2nd ANNOUNCEMENT: Since they've closed the museum, and removed the outdoor displays, including even the monuments, I must tell you that the coordiantes of where the Chaffee/Jarvis monument had been located are 42 09.706 84 24.102. You'll need them for the original solution. Also, one of the outdoor displays was that Redstone missile (see photo), that had the words "United States", in two lines high up on its nose cone.
ANNOUNCEMENT: By popular demand, and I agree, I've shortened and simplified this cache hunt immensely, while still retaining its primary, very novel feature. You can still do it the full traditional way if you want to accept the full challenge. If so, just follow the original steps below. They will get you to the cache.
If you want to use the new streamlined instructions (and I recommend it), for the same cache, and it is still an intriguing challenge, just click (decrypt) to automatically decode the "hint" section below. This decoded hint will give you the complete instructions for the alternate, much shortened method to find the cache.
Either way, you ought to drive over and check out the interesting statue and monuments. Warning: Don't park on any roadway, you'll get a ticket.
ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS:
The cache is located on the Michigan Space & Science Center grounds, at beautiful Jackson Community College, 5 mi south of Jackson, MI. Unfortunately, although the outdoor displays of rocket engines etc. are still in place, the space center museum itself is closed for the duration for lack of funding. Eventually it will be moved elsewhere in Michigan.
The coordinates above are just the parking lot, not the cache. To find the cache you’ll need to follow the instructions below. It's a little complicated, but that's what makes it fun. There are some sneaky little traps in the instructions you have to watch out for--but there are scrambled hints there also to get you back on track if you do get caught by a trap.
1. Go to the statue located at N 42 09.800, W 84 24.380 at the SW corner of the JCC campus.
WARNING: This is a school so don’t bring anything that anybody might call a weapon!
WARNING: Don’t park on any roadway; you’ll get a ticket!
2. Make a code table to decode co-ordinates and paced-off offsets. To do this, write the letters of the name of the statue in the first two groups of dashes below, aligning the letters above the numbers.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ........_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .........._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _......... _ _ _ _
3..3..4..4..1..9..4.........6..4..8..2..5..2..7..1..4..5..6..3..5..2..........1..9..1..7..4..8..0 9..........5..9..7
3. Go (drive?) to the Fred Yoss Solar System “Sun” monument located about half way between the statue and the geodesic-dome Space Center Museum building.
4. Just for fun (that’s why you’re all here isn’t it) compute, estimate, guess (or maybe just heft it), what each of you in your team think is the weight of that giant marble that represents the sun. Write and initial each of your guesses in the margin. The answer (what I have computed anyway) will be given in the logbook info at the cache. The losers of the guessing game have to buy the refreshments on the way home for the winner who guesses closest.
5. Later on, to find this cache, you’re going to have to measure rather long distances by pacing them off pretty accurately. An excellent way to pace off distances in “feet” is to throw your shoulders back and “march” with a normal 30-inch hup-two-three-four marching step. Thirty inches is 2-1/2 feet. So, starting with your left foot, just count by fives, 5-10-15-20… every time your right foot comes down. Keep track of the 100’s by tallying with your fingers. Extend one more finger from your clenched fist each time you pace to a hundred. It wouldn’t hurt to bring a 100-ft tape if you have one.
6. Walk north along the row of the several planets’ monuments, reading their plaques for the fascinating presentation they make of their relative sizes and distances from the sun. At the farthest monument in sight (Mars), find the top right word of the lower Mars plaque and write it on the third group of dashes in the decoder table above.
7. While at Mars, record an accurate GPS reading of its coordinates. You’ll need them later.
Mars coordinates:________________________________________
8. You can check the accuracy of your pacing here and now. Pacing away from the sun, the separate distances between the monuments are: 85, 70 and 127 feet from each other.
9. You can check/practice your compass heading and pacing offsetting skill here too. From Venus, first pace 50 feet at 240 degrees, thence 70 feet at 180 degrees, thence 36 feet at 73 degrees. You ought to bump into Mercury.
10. Go (drive?) to the Michigan Space and Science Center. Write on the fourth group of dashes in the code table above, the last 3 of the highest letters in the vicinity. View the actual Mercury/Redstone Launch Vehicle and the other rocket engine exhibits outside.
11. While you’re outside there, reading the info on the Roger B. Chaffee and Gregory B. Jarvis memorial monument, record an accurate GPS reading of its coordinates. You’ll need them later! Chaffee/Jarvis coordinates:______________________________________
12. Sorry, you can no longer go inside to see all the fascinating moonlanding stuff and presentations. The museum is closed permenantly (at this location) for lack of funds.
13. Now you’re ready to seek out the cache. Bring along mosquito dope (in season), absolutely a decent orienteering compass with a degrees-heading dial, paper and pencil or two, a garbage bag and perhaps a 100 ft tape if you can’t pace very well (you can though, just practice a little). Wear long pants and long sleeves; you’ll be in some high weeds at times—and plenty of poison ivy!
