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Geocaching and Kildonan Park part 1

Good morning everyone.  I want to look at the hiking attributes as the fun facts for this week.  How many of the three hiking attributes do you have?  Currently, I have 313 Short Hike (less than 1km), 73 Medium Hike (1-10km), and 6 Significant Hikes (more than 10km).

This week isn't really about geocaching.  I want to share where I like to go for a walk after work and for everyone to see why this is my favorite park.  My initial plan was to make a single blog on this topic.  What I didn't realize was the amount of pictures I had taken.  I'm going to split this up into several blogs, scattered over time.  I will discuss one of the caches that can be found in the park and share a few pictures of the park itself.

First, a little history of the area known as Kildonan Park.  Located in the North part of the city, the park was established in 1909 and includes 99 acres of green space along the banks of the Red River.  You will find some of the oldest trees in the park, along with many flower gardens, walking paths, the longest running outdoor theatre, an Olympic sized outdoor swimming pool, and so much more.

There are geocaches hidden here.  Not many, but there are a few.  Currently there are four active traditional caches located inside the park.  Three of the active ones were placed in 2009.  The other active cache belongs to my youngest, Mew Two.  It's his only hide and it was published three years ago in 2015.  There are two disabled caches and I expect those to be archived by the reviewer sooner than later.  One was placed in 2011 and the other in 2007.  Two multistage caches pass through the park and the posted coordinates for a puzzle is located in the park.  The puzzle cache was placed in 2005, before the two mile rule went into affect for how far a puzzle final can be from the posted coordinates.  Needless to say, the final is on the other side of the city and is the only cache that doesn't have a smiley in Kildonan Park for me as I sit and write this.  Other caches have come and gone too.  One of mine being one of them.  I didn't think I would be able to maintain it properly, so I archived it.

One of the first geocaches I found in the park was 'The Boring Cache' GZ1WXGV.  I found this one way back on September 3rd, 2013 and was my 10th find overall (my rookie days as a geocacher).  This cache has been found a whopping 613 times since it was published on August 6th, 2009.  Only four favorite points so far, probably because it really is a boring cache.

Now for a tour of the park I like to spend time in.  As I go about my walk, I'm also playing Pokémon.  I don't stop and do my best to not slow down for anything Pokémon.  I'm there to get a walk in, maintain a good pace, and get exercise.
One of the popular places to have pictures taken is at this foot bridge.  Many wedding and grad pics have been done here and at the nearby flower gardens.  The bridge was recently rebuilt this past summer.  What you see is the new bridge and you will see it as you enter the park along with these gardens.  
The fall colors were just starting to peak out on the day I took these pictures.  With the abundance of trees, there is no shortage of color.


As you head up the West side of the park, you pass the duck pond and pavilion.  This area has gone under extensive renovations over the past few years.  In the summer, you will find ducks and geese on the pond.  In the Winter, you can go skating on the frozen pond. 

Kildonan Park is bordered to the North (straight ahead in the picture below) and West (to the left) by Kildonan Golf Course.  Last year, as I was walking up the West side of the park (as you can see below), I heard the distinctive sound of a golf club connecting with a golf ball from a tee box.  I hesitated for a moment.  Then I heard a thunk to my right, (I was basically where that person is ahead of me in the picture).  The golf ball cleared the fence, got past the trees, over the road, and landed about 20 feet (by the pine trees on the right) from where I was standing.  That is the first and only time I've had that happen.  That was also one very bad tee shot.

That is the first look at Kildonan Park.  There is much more to see and other caches to talk about.  Until next time, be safe, enjoy, peace out, and have fun.



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