Detroit / Belle Isle XIV – Brummelbear Tribute

WOWZA!

It's been a whirlwind month of events! At 15 points an event, Southeastern Michigan cachers will have no problem making the 500 points needed for Cache Carnival souvenirs.

One of the biggest events in the area is the Detroit / Belle Isle XIV – Brummelbear Tribute GC825EA the first Saturday in April. Over a hundred cachers from Michigan, Ohio, Windsor, and Oregon converged on Detroit's gem for a day of caching and commemorating dear Leo (Brummelbear).

I look forward to this day every year. Friends come out of hibernation, and it's a day of pure caching. We meet at the pavilion, drop off food for the luncheon potluck, get our GPS units loaded, and then head off onto the Isle, running into fellow cachers as we mark up the fresh logs. And the Isle has everything - caches in the rocks along the shoreline, near the trails in the wooded marshland, tucked in & around historic Albert Kahn structures, in the hollows of trees. 

Early Saturday morning, ShelleyJean picked up myself and TaGeez on the way to the Isle. We arrived early enough to grab a few caches left over from last year (remember the frigid monsoon?).  Mother Nature took pity on us this year, and it was truly the first Spring day of the year.

Look at these amazing early-morning view at the Blue Heron Lagoon.

Boding well for the day, ShelleyJean, Scrapcat, and TaGeez (SST or "Super Sexy Trio) headed for the pavilion where we won a chance at a first-to-find on a puzzle and one of Brummelbear's geocoins. 

With TaGeez waiting for the end of the raffle, ShelleyJean and I tore off to solve an onsite puzzle for our FTF. After a quick solve at the Zoo, we headed to the final -- pure marsh -- to look for a cache with a clean log. Failure on my part - I wore short boots so SJ (and eventually TaGeez) had to wade in for the find. Four more arrived before the find was made by SJ so we shared the glory. We were told later that many others opted to skip this final due to all the flooding - lucky us, right?

So, we found water in a marshland. Suspicious.

All the caches this year were based on previous Brummelbear hides, and some of the caches were the original containers. The Belle Isle Cachers did a fabulous job sharing their memories of Leo on the custom cache pages.

Now, I'm sharing this picture even if SJ hates it. Why? Because this is one of the reason I love caching with her. No nonsense - no drama. There's a cache sitting in the Detroit River so she just went for it. This photo doesn't do justice to the cold and the speed of the current.

Lunch time came around, wherein we visited with old friends, made new friends and avoided wayward trackables.  This bad boy was a "gift" from Frito Bandito so I, of course, made it a trackable with a mission to have it's photo taken with Frito any chance it can! Somehow, SCOOK and CITOcacher befriended it.

CITOcacher made a friend

What is it about grilled hot dogs at a potluck cooked on the first beautiful day of Spring? Lordy, I was weak. I had two, with a lovely bit of kraut. Leo used to man the grill every year, and he would always cook mine for a little longer. He must've passed on his technique to Mark Rumble - the dogs were perfect!

After lunch, Tabby of Redbud's Family joined us for a few finds. 

This goose was pissed! He didn't like TaGeez crossing his turf

We ran into friends everywhere!

And found really cool swag and calling cards in the caches!

The Aardvark snacks are plastic ants

Tabby from Redbud's Family

So, what do YOU normally do in the back woods?

We ended our day on the back trails where we ran into more friends.

And some wildlife.

Human wildlife, too!

TaGeez and KacheHuntr

It was another amazing experience on Detroit's gem. Thank you, Belle Isle Cachers, and looking forward to next year!