Howdy everyone! Welcome to the Greenbelt Tour, widely regarded as the best way to see the highlights of the North Davis Greenbelt! I, Tarindel, will be your guide for today. Now, I know you're eager to get started -- well, I am too! You see, this is my first day as a tour guide, so you'll have to forgive me if I seem a little overly-excited! *cough* Fortunately, Greenbelt Tours gave me this list of GPS coordinates to ensure we make it to all the spots without getting lost! And at the end of our tour, we'll stop in a little known place where I've hidden a blue-rimmed 1.7 quart (9x6x4 inches) Tupperware container containing souvenirs. If you leave a trinket for somebody else, you're welcome to take your own souvenir. You did bring a trinket, didn't you?
Any questions before we start? Everyone ready? Good, let's go.
The North Davis Greenbelt is actually composed of four connected but separately named greenbelt areas -- "Senda Nueva" in the southwest, "Covell" in the southeast, "Northstar" in the center/east, and "Perimeter" (sometimes called "Northstar Perimeter") in the north... Our first stop will be in the Senda Nueva area, which translates roughly as "new path". Let me just grab the coordin...
Wait, what's this?!? This isn't the list of coordinates we used during training! Hmmm, there's a note scrawled on it: "Happy first tour!!! We're holding your coordinates sheet for ransom. Ha ha. We've decided to make you and your Geocaching friends play a little game. Below is a list of your coordinates, all jumbled up! Ha ha. At each site, you'll have to look around and use the clue provided in order to figure out which set of coordinates you should use to get to the next site! We hope we don't strain your puny intellects too much! Ha ha!"
Oh my! I don't remember how to get to any of these locations on my own... I think I'd better go back to headquarters and report this! But you've come all this way, and I can't just leave you stranded here with nothing to do... Here, let me make a copy of the jumbled coordinates and clues for you. Maybe you can actually decrypt them and figure out how to get to the final area yourselves!
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Initial Geocache Contents: Logbook/Pen, SPF 30 Lip Balm, 3 Hot Wheels type cars, a set of mini highlighters, mini playing cards, an expanding snake, a set of animal twist balloons, a glass duck, and a 10-sided blue gem die.
Handicap Accessibility: Some areas not wheelchair accessible. Mostly flat, some hard packed dirt with dirt clods and low-lying vegetation. Long walk required.
Special thanks to "Catan" and "heliosnorf" for their help creating this challenge and playtesting it! :)
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Entry...Coordinate
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1.......38 33.939 (N)
2.......121 44.992 (W)
3.......121 45.373 (W)
4.......38 34.261 (N)
5.......121 45.481 (W)
6.......38 34.288 (N)
7.......38 34.100 (N)
8.......121 45.741 (W)
9.......38 34.265 (N)
10......121 45.156 (W)
11......121 45.808 (W)
12......38 34.462 (N)
Before You Start:
There are a few things that you should know
Cross off the entries as you go
At each location just solve the clue
To find out which entries to next head off to
A north and a west coord for each you will need
But they're not in any order, take heed!
Clue 1 (Starting Clue):
This is the first clue
your quest has begun
The first pair of entries
contains only number 1s
[Note: The starting encrypted clue tells you exactly which of the entries to use, to give you an idea how this puzzle works. The rest of the encrypted clues are merely helpful in figuring it out yourself.]
Clue 2 (Virtual Location 1):
Three are two-faced, but yours is braced
Basking in the afternoon sun
This inconsistency is key
As each half contains the next one
Clue 3 (Virtual Location 2):
The sum is fourteen when added together
Sit for a while, out of inclement weather
And ponder what the counted might be
The terms apart will get past clue three
[Note: some of the counted have since disappeared, but you should still be able to figure it out with a little ingenuity]
Shortcut (optional - saves 10-15 minutes walking time to the next location, but takes you briefly out of the greenbelt):
Ooh, a shortcut, isn't that keen?
First find the marker P15
Then to make things a bit quicker
Head down to the end of 'Flicker'.
Clue 4 (Virtual Location 3):
Under MY roof, you'll find the trail
The plaques will reveal more detail
Not boy nor girl, but rather in May
The digits thereafter will show you the way.
old Clue 5 (Virtual Location 4):
Feeling a bit board? Want to go for a jaunt?
If your legs feel wooden, that's what you want
To find out more what would you do?
The two highest numbers are the entries for you.
Hint: telephone #
Clue 5 (Virtual Location 4):
At this spot, you'll find a sign.
Now zero in on "the design."
Look just outside of this short phrase:
The next words' lengths will earn you praise.
Clue 6 / Final Clue (Traditional Cache):
Droopy and diminutive, it's not a pine
From there it's a short climb to the "end of the line"
Keep heading that direction and you will see
A path leading towards where you want to be!
If you head over wood, water, or to play
Then you're spending time going off the wrong way
That which you search for is not so far
Concentrate closer to where you are
If you see the wood planks you're really quite near
And you should start searching somewhere around here
If you're good, then in a short time
You'll solve the puzzle, and be done with my rhyme.
(Note 1/27/12: This cache has been running for 8 years now, and over that time the environment has changed. Please make sure you read the latest user comments)
(Note 9/4/17: Locations are the same but clue modified to adjust to changes at Virtual Stage 4. Original verse is in red)