A Fine-Feathered (Caching) Day

57 degrees and sunny in February! 

ShelleyJean messaged, and I packed my caching bag. First road trip of the new year!

Saturday was the perfect day to adventure in Mid-Michigan to complete SJ's counties - only 3 left to go and all of them in upper, lower. With a loose plan in mind, we headed North. But let's be honest... the day took an unexpected turn, and we couldn't be happier!

Driving up I-75 from Detroit, we noticed the hawks right away. SJ is a hawk spotter, spying their white breasts high up in the branches. She's good at this, and the three hours passed quickly. We lost count after 2 dozen or so.

Admittedly, we were so busy gabbing we passed our first stop by 25 miles so we rearranged our route. It was Fate because timing was everything.

Our new "first stop" was a Virtual in the middle of nowhere. It was advertised to be like the Mystery Spot Virtual, but this one was not as "mysterious".

Which Way Is Up GCGGXB

But as we headed off to SJ's first county, we spied our second Bald Eagle for the day! Beautiful! The other one was visible from the freeway so no pics.

Oh, by the by, (confession time) all the amazing wildlife pictures were taken by ShelleyJean.

Next stop is the Grotto in Mio - first county down! Hey, since we have time, we decided to do an AR cache. This led us to a final at a scenic overlook and....

St Hubert GCG91Y

... the male Pileated Woodpecker! A bucket list item on SJ's birding list.  You can't even appreciate her fixation. And this one is huge! We saw it speedily work it's way up a tree, drilling holes and eating bugs.

Around the back is his little friend, the Downy Woodpecker. Look at the size difference! The Pileated Woodpecker average 16-20 inches. 

Did you know that Michigan has a Wild West town? Dedicated to John Wayne, Coopersville is "a small Wild West town in the Michigan woods, with a brothel, a Boot Hill, a saloon that serves real whiskey and beer, and a gallows where you can pretend to hang yourself. Weirder than most Wild West towns." [Roadside American]

Wild West GC5WERC

I simply don’t have words for this stop. We braved truly icy roads and snowmobiles to get here. We parked on a snow-covered bridge and made our way up Main Street. The silence of the blanketed snow was broken by the squeak of the windmill. Dazzling sunlight would’ve blinded us to anybody trying to get the drop on us, but there was nobody there.

This was one of those spots that had a presence like the Bohemian cemetery on Old Mission Peninsula or the pioneer cemetery near Whitehall. Blue skies and broad daylight, and we were a little rattled.

This cache, one of the highest Favorited caches in upper, lower Michigan, was hidden for the "Are you Geocacher Enough?" Road Rally. I'm bummed I never made it up for one of them.

[spoiler]

As we were leaving, the natives watched us on our way.

Heading West, we grabbed more traditionals and a Virtual. I must've been tired because I found myself abruptly seated in a snowbank. Shelley, always caring, took time out to take a picture of me in all my grace!

Say 'I do', and a Cache fer You GC3KRCY

But I had the last laugh because Shelley was about to lose her mind!

Turning South towards home, we passed a truck on the side of the road. The occupants were pointing their camera at... A GIANT SNOWY OWL! WOW! On top of a silo!  

"The Snowy Owls live on the tundra in the high arctic. In Winter, some fly South to places that look like the tundra: beaches, airports and big fields." [Auduban.org] This one was hanging out atop a silo in the center of miles of fallow farmland. Because of their pure white color, they are very hard to find in Winter, and Shelley has "migrated" many miles to spy one of these. 

Read more about the 2020 Snowy Owl "irruption' to Detroit by Mental Floss. It's happened before!

I'm still chuckling... Shelley was so excited seeing this amazing bird that completing her 83 Michigan counties was overshadowed. It was such an amazing day! We wrapped it by grabbing a rare Michigan webcam and then onto a pre-Birthday dinner in Midland.

Who named the best little town by a dam site? GCJRV9

Simply put, this is an amazing geocaching start to the new year!

Oh, by the way, Congratulations, ShelleyJean, on completing your counties!