PLEASE NOTE, AS OF 02/24/04 THE FOLLOWING
DIRECTIONS TO LOCATING THE CACHE HAVE BEEN
CHANGED!!
I was listening to a local radio station the other day as they were
"Getting the Led Out" and they played Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to
Heaven". As I listened, it occurred to be that many lines of this
song apply to what us Geocachers go through as we are searching for
our illustrious caches. Here are some examples:
- There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
- And you know sometimes words have two meanings.
- There's a feeling I get when I look to the west And my spirit is crying for
leaving.
- And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter.
- If there's a bustle in your hedgerow. (it's usually
just a squirrel or lizard scurrying past)
- Yes there are two paths you can go by but in the
long run there's still time to change the road you're on.
Here is a little history about one of the most requested songs in
rock and roll: Led Zeppelin's fourth album crept into record stores
the week of November 8,1971. "Stairway to Heaven" remains the
biggest-selling sheet music in the history of rock.
An average hit sells 10,000 to 15,000 copies. "Stairway to Heaven"
has sold more than one million copies.
"Stairway" is still played 4,203 times a year by the country's
sixty-seven largest AOR (album-oriented rock) radio stations,
according to trade magazine MONDAY MORNING REPLAY.
How many times has it been played since it was released? Here's
a rough guess:
Figure that on each AOR station in America, the song was played
five times a day during its first three months of existence; twice
a day for the next nine months; once a day for the next four years;
and two to three times a week for the next fifteen years. There are
roughly six hundred AOR and "classic" rock stations in the U.S.,
which means that "Stairway" has been broadcast a minimum of 2,874
times. At eight minutes per spin, roughly 23 million minutes -
almost forty-four solid years - have been devoted to the
song.
So far...
Ok, enough about the song, lets get to the cache. In order to
find the cache , you will be taken on a "tour" of the lyrics to
gather clues, which will give you the coordinates to the cache.
From the parking area, take the Siltstone trail to the listed
coordinates. At the listed coordinates there is a small Jefferson
Forrest Siltstone Trail mile marker sign, which is where you will begin
the "Stairway to Heaven"
What is the first digit in the miles mentioned on the sign?
______ =A
From the sign, proceed northeast up the trail to next white
blazed tree (approx. N 38° 05.297/W 85°47.522), Stop here
and look to 68°. About 50 yards away, you should see a large
tree by the
brook with some orange paint on it, go to this tree and
answer the following questions:
How many orange painted circles are on the tree? ______ =
B (The answer is 3)
About 6 feet to the south of the large tree is a smaller tree
with more than one trunk, how many trunks does this tree have?
_______ Multiply this by 4 ________ = C
Go back to the trail and continue up the trail, take the
"Stairway" to the top. When you
reach the plateau, stop and look to the
west to answer the following:
How many white blazes do you see? _______ Add 1 to this ________
= D
From the same spot, or very near it, look to 325°; you will
see rings of smoke through the
trees (You may need binoculars)
How many stacks do you see? ________ = E (Okay, I'll give you this one. It's more
than one and less than three)
The Coordinates for the cache are: N38° 05. ADB / W85° 47.ECC
The original cache contains Led Zeppelin's 4th album for the
first finder, a logbook, a key chain, a ready-made micro, and 2
carabineers and a couple of trash out bags.
"Stairway in the Fall"
