caching minneapolis

[+kyk96]

Hi, I'm going to be at the Minneapolis Convention center in august for about 3 days and I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether there are any caches within walking distance. I will most likely have to cache in the evening and, since I've never been to Minneapolis before, I need advice on whether evening caching within walking distance of the Convention Center is feasible and advisable. I will be riding with a group from Michigan, so any suggested caching stops along the way would also be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

 

Kim

[+sbell111]

Here's a map of the immediate area with caches shown. The convention center is the large block between 'Ramp View 35w' and 'I love Mpls parks! Steven Square Park'.

[+mtn-man]

I've not been down in that part of Minneapolis, but I have cached at night in some of the "rough" parts of town. I felt no problems by myself at night. I think you would probably be OK there, but there would be some walking involved as you can see from the map. I guess it depends on where your hotel is also. As with any major city, you just need to be careful and know when to keep moving or turn around.

 

They are a great group of cachers up there. I will move this to the regional forum so you can get some better answers from them. The city is beautiful, so enjoy your visit. It is the Land of 10,000 Lakes, so bring/buy bug spray or be prepared to be assaulted when you hit the bushes and tree cover. Skeeters are prevalent in high numbers.

[Pto]

Convention center zip is 55403, 55455, 55454 are nearby-

 

Good luck!

[+Celticwulf]

There are a lot of good caches in the area, and many of the locals have "favorites" bookmark lists around as well. If you've got a vehicle, there's an area in the north side of the city called "Roseville" that has a ton of caches active in the parks there...in one evening you can walk through a nice park and get a handfull of caches of many varieties.

 

I personally haven't done much caching downtown myself, but that's mostly because the area has so many nice parks with caches I haven't needed to head down there yet. I'd say you'll have plenty to do in those three days depending on your situation when you get here.

 

Celticwulf

[+mtn-man]

Keep in mind that they are walking.

 

I did have a great time down in Eagan on my last trip!

[+joyriderama]

My suggestion: head north to Nicollet Island/St Anthony Main

 

It's on the north side of downtown, but still walkable from the convention center area. What hotel are you staying at?

 

Other than that chunk of caches, the others downtown are a little more spread out. It depends on just how much walking you're willing to do.

[+msrubble]

Caching along the way: take a look at Wisconsin Travelers Caches - I-94 - Part 1 - Illinois to Madison and Wisconsin Travelers Caches - I-94 - Part 2 - Madison to Minnesota. Caches within 1 mile of I-94 exits. Some directions on how to get to them.

 

I can personally recommend 94th on 94, a fun multi a little ways west of Milwaukee. Make A Run For The Border, TB & GC Exchange. Trackable exchange only. Very well done, in an excellent spot for this kind of cache, so far has not attracted attention of non-cachers. Easy to get to from east or west.

 

On the way back, I-90/94 (eastbound) Lyndon Station Rest Area Cache is a fun one.

 

Maybe Giants TB Hotel. Easy cache between Eau Claire and Menomonie, can get to it going east or west.

 

I didn't have a chance to do Officers Scenic Cache, but it looks like one I would want to try. Westbound only. Unusual in a rest area cache in that it involves a hike up through a wooded area to a scenic overlook.

[+webscouter.]

I enjoyed the Musical cache. It is pretty close to the convention center.

[+Geomancers of the Coast]

I just got back from the same place! I ended up not getting to cache too much, but I did find a couple of them while in Minneapolis. The main problem with all the downtown caches is getting good parking, so if you don't mind a fair bit of walking, that's ok. The other problem is that it seemed difficult to get a good signal in the downtown area (all the tall buildings, probably). Go a mile or two out of the downtown area, though, and there are a lot of caches in really scenic spots.

[+kyk96]

Thank you all SO much for your replies and suggestions! I'm not sure in which hotel we will be staying. I'm assuming it will be as close to the convention center as possible, but I don't know for sure. I will not have a vehicle while in the city, but I think I can con the driver of our group to make some of the stops along the way from MI to MN. She wants to learn how to cache - great time for her to learn! She will not have as much free time in the city as I will so she won't be able to drive me in the city.

 

I guess one of the reasons I was asking for suggestions is that I've never done any real urban caching (unless the suburbs of Toledo counts - ha!) and I didn't want to get to the city and find that I'll need to cross 4 lane busy streets or crazy intersections, things like that, to get to a cache that "looks" close on a map.

 

I'm going to ask my group if they know where we will be staying and hopefully that will open up more caching options. I'm so very excited about this trip - I can't wait!!!

[+drat19]

I would strongly suggest you register for and post in the foums of mngca.org, the local Geocaching group. Great group of folks and you'll get all the info you could ever want about caching the Twin Cities.

Edited June 3, 2007 by drat19

[+kyk96]

Thanks, that is a great idea!

 

I still don't know where exactly we'll be staying - I sure want to check out the Musical cache near the convention center.

[+TheCollector]

if you want someone to accompany you in downtown i always love caching with others just send me an email or pm and ill get back to you with contact info.

TheCollector

MnGCA.org Member

[+msrubble]

I wrote:

 

On the way back, I-90/94 (eastbound) Lyndon Station Rest Area Cache is a fun one.

 

Sorry, scratch that. It's been archived.