Geography hidden in geometry
This multi cache has a geometry based field puzzle that is worth practicing at home. There are three sets of blocks representing coordinates: that lead to the geocache. The posted coordinates are at the most plentiful parking nearby and there is nothing there. The second location has an artistic clue, but no container. The final location is the only one with a physical container.
Here are some demo blocks to practice with. They represent the minutes of the posted coordinates, (N 51.606' for the top one and W 26.964' for the bottom one).
Looking at just the North coordinates, the five digits in the coordinate minutes are 51606. They come from different quantities hidden in the bricks and use just the last digit from each quantity.
Picture a 'bird's eye' view of the blocks. You could only see a 'footprint' of 11 squares. These are colored in yellow below. Now imagine looking from the left and right, colored in blue and red. From those perspectives you would only see 16 and 15 squares. Take the last digit of those quantities and you'll have:
- Squares seen from the right 15 --> 5
- Squares seen from the top 11 --> 1
- Squares seen from the left 16 --> 6
Imagine the block shape shown is smooth and flat on the sides we cannot see. It is as though we had a sugar cube and dripped water on the corner nearest us. There is erosion on the three sides we can see but it is smooth on the three we cannot see. The shape is also not hollow.
With that in mind, try to figure how many small blocks make up the shape. In this case there are 40 blocks. Take the last digit, zero. That is the fourth minute digit we need. I think it's easiest if you mentally cut the shape into slices. If you have a hard time, there are different image formats of the demo blocks in the image gallery.
Lastly, count the corners of the shape that are pointing toward you. They are circled in red in the image above and there are 6. Take the last digit and it's still 6, but might not be for larger shapes.
Now you have 51606 and those are the minutes of the North demo coordinates. Presto! Both the north half and the west half of all three sets of coordinate shapes use the same sequence:
- Squares seen from the right.
- Squares seen from the top.
- Squares seen from the left.
- Total blocks used in the shape.
- Corners pointing toward you.
This might seem confusing, but in the "Pacific Ocean" the letter 'c' is pronounced differently every time. You learned to say that and you can conquer this too. You CAN do hard things.
Here are the blocks for the second stage. Solve and visit these coordinates and you'll see the third and final set of blocks. The north half is always on top, the west is on bottom.
You can check your answers for the second stage on GeoChecker.com.
The final geocache is hidden in a park less than half a mile away and is a nice walk through old town. The park is open from 6am til one hour after sunset. Though it is a great walk, there is parking at all three coordinate pairs.
You can check your answers for final stage on GeoChecker.com.
The images were made using 'usecubes.com/design' and 'nctm.org'. Their free resources are brilliant.
The cache and all the waypoints have been placed with permission from the property owners.