14. First you’ve got to find the mouth of a nice grassy trail. Its latitude is A.MAI minutes south of the latitude of Mars.
A.MAI = ____________minutes south of Mars.
15. Use your special decoder table to decode these letters to the differences in the coordinate numbers. Read the number below the letter on your decoder. In case the same letter appears above more than one perhaps different number, the rightmost occurrence of the letter is always the one to use.
16. Since being “south of” means being less northerly, these minutes of less northerliness must be subtracted from the Mars’ north latitude.
Trail latitude = Mars latitude________________minus____________=______________
17. The longitude of the trailhead is A.NLA minutes west of the longitude of the Chaffee/Jarvis monument. Since this is more westerly, these minutes must be added to the west longitude of the monument
A.NLA =_______________minutes west of C/J monument.
Trail longitude = C/J longitude_________________plus__________=_______________
18. Using your GPS loaded with these coordinates, go (drive?) and find the mouth of the path. (Don't park on the side of the road, even for a short time!) Follow the path westerly, pacing off RIA feet along the center of the way. Of course you’ve got to decode the letters to a distance number. RIA = ________feet. Arriving at that distance, now find a 10-inch diameter tree close by the path. Find a small plaque a foot or so up on the outer side of that tree.
19. A few letters are stamped upside down on the plaque. ___________________________________
20. Now use the decoder key to decode the letters to numbers that you write in the spaces here:
N _ _ deg _ _ . _ _ _ min W _ _ deg _ _ . _ _ _ min.
21. Don’t show these co-ordinates or any of the decoder stuff to any future geocachers. You wouldn’t want them to miss having to jump through all those hoops you just jumped through to get it all would you! These are the coordinates of a 19-inch diameter tree you must find for further data.
22. Whoops, if you find that the coordinates you just decoded require you to seek a 19-inch tree somewhere in South America, you must have goofed somewhere! Before you book your flight to South America you ought to decode the following hint by reading every 7th word (round and round until it starts to repeat.) Warning, don’t decode this hint until you really need to, or it will spoil everybody’s fun!
HINT #1: THE ARE THE AND THEY ARE ONLY LETTERS BACKWARDS “WORDS” “PHRASE” FORM NOT.
Write it here: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
23. So, now that that is taken care of you can start out toward the tree. FREE HINT: You’ll save a lot of bushwacking if you now drive back to park near Mars instead of bee-lining it from the trail and through the brush. Stay on the grass, north from Mars, then east on the grass along the side to the fieldhouse. Please do approach this way, from the north-west, and not from the south-east. This is to avoid your passing near a childrens’ day-care center just east of the Space Center. Strange adults walking close by the day care center playground would worry the children playing out back there!
24. When you get to those coordinates, however, you may not be out of the woods YET, or more problematically, you may not be IN the woods yet! So, if after you reach those coordinates, you now find yourself looking for a 19-inch tree in the middle of a tennis court, you must have goofed again! You better decode this hint by reading every 3rd word. Warning, don’t decode this hint until you really need to, or it will spoil everybody’s fun!
HINT #2: LETTERS ON THE ARE A HIGHEST NOT MISSILE.
When unscrambling these hints, always write it out to study. Write it here:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ So, fixing that, and revising the coordinates a little, you ought to find the 19-inch tree. It has a small plaque a foot or so up on the NW side of it.
25. On the plaque is a string of letters, stamped right side up. _____________________________ Decode them to numbers you write in the spaces here for a 2-leg offset you pace off at the given compass headings:
26. First pace _ _ _ feet at _ _ _ deg heading, thence pace _ _ feet at _ _ deg heading to an 8-inch diameter tree on which find a small plaque a foot or so up on the E side of the tree.
27. On the plaque is a string of letters, stamped right side up. _________________________Decode them to numbers you write in the spaces here for a 3-leg offset:
28. First pace _ _ _ feet at _ _ _ deg heading, then _ _ _ feet past the left side of a likely looking tree, thence _ _ feet at _ _ _ deg heading to where you’ll easily find the cache!
29. But wait! If you find yourself about to head into an impenetrable briar patch, don’t do that. You must have goofed again. Stop, go back and decode this hint by reading every 7th word. Warning again, don’t decode this hint either until you really need to, or it will spoil everybody’s fun! HINT #3: MEANS THAT,” MEANS THEN THERE,” MEANS “THEN” “AFTER “THENCE” “AND FROM “PAST” “BEYOND.” Unscramble it here: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So, apply that hint to the 3-leg offset and pace it off again.
30. And right there is the cache box. You might have to probe for it if there is any deep snow. Please log in the book (and particularly in your Internet report too) whether you made those 1st 2nd or 3rd goofs and had to resort to the hints.