Have You Been to McCourtie Park?

I'm sure every Michigan geocacher will say "yes", but have you been to McCourtie Park in Hillsdale County?

In 1924 William Herbert Lee “Herb” McCourtie began to transform his family’s 42-acre farm into a gracious summer home fit for a gentleman and his both illustrious and somewhat shady friends. It was in Somerset Center, and he called it “Aiden’s Lair.” The cost for the renovation and expansion of a simple farmstead into a rich man’s hideaway exceeded $500,000, an impressive amount in those days. [Hillsdale County Historical Society]

The main estate house is gone, but the parklands are amazing. It's dotted with a series of bridges, the country's largest collection of "el trabejo rustico". This is the Mexican folk tradition of sculpting concreate to look like wood.

Yes, these are all made of concrete!

For a geocacher, it's a bit of a paradise. There's a traditional, a county challenge, a Virtual, the Michigan "cache across America", and an adventure lab!

We were there early yesterday morning to finally grab the Historic Caches of Hillsdale County Challenge cache - FINALLY! Checking our logs, we posted our requirements 10 YEARS AGO! I bet you it wasn't as overgrown back then! But one more puzzle/challenge off our list (47% of our "solve list" found!)

If you are ever cruising down US 12 south of Jackson, McCourtie Park is worth a detour.