Caches in the storm

[GrizzFlyer]

Last night, a violent windstorm made a path of destruction though southern Fulton County and into western Lucas County, leaving an obvious trail of ripped up trees and damaged buildings. The path would put it right on top of some caches in the Oak Openings area, espcially GCNG3G (Pinky 1) and GCZEYM (Blitzen), and other nearby caches.

Mrs GrizzFlyer and I checked out the damage this AM, as we have some property in the area. The path taken by the storm was easy to see. Take your favorite mapping program, or Google Earth, and make a straight line 11.5 miles long, from SR109 at the Henry-Fulton line (Road A, north of Liberty Center), east-northeast to Reed Road and Whitehouse-Spencer Rd in Lucas County, where that part of the storm petered out. All along that path, thousands of trees and a number of structures have been damaged. At CoRd C and CoRd 3 in Fulton County, a barn was completely demolished and the metal siding strewn into the nearby Maumee State Forest. A neighbor advised that a horse was found in a swimming pool. Down the road a mile, the pine area of the west section of the ATV riding area of the state forest was severely damaged. The tall pines were almost all taken down, or stripped of branches, leaving bare pine trunks 40 feet high. Legal access to that section of the ATV area is not possible for all the downed pines. The east section of the ATV riding area, which is mostly hardwood, might of fared a bit better, but we saw lots of limbs down there too, and uprooted trees. ODNR crews were busy clearing CoRd 2 of downed trees. TriCounty Electric had a number of trucks out replacing broken power poles along CoRd C between 2 and 3.

The winds continued through the Sunshine Corners area, downing trees and ripping off roofs. and into the Oak Openings Park. You can see a very defined path where the winds came through, north of where the old fire tower used to be, across Jeffers Rd and east into the park. The central section of Oak Openings Park was barricaded off, but chain saws and the beep-beep-beep of equipment moving around was steadily heard. We parked at the Evergreen Lake section and walked partway back on the main trail from there to the Lodge. Walked around more downed trees, but not nearly as bad as what we saw earlier in the state forest and along Jeffers Rd. We turned back when we encountered men and equipment clearing that wide trail. The wind continued past the park, across SR295, and seemed to die out a short while later near Reed and Whitehouse-Spencer Rd, where a Monclova Twp maintenance crew was clearing the road.

So, if you had some caches along that path, they might need some maintenance.

At least it wasn't as bad as the part that went through Lake Twp, which claimed some lives.

[Handyman-N-Fam]

This is a pic I took of the west section of Maumee State forest. If you are familiar with the area, it was taken from the road in front of the parking area on Fulton County road 2.

[Handyman-N-Fam]

Ironically, Tornado Alley (#10), appeared to have missed the path of destruction.
However, SQ The Best Things in Life, was right in the path. There was a tree down in the cemetery, but the cache location appeared (from the road) to have survived.
Shiloh Church, just to the north suffered moderate damage.

[Stumpy75]

I started a damage survey about 600am this morning at CR A and 7 and followed the track that Griz mentioned. Amazing amount of damage. At several points, the tornado was close to 1/2 mile wide! That area of the Maumee State Forest looks like a bomb hit it. Oak Openings park was closed when I was trying to drive through the area early this morning.

East of Toledo(Lake Township), things got even worse, with several power transmission towers down east of Lake HS. These are the main feeders from Davis Besse... When it hit the towers, it was close to 3/4 of a mile wide! Really bad damage to any homes in the way... Finally lifted just south of the Bono curve.

Sometimes, ma nature isn't too nice... Nice writeup Giz. That is about what I found out there too.

[SuchaNana]

i left monroe mi and went thru Dundee Sat afternoon from Dixon rd
and 50 south thru petersburg to make another stop on the graduation party day trip-ended up in deerfield and blissfield...
eerie how much damage occurred there where i had been a few hours later...

[cheechgang]

I don't know where Grizz lives, but I do know this one was WAY to close for comfort for Mighty_Mo and me.

I have a cache someplace in Oak Openings, maybe.

[yogi57]

I have blitzen, I wonder if it is still there.

[GrizzFlyer]

I don't know where Grizz lives, but I do know this one was WAY to close for comfort for Mighty_Mo and me.

I'm about 1.21 mile on a 171 degree bearing from Mighty Mo. The wind stopped about a mile WNW of me. If it kept going for another mile, it would gone about 7/10 mile or so north of my place and would have gotten a little too close to Ric.

[Stumpy75]

Per the Metroparks: Due to the number of trees down and widowmakers hanging above the trails, Oak Openings Preserve will remain closed indefinitely.

The word I've heard is that some areas might be opened up by midweek, but some areas will not be open for a 2 to 3 weeks or longer, as they have to clear out some particularly dangerous, hard to remove trees.

[cheechgang]

I checked on my cache following legally opened road, but I would rather not say which one it is. All gated entries to the park are closed.

Took some pictures in Oak Openings but nothing compares to the devastation at Maumee State Forest.

While out I also tooks photos of the damaged houses but I prefer not to post them here.

[cheechgang]

This is the path through Oak Openings. There are scattered trees down, but after eyeballing my cache and the area of the others I would think the caches are undisturbed unless one of the falling trees gave them a direct hit.

[GoodDog]

I spent most of Sunday with a chain saw cutting trees in the Rd C area. Lynn hauled brush to a nearby burn pile.. My arms and back are so sore I could hardly move today. It was amazing how many people showed up to help. I started at some guys house, along with another guy and his wife, trying to find his yard and drive. By the time we left about 5pm there were probably 10 guys with saws, 15-20 women, kids, and dogs hauling brush and serving food. Country people are great.

[SuchaNana]

since childhood, i've experienced many devastating forest fires on the AuSable River and am convinced that it was TIME to renew with each disaster...

awful though this is, the cliches stand true...we are strong...nature will
persevere...we will be better off... the sunshine can come in now...

nothing will replace those mature trees immediately, but i'm thankful for the time we did have to enjoy them...

(and I just KNOW Mother Nature was wearing Tragic Tornado Lip GLoss...)

[mrreet]

The storm ripped through the park where GC1R324 (Why Can't We Be Friends Reincarnated!) is located. The Lake Township Police station is on this property.

[GizmoGuy411]

The storm ripped through the park where GC1R324 (Why Can't We Be Friends Reincarnated!) is located. The Lake Township Police station is on this property.

Several trees in that park are completely gone. Probably including the cache container.