Corporate Commons Caches

Corporate Commons Caches

Photos by drrichardh

The dog days of August are upon us. The heat is high, the humidity is high, gas prices are high and so is the desire to go geocaching. What to do... What to do...

Our review this month covers a set of caches that deal with all of these conditions and offers a solution. What makes this set unique is that it is the work of four geocachers all working independently from each other. Yet, somehow, they have created a set of six geocaches spanning an area just about a mile wide that presents a variety of geocaching challenges.

The Corporate Commons is located in New Castle County just off I-95. If you live in Kent or Sussex Counties a ride up Delaware 1 will also bring you easily to this area. For those not familiar with the name Corporate Commons there are two nearby landmarks that will help you visualize the location - The Delaware Motor Vehicle Inspection Lanes on Airport Road and the New Castle County Airport.

There are two "entrances" to the Corporate Commons. The first is from Basin Road (Route 141). There is a set of three tall flag poles marking the entrance. Usually flying from these poles are an American Flag, a Delaware Flag, and a New Castle County Flag. The other entrance is from Airport Road. As Airport Road crosses over Churchman's Road (near the WaWa Store) it runs along the back of the New Castle County Airport property. About a mile past Chruchman's Road intersection Airport road makes a sharp curve to the right. At that point you find yourself viewing the New Castle County Building. Airport Road has changed names and is now Commons Boulevard.

All six of the Corporate Commons Caches were placed in 2007. Geocacher quick2find started things going back in January with the creation of Commons Cache. In mid April chuckularone added Airport Speedway. Just a few days later natator revived a cache that had been muggled out of existence and placed College Cache Born Again as a Nano. These three had the lock on this area until July 4th when debjoey added two more - Back to Work and Cattail Hallow. Two days later chuckularone placed Stop In.

This review walks you through all six as you will encounter them if you enter the Corporate Commons from the Basin Road (Route 141) entrance.

Helpful Hints

The New Castle Corporate Commons is an industrial park. As such it is loaded with signs and buildings. The images accompanying this review spotlight these signs and buildings. None of these images show the actual hide site but as you arrive at each site you should have recently seen one of these buildings or signs.

All the cache sites are located somewhere between the Fed Ex Building and the New Castle County Building.

Commons Cache (GC10AN5)
by quick2find (1/11/07)
rating 1/2
Container size 2
If you like caches that can hide in plain sight, this one is for you. The gps coordinates are quite accurate and parking will be easy to find even though you are still on Commons Boulevard. The real trick here is the amount of traffic that will be passing by. For that reason a mid day, or early evening time frame helps. While this geocache seems like it will be a cache and dash, you may find yourself here longer than you expected. Quick2Find has come up with a clever hide. Since this cache went up in January of 2007 63 geocachers have logged it. Finding this cache sets the stage for a fun time as you sweep the area for all six.

The image on the left shows a great place to start this geocaching adventure.

Airport Speedway (GC124MM)
by chuckularone (04/13/07)
rating 1.5/1.5
Container size 2
Just .2 of a mile separates Commons Cache and Airport Speedway. As mentioned in the introduction, you won't be burning a lot of gas to get to this set of caches. We do offer this word of caution, though.

If you try Airport Speedway on a weekday you'll find the speedway entrance is locked but this is one geocache that should NOT be attempted on a weekend. You'll know why when you check the Speedway sign.

Not many folks know there is a speedway here on the Corporate Commons. Not only is there one, it has been here for many, many years. When this reviewer lived in Wilmington Manor Gardens over 30 years ago his next door neighbor raced here almost every weekend. While you may come for the cache you may discover another of Delaware's many "hidden" attractions.

Despite the entrance being locked on a weekday you'll have no trouble getting to the hide area. You do NOT have to enter the Speedway property to get to the hide area.

There is some poison ivy here and lots of cover. GPSers may bounce a bit. Still with some persistence you can add your found log entry to the 57 others.

Stop In (GC145CR)
by chuckularone (07/06/07)
rating 1/1
Container size 1
Just one tenth of mile separates Airport Speedway from Stop In. To get to this one, though, you will be leaving Commons Boulevard. Your GPS should have no difficulty pointing out where to turn. When you do you'll find this cache is one best attempted on a weekend or an early evening. Once you are at the site you'll quickly see why. There's no way to go for this cache and be inconspicuous.

This is the most recent placement of the six Corporate Commons Caches. Chuckularone presents it as a challenge to you. You may have a good idea where to start looking but if you are like a lot of geocachers this one will still take you a while before you can sign its log. At the time of this review Stop In had been up for only 20 days. Despite this 23 logs have been posted- not all of them finds.

