Current at 11/6/2011 (Online waypoint URL)
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Traditional Cache LKST-10 Ring (Corral) by TurdleEggs (2/2.5) (Archived)
N50° 01.590  W96° 52.510 (WGS84)
UTM  14U   E 652191  N 5543740
Use waypoint: GC1GNGM
Size: Small Small    Hidden on 9/28/2008
In Manitoba, Canada
Difficulty:  2 out of 5   Terrain:  2.5 out of 5
Available during winter  Ticks  No Bicycles  No Snowmobiles  Horses  Needs maintenance 
   


Winter Friendly

The Lime Kiln is a very nice and relatively unused trail in Birds Hill Park. It can be a tricky path to follow with its more than forty crossings. It's a 7.5 km round trip starting at the Birds Hill Park Ranch parking lot. The trail is wide and flat with a surface of packed dirt in the front and grass covered in the back. The elevation ranges from 265 metres at the trail head to 240 m at the Lime Kiln. This mostly forested path has some nice features along the way including sand pits, earthen mounds and of course the Lime Kiln. There is a warm up shack half way around the trail with a vault toilet. The trail is designated for hiking and horses in summer and cross country skiing in winter. No hiking or dogs are permitted on the groomed cross-country trails in the winter. There are washrooms, a pay phone, restaurant and stables at the trailhead.

Located near a sand ring in the forest surrounded by a rail fence. I thought this was called a corral so the logbook, FTF and label all say Corral. It seems every trail in this part of the park converges here! The container is a winter friendly, dark green, 750 ml Lock and Lock hidden just a few paces off the trail in some light bush. Take the Grand Prix Hunter Ring path.

Trail maps:

Birds Hill Provincial Park

Save the following ZIP file containing a GPX track of the trail to load on your GPS:

Lime Kiln Trail GPX file

Additional Hints Hints


Current at 11/6/2011

Found it 9/13/2009 by Kabuthunk
Man, it wasn't that easy for me to find any caches at the park today. I think fate was trying it's damnedest to make it as difficult as possible ToungeOut. The day started out quite nice though. I parked at the "lake", swam for a bit, then biked over to these caches to air-dry (but all the biking was also followed by MORE swimming, so it's all good BigSmile). Thus, after the aformentioned swimming, I worked my way towards the coordinates.

I started out the day attempting to get the LKST-1a Cookout cache (of which on my GPS I didn't have the full name, which is probably why I was confused several minutes later), but when I got to about 80 meters from the coordinates, I started hearing... sounds. Voices, children, what sounded like the crackling of a fire. What the hell?!? Being completely unfamiliar with all of the various things in the park, I was rather surprised to hear anything, since as far as I knew, pretty much anything North of the main roads was all trails, and otherwise just straight wilderness. However, once I got to around 30 meters away, I spotted what appeared to be a vehicle (which brought to my mind the question "how in the hell did it even get IN this deep"), and I could definitely confirm the voices of a family of at least 4 people in the midst. Given my GPS was telling me to pretty much go DIRECTLY towards them, I opted instead to abandon that attempt. Onwards!

Checking the GPS, there was either one further East (which ended up being either just past or near a large building and area with many horses... I must have just managed to pick a day when some stupid event was happening... so I had to abandon that one on the way back), or this one to the North. Feeling somewhat defeated before even attempting at the Cookout cache, Northward I biked! Although, it could have been a lot more pleasant. Given the abundance of horses that seemed to be around today, the trail ground was chopped up and bumpy as hell from the horse hooves Frown. Smelling horse-crap and rough biking conditions. Great ToungeOut. However, once I got past the rougher part, which I assume got that way due to wetter ground or something, it was smooth sailing again. A few twists and turns, and... what's this? I found myself at a large, empty area (the assumed Corral... that part of the name was cut off on my GPS, so at this point I still had no clue that any of this was horse-related, aside from the hoof-marks in the ground, but those are all over the park, and I've always attributed it to people with horses living nearby). Since someone was working in this area, I avoided them and hunted for the cache. It didn't take long before I was successful BigSmile. At least this trip through the forest was a lot better than other forest adventures through the park ToungeOut. But holy hell, were the mosquitoes insane! I had to take the logbook, and attempt to sign it while walking around in the more open part of the trail... which didn't actually help at all ToungeOut. Those bloodthirsty buggers FOLLOW you! At a good clip! I only lost the swarm that was around me when I got back onto my bike!

But... I was indeed successful, and aside from the roughness of the trail, it was fairly pleasant. I wasn't actually aware that all of the intersections in here were all part of one, longer, looping trail though. I'm going to have to take a day to do the full circuit sometime. Although, it definitely explains the "Finish" pseudo-sign that I noticed when I was heading back towards the "lake" ToungeOut. Unfortunately, I forgot to drop a TB in that I was planning to, but that found its way into another cache in the park anyway Smile.

So thanks for the ride, and I'll have to check out this Lime Kiln that all your cache descriptions speak of sometime.

Took: Nothing
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball


Nearby Caches
GC1X2CW archived LKST-1a Cookout (0.48 kms S)
GC1X2BA archived LKST-1v2 Looking for a Sign (0.48 kms S)
GC12YTV Overlook Splash Cache (0.94 kms S)
GC1HTTY archived Deer Trail (0.96 kms E)
GC12N38 archived A Little Splash of Murder (0.99 kms S)
GC12M42 ROCK HILL (1.39 kms E)
GC1GTZY archived 303 Pathfinders (1.40 kms SE)
GC15X34 archived Cedar Grove 2 (1.47 kms SW)

Hints (Back)
Hanging about waist high from a baby oak tree by a couple of other young oaks