Good morning everyone. I am back after a brief hiatus as I sort through some issues. The desire to write wasn't there. It is hard to do anything creative when the creative juices isn't happening. Without further adieu, here is this week's fun fact. The cache with the most log images in North Dakota is Painted Canyon Overlook (GC238GK) with 664 images so far. Second place is Uncle John's (GCE835) with 398 and third place is Red River Flood Plains - Grand Forks (GC1RJ14) with 254 images. I'll have to find a way to get down to Painted Canyon Overlook as it's the only one of the top three that I don't have.
This week I want to continue my look at my favorite park, Kildonan Park. Last time, I was heading up the West side of the park. Now we're at the North section of the park and heading East. To the right side is a large open field, great for kite flying, a pick up game of football or soccer, or just to run around. Off in the distance you can see the toboggan slides. There's also a picnic shelter.
To the left is the golf course and a geocache. The only geocache on the North side of the park. "Half Past Fore" GC1WXH8. Published in August of 2009 and found 522 times. I had found this one back in May of 2014. It was my 360th find at the time. My how time flies. The cache name is a reference to the golf course just on the other side of the fence. When I had found it, you had to reach up into the hollow of a tree. In the hollow of the tree was a hook with a bison tube hanging from it. A tricky hide but I did find it on my second try (I did have the right host the first time). On a recent walk, I decided to revisit this cache. Spotting the tree with the hollow opening should be fairly easy. As I made my way across, I didn't see any tree with a hollow opening. Check my phone app to see if I missed it. The phone app was pointing me to a different host. Hmmmm. I do remember seeing a few trees marked for cutdown in the general area of where GZ would be some time ago. Looking into past logs of this cache, it was in August of 2017 that the CO moved the cache to a new host as the original host has been cut down since.
From GZ, (and from anywhere on the North side of the park), you will see slightly to the East a train bridge. It's easier to spot now with the foliage gone from the trees and bushes. What makes this train bridge interesting is that has been abandoned since December, 1928, with the line removed sometime after 1933. The bridge itself was constructed in 1913/14 as an alternate route to Canadian Pacific Railway's Transcona yards to help alleviate the congestion the main line was experiencing with all the grain movement. It has a rotating central bridge section to allow larger boats to sail past the bridge. The swing section has remained in the open position since it was abandoned. Over the years, it was common during the summer months to see one of the river passenger boats navigate past the bridge. The River Rouge, Lady Winnipeg, Paddle Wheel Queen, and it's sister boat, the Paddle Wheel Princess cruised daily. Sadly, none of these boats can be seen on Winnipeg's waterways.
The tee box is just to the right of the picture. The green is on the other side of the old rail line. It is a par 3, 137 yard hole. I don't golf, but I have witnessed golfers teeing off at this hole. Your options are to either hit the ball high enough and hard enough to sail over the rail line, or try to line drive the shot through the opening.
This week I want to continue my look at my favorite park, Kildonan Park. Last time, I was heading up the West side of the park. Now we're at the North section of the park and heading East. To the right side is a large open field, great for kite flying, a pick up game of football or soccer, or just to run around. Off in the distance you can see the toboggan slides. There's also a picnic shelter.
(Plenty of geese in the field on this day. Toboggan slides are on the right hand side of the picture, far off in the distance Picnic shelter is on the far left, behind a tree)
To the left is the golf course and a geocache. The only geocache on the North side of the park. "Half Past Fore" GC1WXH8. Published in August of 2009 and found 522 times. I had found this one back in May of 2014. It was my 360th find at the time. My how time flies. The cache name is a reference to the golf course just on the other side of the fence. When I had found it, you had to reach up into the hollow of a tree. In the hollow of the tree was a hook with a bison tube hanging from it. A tricky hide but I did find it on my second try (I did have the right host the first time). On a recent walk, I decided to revisit this cache. Spotting the tree with the hollow opening should be fairly easy. As I made my way across, I didn't see any tree with a hollow opening. Check my phone app to see if I missed it. The phone app was pointing me to a different host. Hmmmm. I do remember seeing a few trees marked for cutdown in the general area of where GZ would be some time ago. Looking into past logs of this cache, it was in August of 2017 that the CO moved the cache to a new host as the original host has been cut down since.
From GZ, (and from anywhere on the North side of the park), you will see slightly to the East a train bridge. It's easier to spot now with the foliage gone from the trees and bushes. What makes this train bridge interesting is that has been abandoned since December, 1928, with the line removed sometime after 1933. The bridge itself was constructed in 1913/14 as an alternate route to Canadian Pacific Railway's Transcona yards to help alleviate the congestion the main line was experiencing with all the grain movement. It has a rotating central bridge section to allow larger boats to sail past the bridge. The swing section has remained in the open position since it was abandoned. Over the years, it was common during the summer months to see one of the river passenger boats navigate past the bridge. The River Rouge, Lady Winnipeg, Paddle Wheel Queen, and it's sister boat, the Paddle Wheel Princess cruised daily. Sadly, none of these boats can be seen on Winnipeg's waterways.
(A view from the park)
(On the North side, facing South)
(As you can see, the bridge is wide enough to accommodate a double rail track)
(A view from the old boat launch in the park, facing North)
Another interesting thing about this old rail line, it cuts the golf course in half. There are two openings for golfers to get from one side of the embankment to the other. One of the openings is actually the 10th hole.
As we round the corner and begin to head South, another structure comes into view. The Witch's Hut. Built and opened in October, 1970, it was a Manitoba centennial project of the German community. It was designed to illustrate the Brothers Grimm fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel'. It is open in the summer months where you will find Hansel and Gretel inside along with the wicked witch. The Witch's Hut is also a popular place to feed the ducks.
(A summertime view of the Witch's Hut)
(The Wicked Witch with Gretel)
(A Wintery view of the Witch's Hut)
(Plenty of ducks wanting to be fed behind the Witch's Hut)
That's it for this week. The next time I look at my favorite park, we'll be continuing down along the East side of the park where we'll see another summer attraction and look at the cache that my son owns (and I maintain for him). Until then, be safe, enjoy, peace out, and most of all, have fun.
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