John A. Latsch State Park

John A. Latsch State Park

—Minnesota City, MN—

After we left Frontenac, we continued to follow the Mississippi River downstream until we came to the next park.  This part of the state is all bluffland, and it is one of the prettier drives in the state.  As a result, we saw a lot of motorcycles on the road, even a group that looked like it was biking event.

          Within a few miles of driving Marcus was out cold, and all we could hear was a sweet little snore from the front seat.  Since it was such a short drive, we knew this meant that one parent would wait in the car while the the other went in search of the prize.

          When we got to the park we quickly found the first location.  This park was pretty dead, and we didn't see any other visitors.  It is a small park with just over 1,600 acres and no campground.  If we were not watching carefully on the road it would be pretty easy to just drive by.

We found the first set of coordinates on this small sign – somehow I forgot to get a close-up picture.  When we initially parked the car we decided that Luke would explore and I would wait, but then we noticed that the trail appeared to have poison ivy, so we changed assignments.

Luke waiting with a sleeping Marcus.

I hiked off into the woods to find the next location.  It was in a weird spot – there were actually two trails that ran parallel, and I could not tell which one the next destination was on because it appeared to be between the two.  I didn't have to go far into the woods before I started to get really close, and then I realized I was on the wrong trail.  Fortunately, I was not the first person, and there was a small trail that connected the two.

Lots of undergrowth in this forest.

The woods was pretty overgrown and full of hungry, blood-thirsty mosquitoes.  (Did you know only the females drink your blood?  Also, they only live like 14-18 days.  Fewer if it is warmer out, like in the 80s), so if it's been dry lately just wait a couple of weeks and – yippie! – no more blood suckers!  Luke told me this when I got back to the car.)  I don't even want to think about how many bites I got in the time I was in the woods.  When the bugs are biting, geocaching is not quite as fun, and it makes me want leave, but I know when it comes to our goal that quitting is just not an option!  Rah!

Finally, I saw something that looked amiss... can you see this stump? – It just didn't look right to me.

So I looked a bit closer and then I rolled it over...

Under the stump I found the ammo box in a hole that was perfectly-sized to hide it.  I quickly grabbed the cards, signed the logbook, and hurried back to the car.  I was getting killed by the mosquitoes, faint from the loss of blood.  Well, maybe that's a little embellishing... but jeez!

When I got back to the car Marcus was still sleeping, and Luke was patiently waiting. 

Off to the next park!

A cute little guy.