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Measuring Sticks Multi-cache

Hidden : 3/11/2004
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


At the posted coordinates for Waypoint 1 (N45 21.294 W075 36.792) there is a tag at head height on a tree showing the bearing in degrees from Waypoint 1 to the cache (relative to true north).

The cache is at a distance of X meters from Waypoint 1 along the bearing line.

So, how do you find the distance, X? Simple, just use your imagination!

Imagine that at Waypoint 1 there are four piles of measuring sticks. The sticks in the first pile are all coloured red; the sticks in the second pile are all coloured white; the sticks in the third pile are all coloured blue; and the sticks in the fourth pile are all coloured yellow.

All of the red sticks are 3 meters long, except one which is 1 meter long.

All of the white sticks are 5 meters long, except one which is 3 meters long.

All of the blue sticks are 7 meters long, except one which is 3 meters long.

All of the yellow sticks are 8 meters long, except one which is 7 meters long.

Pretty long measuring sticks, eh! But don't forget you are doing this in your imagination! Now, further imagine that there is a clear level path from Waypoint 1 along the bearing line to the cache.

Now, still in imagination mode, proceed as follows:

Start at the tree at Waypoint 1 and lay a red stick down along the bearing line. Next to the red stick place a white stick parallel to the red stick; next to the white stick place a blue stick parallel to the white stick, and next to the blue stick place a yellow stick parallel to the blue stick. Make sure the ends of the sticks closest to the tree are even. Now place more sticks end-to-end maintaining the red sticks in one line, the white sticks in the second line, the blue sticks in the third line and the yellow sticks in the fourth line. You must use a short stick somewhere in each of the lines. Continue adding appropriately coloured sticks, with the goal of reaching the shortest distance where the lengths of the 4 coloured lines become exactly equal. This will occur at a distance X from the Waypoint 1 tree. (Don't worry about running out of sticks! And please don't break any!)

At The Start

Now that you have determined X, come out of imagination mode and go to Waypoint 1. (Sorry, I wasn't able to have the piles of measuring sticks there for you.)

Go find the cache and enjoy the surroundings. The container is a camouflage coloured plastic jar about 4 inches in diameter by about 8 inches in height.

Good Luck!

Please do not include spoilers in your logs. Logs with spoilers will be deleted immediately. If you believe there are any problems with the cache setup, please advise me privately by e-mail so that I may fix them if necessary.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Znxr fher gb hfr nyy bs gur fubeg fgvpxf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)