Davis is a bike-friendly town. It says so on the green "Welcome
to Davis" signs, it says so on the big sign at the Richards Blvd.
underpass, and it says so on the new purple signs that sprang up
earlier this year at various edges of Davis. That's great! But are
you a bike-friendly Davis-ite? To find this cache you'll have to
identify and visit quite a few locations that show just what a
bike-friendly town Davis is.
To find the real cache location, consult the table below. Each
row identifies a bike-friendly location in or near Davis. Wherever
it says "bike path", it means a route that's for bikes and
pedestrians but not for cars. If these locations aren't familiar,
ask your bike-friendly friends!
Once you've identified a location, just answer the question
associated with that location. All the answers are numbers, and
you'll take either the first or last digit of the answer,
depending. (Of course if the answer is just one digit it could be
first, or it could be last).
| Letter |
Location |
Question |
Digit |
| A |
Bike bridge over a major north-south (odd-numbered) freeway
starting within UC Davis |
Look north from the center. What number do you see? |
First |
| B |
Bike bridge over a major street not far north of the Davis
Library. |
The bridge portion has a higher fence. How many vertical poles
in the east-side section? |
First |
| C |
Bike path under a major east-west (even-numbered) freeway, east
of Mondavi Center |
There are two roadway sections. How many lights in the larger
section? |
Last |
| D |
An intersection where all vehicle traffic going North, South,
and West must stop to let bicycles in the bike lane go. |
When this road leaves Davis it becomes a numbered county road.
What is its road number? |
Last |
| E |
Bike bridge over a major east/west (even-numbered)
freeway. |
When was the bridge dedicated? Add together all the digits in
the month and year (in mm/yyyy form). |
Last |
| F |
East-west bike path under north-south railroad tracks. |
When you come out to the street on the west side, how many
reflector signs have three orange reflectors equally spaced in a
vertical line? |
First |
| G |
A dirt path from F street to Sycamore with no intersections
(except another bike path). |
Along the way there's a high-voltage fenced-off area - how many
fence posts? |
Last |
| H |
Bike bridge over a major north-south (odd-numbered) freeway
starting from a park in Davis. |
There are several number-displaying items hanging on the bridge
fence but only one shows a consistent number. What is
it?One has a feline face and a different brand name from
the rest. What is the second-highest number that it could
display? |
First |
| I |
Bike path crossing under a major east-west Davis street, not
far from the Hunt-Wesson Cannery |
How many pairs of pillars hold up the roadbed? |
First |
| J |
An intersection where all vehicle traffic going East, West, and
South must stop to let bicycles in the bike lane go. |
Look around; what historic number do you see? |
Last |
Now just fill in the digits you've found to get the final
coordinates:
N 38° AB.CDE W 121° FG.HIJ
Click to verify coordinates
The cache itself is five or so miles from the stated
coordinates, along a bike path, but not necessarily within the city
limits. It's a camouflaged ammo box; hey, you worked hard to figure
out the puzzle, better find a nice BIG cache! Initial contents
include:
- A power-pole insulator I found on one of my rides
- A railroad spike I found on another ride
- A stuffed bunny in a nightshirt
- A stuffed orangutan with stringy pink hair
- Travel bug "To Grandmother's House We Go"
- AND DARN IT! NO PEN! I forgot. Sorry! Bring
one!
I hope you enjoy biking around and finding this cache! Please be
careful to hide it as well or better than it was; many people use
this path.
ONE MORE THING. The cache is really hard to open; it's a
brand-new-used ammo box and it sticks. I filed it, I hit it with a
hammer, but it's still hard to open. You might want to bring a long
a screwdriver to pry with. (Anybody have clues on how to cure this
problem?)