we stumbled upon that made this trip more than worth it.  Upon entering the trails to head to our first cache, we had to walk past a rattlesnake habitate, yep, you read that right, rattlesnake habitate!  Of course you are strongly encouraged to remain on the paved trail, but you do walk through cautiously and quickly!

After coming out of the trails, we found ourselves on a path that lead us right to the waters edge. Truly breathtaking! Not ready to end our day out, we forged on in search of the sun dial located right next to the Nature Center.

Of course, a few residents came by to say hello! This is a great shot taken of a Sand Hill Crane we saw on our way to the sun dial. Way cool what you discover on a day of geocaching.

The sun dial was a fun discovery, and set to standard time. We spent a good 20 minutes playing with the time and teaching our son how people used to tell time years ago.  Needless to say, we had a blast interacting with this!

Our dear son posing with the most awesome sun dial ever!

Having spent several hours out in the heat, we needed to seek refuge and get us prepared for the next metro park.  Since we were right next to the Nature Centure, it made sense to cool off in there.  What we didn't know, is located on the third level was a tunnel that gave you an underwater view of the pond and the plants and animals that live there. What an amazing discovery and a great way to see the wildlife below.

a shot looking into the tunnel leading us under the pond.

Here is a shot looking up at the Nature Center under the pond. There is a fish just left of center:D

Our next park was Kensington, and I am sorry to say there were not nearly as many photos. Not that it was less beautiful, but more of the fact that we were exhausted!  On this trip was a first to find Waymark, an Eagle Project bridge located near the North entrance. I hope to have pictures of that on my next post. I don't want to overwhelm you with photos, lol.

MiGO has been a great way for us to check out the amazing things to see and do, and all within about an hour from home. 

Are you inspired to check it out? Let me know about your trip!

Happy Caching!

Robyn