This cache hunt will require knowledge of the third book of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. You will have to answer questions, solve puzzles and search for intermediate caches on your way to the final cache at Mt. Doom. You do not need to have completed my Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers caches but, of course, you will enjoy this cache more as a continuation of the story begun on those cache hunts. If you enjoy this cache you may continue the quest on The Hobbit.
The journey will be long and arduous and is not for everyone but if you believe yourself worthy of the task then grab your copy of Return of the King and let's get started!
Your goal during this first phase is to reach the cache at N37°AA.BBB W122°CC.DDD where AA, BBB, CC, DDD are as determined below:
Begin your journey at N37°19.004 W121°58.673
If the mountains that this court are named after -
- form Rohan's southern border then BBB = 694
- form the western border of the lands that Sauron's messenger demanded to be "tributary to Mordor" during a meeting at the Black Gate then BBB = 541
- form Mordor's northern border then BBB = 398
- were abandoned by the dwarves after the slaying of Dain I with some dwarves going to the Iron Hills and others to the Lonely Mountain then BBB = 213
- form Mordor's western border then BBB = 040
Now proceed to N37°15.219 W121°59.019
If the mountains that this court are named after -
- are the mountains that Gollum hid under for over 400 years then DDD = 108
- have Minas Tirith built at their eastern end then DDD = 417
- have a spur that links them to Barad-dur then DDD = 733
- form Ithilien's eastern border the DDD = 823
- are the source of the Snowbourn River then DDD = 977
E = the number of leagues from Minas Tirith to the sea
F = the number of men with Halbarad when he finds Aragorn in Rohan
G = E - F
H = the number of years before Pippin "comes of age"
AA = G + H
CC = the number of levels in Minas Tirith
The final cache initially contained:
Return of the King trading card game
2 decks of Lord of the Rings standard playing cards (with tin)
3 boxes of Lord of the Rings miniatures (some assembly required)
Lord of the Rings bookmark
2 Lord of the Rings keychains
Book: Bored of the Rings (an excellent parody of the Lord of the Rings)
3 small electronic games (not in any way related to The Lord of the Rings)
Feel free to e-mail me for assistance if you get stumped during your wanderings
The first intermediate cache is a tennis ball tube with camouflage tape.