Crosswinds Marsh Meandering - 2016

For the second year in a row, the Crosswinds Crew has hosted the fantastic Crosswinds Marsh Meanderings event during Hobby Days at Crosswinds Marsh in Wayne County.  From the cache page: 

Crosswinds Marsh is one of the largest man-made wetlands in the country. It was built to replace the wetlands that were paved over to expand Wayne County's Detroit Metro Airport (the McNamara terminal). Wayne County, together with Sumpter Township, purchased over 900 acres of farmland that believe it or not, was once wetland that had been converted into farm fields by draining the land...in a process that took over a year.   They flooded former farm fields, planted new wetland plants and transplanted endangered species from metro Airport.

There have been over 240 species of birds identified at the marsh. Additionally there are nesting bald eagles visible thru-out the year. Boardwalks were built to give the visitors an intimate view of life in the wetlands. The marsh offers year-round activities including trails for hiking (over 6 miles), horseback riding and cross-country skiing, and areas for picnicking and fishing.  Admission to Crosswinds Marsh is free!

A stunning location for an event, TaGeez and I couldn't help but notice the heavy dark clouds looming over the picnic shelter. But that didn't stop the fun within!

The Frito Bandito and ProBob

Everybody loves FRECKLES!

The event portion included a potluck, first-to-find raffle (almost everyone a winner - sorry June17!), raffle, event path tags, and 37 new caches! 13 of them LARGES!  It must be the promise of those large caches and the chance to earn a second path tag (complete 12 preselected caches) that drove us out into these ominous skies.

But there was such prettiness all around!

TaGeez and I were lucky enough to team with June17, ProBob and ShelleyJean on the trails. I wish I had more photos to share, but, halfway through the inner trail, the downpour came! A powerful drenching rain! There really was no choice - we were already wet and halfway through our cache list. Might as well continue on then turnaround empty handed. Luckily the constant rain was also cooling which made our squelching shoes and clinging t-shirts more bearable.

TaGeez looking like a hobo as he carries  all our valuables
 in this ultra-sexy, high-tech trash bag!

ShellyJean, it was great fun meeting you. I'm sorry I didn't have a more flattering picture of you as you are quite lovely, but I enjoyed your spirit. Yes, we need to cache together again!

TaGeez and ShelleyJean after the rain stopped

Of course, after turning on our sheets for the reward path tag and going out to find the Wherigo final, we finally had a little sunshine as we headed back to the car. Look at our cheering squad!

I love Crosswinds for its wildlife and am glad we ended the day FINALLY seeing some after the rain. We didn't finish all the day's caches so we will return in the Fall when we can truly enjoy our stroll.

Several hours later TaGeez and I pulled into Famous Dave's BBQ in Taylor because we were too tired and tore up (those dratted thorns at the final) to go home and cook. This was hours later and yet we still squelched as we walked to our table. What odd looks we received as we dripped on the chairs with steam rising from our clothes. If they were geocachers they would've understood.

---

Post Script

A big THANK YOU to YellowJeeperman for recommending this DBPower Universal Waterproof Dry Bag Case from Amazon.com. 

We forgot our wellies, raincoats, and umbrellas, but, for some reason, I remembered to grab this as I left the house. As it poured and every inch of my clothes soaked through, none seeped into this dry bag so I was able to navigate 24 caches plus 1 Wherigo cartridge while taking random pictures. Worked like a charm!