Back To Work (GC124MM)
by debjoey (07/04/07)
rating 3/2
Container size 1
After finding Stop In it's just another tenth of a mile to get to Back to Work. One of the challenges here is deciding where to park. It is possible to park quite close to the hide area. It is also possible to park more than .3 miles away. GPSers have a tenancy to dance here and will certainly dance once you near the hide area. But that's not the only challenge.

The team of debjoey is beginning to build a reputation as geocachers with a lot of creativity. They not only find unusual places to hide things, they often create their own containers. Geocachers expecting hide-a-keys, bison tubes, ammo boxes, or tupperware containers have to rethink their assumptions. As a wise west-coast geocacher has advised "assume nothing". Let your geocacher's senses guide you on this one. Notice the difficulty rating on this one. It is one of the toughest of this set. Perhaps this explains why it also has the least number of log entries. Still, once you have found this one you'll have a real sense of accomplishment.

College Cache Born Again as a Nano(GC124MM)
by natator (04/19/07)
rating 3/1.5
Container size ?
Another tenth of a mile drive brings you to the College Cache Born Again as a Nano. Before reviewing this cache some history needs to be covered.

The area now knows as the Corporate Commons has been many things over the years. Back in 1940 this area was still the New Castle County Airport but it was a private flying field. There were no large hangers out on Dupont Highway and no large terminal building. Back in this area were small roads leading to a very small private flying field. The BIG flying field was over of what is now 273 - the Bellanca Aircraft Company and flying field. Then World War II happened. The old New Castle County airport became the New Castle County AirBase home to the 198th Air Transport Command.

The area where this cache is hidden was part of an area where living quarters for the officers were located. There were also a number of barracks for the enlisted men located over in the area where CitiBank is now located. As with most military operations, this whole area became off limits to civilians. When the war was over and the base decommissioned the enlisted men's barracks were dismantled and moved to an area off of Maryland Avenue near the city limits where they were rebuilt and became the community of Shipside. The officer's housing became a low cost housing development for civilians.

Up through the 1960's this area was covered with streets, homes, and families. But time moves on and eventually this area became prime development property for business interests. The land was re-developed and the community that had been here became a memory.

When seeking this cache, ff you find the correct place to park you will find yourself parked on a stub of McArthur Drive - a last remnant of the former housing development. A good friend of this review lived in one of the homes on McArthur drive back in the 1960's. When you come to this area today you'll find a forrest has taken over areas that once were yards.

Be aware that poison ivy lurks everywhere. Before you come here you might want to review the caution pictures posted on the Delaware Geocaching web site that illustrate the several different appearances of poison ivy. But don't be scared off. There's also enough clear space that you should be able to get into the hide zone and make the find with no problems. Forty-Six geocachers can agree with this statement. While you are here, spend a few minutes looking around. Let your imagination run and try to picture this area just 40 years ago when it was home to many, many families. What might it look like 40 years into the future?

Cattail Hollow (GC14446)
by debjoey (07/04/07)
rating 1.5/1.5
Container size 1
To wind up your day in the Corporate Commons you will now need to take the longest drive of the day - a bit over .2 of a mile to get to Cattail Hollow. Like Stop In this one is best attempted in the early evening or on a weekend. Parking should be no problem. Finding the cache is another matter. Debjoey are up to their usual tricks. What appears to be an easy cache and dash will have you wondering. There have even been some geocachers who have looked right at the container and not recognized it for what it is.

A word of caution. There is an electrical box with live wires in it in the vicinity of the cache. The cache is NOT in or near the electrical box. There is no need to examine the electrical box. You'll want to examine everything else, though. And, once you find it, like debjoey's Back To Work, you have another real feeling of accomplishment. Thirty geocachers have logged this one - some as a find, some as a DNF. Happy hunting.

As you leave the find area on your right, just about a block away is Commons Boulevard. From the Boulevard you don't really see the beautiful pond you have just been exploring. You've found another of Delaware hidden assets.

Well, there you have it. Four geocachers, without really planning to do so, created an area just about a mile in width that gives you the opportunity to try for six geocaches. Some are quite easy; some are challenges; all are good examples of good hides. So if the August heat and humidity is getting to you, and you don't want to spend a fortune in gas money driving miles and miles to get a few caches, stop by the New Castle County Corporate Commons and try for these six. You'll be surprised and delighted with what you find.