Monon Trail (Indianapolis/Carmel)

[Jane S.]

Hello. I'm new to forums, so forgive if I'm doing something wrong....just trying to figure out how this works....technology is great. I have done one cache, on a trip to Maine. Lots of fun. Here at home, I would like to take a small group of middle-schoolers on a walk on the Monon Trail in Indianapolis and/or Carmel to introduce them to the fun. I'd like to find multiple caches....some by GPS, some by deciphering the clues. When I search for the word "Monon," I find "By the Monon" #1 and #2. That's great, but surely there are more. I can't find more through a search. Started clicking on every Indy cache listing, but that was getting old. Can anyone help me with either links or advice to the caches along the Monon? I hope to find several within a mile or so walk....maybe that's too much to ask for, but.....Thank you very, very much!!!

[+Treasure Hunters Inc.]

I'm not local to your area, but the best way to find caches near each other is to first search by zip code. then pick one of the caches like Monon #1. Go to that cache page. look at the map and see if it is actually near where you want to hunt. Assuming it is, close the map and scroll down the cache page to where it says nearby caches and when you click on that you will get a list of all the caches near that cache. Note that they will be listed by the distance they are from Monon #1. They are also marked as being N,NW,E, NE, ETC. so be sure that if it says one cache is .5 miles and another is .6 miles, that they are both to the East or whatever.

Hope that helps.

 

$1000 Bill geocaching is living in a 30 foot circle

[Jane S.]

Thank you for your reply. Your advice is helpful. This is a unique situation, where this trail runs through two cities and a number of zip codes. That is what makes it difficult to search. Unless the word "Monon" is in the title, there's no direct way to find caches hidden there. However, your advice confirms to me that this is the way that I need to do it, and there's no other way that I'm missing :-) Thank you very much. I'll just have to devote some time to looking at all the pages. I appreciate your help. Nice that folks will take time to help newcomers learn.

[+Team J&K]

I believe the Monon #1 & 2 are the only ones near the trail. You coud search on the Zip code for Carmel. There are a bunch in the city but usually only one or maybe two per park. Inlow park has a nice one, as well as Central Park, Cool Creek Park & Meadowlark Park. Downtown Indy has a concentrated number around the canal and zoo. Hope this helps.

[+richardreynolds]

Looking into the parks is a good idea. You can also look for Benchmarks. Read up on them on the site. Doing a combination of Caches and Benchmarks will probably provide more things to hunt for. Good luck and have fun!

 

Thanks,

 

Rich

 

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

-Dr Seuss

[+Mountain Climber]

If you give us a few weeks we could set up an event and place several caches in the area for your students.

Let me know.

 

~Mountain Climber~

Indiana Admin

[+Squirrel Nut & Beersnob]

Monon 1 and 2 are in Broadripple- Tarzan Swam Here (GC1AE1) is also in Broadripple, but quite a hike away. Completely doable, but not the best walk, since most of the time you're on the sidewalk with cars zooming by...

 

Central Park GCGVV4 is in a park along the Monon Greenway. MeadowLark GCGX22is near the future expansion route of the Monon in Carmel.

 

Check out http://www.indianatrails.org/N_suburban.htm

for a map of trails in the Indy area.

 

You can also easily see the approximate locations of caches by using the state map:

http://www.geocaching.com/map/IN.asp

you can zoom in and get IDs of the caches. Great way to quickly see how many and where they are, though they're still working on getting a program with street-level detail.

 

Looking at the maps it's hard to tell, but it looks like there's a run of caches in about the same location as a parallel road trail going NE from 465, between Carmel and Fishers. Pioneer Graveyard GCA3F5, seems to be in the middle of the main mass of 7 along that line. You could probably easily enter in 10 or so that are close, and do a drive-by beforehand to get an idea of total distance required.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Hope this helps!

 

I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

[Jane S.]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind responses. I will take all your advice, including getting back to you about your offer, Mountain Climber. Thanks you all!

-Jane

[+Treasure Hunters Inc.]

Just came back to this thread to see what was happening.

I had a new suggestion.

If the Monon trail goes through several zip codes, then pick the most central zip code and limit the radius of the search to just include the farthest points. Then download the search results using EzGPS. Put the waypoints into your GPSr and using the map screen you will be able to see exactly where the caches fall along the trail. Doing a search for benchmarks the same way would include those points which could be hunted as well.

I'm assuming you don't have any mapping software which could be used in this same way.

 

geocaching is living in a 30 foot circle