WS Pilot Peak Puzzle Cache Mystery Cache
WS Pilot Peak Puzzle Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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East end of South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ. Hike from parking (at 1352’) to cache (at 2081’) yields a 700+foot elevation gain in 1.5 miles. Established ridge trail along the entire distance to the cache, has several locations where the trail requires boulder-hopping or hand-over-hand climbing, raising the terrain rating to a 4. A few of the rating-4 ridges can be bypassed, increasing the distance and reducing the rating to a 3 at these locations.
The location at the coordinates listed above is NOT where the cache is hidden; it is a vertex (corner) of a parallelogram that will direct you to the cache.
The second and third vertices of this parallelogram are located at N33° 21.435 W112° 00.176 and at N33° 21.346 W111° 59.974. These three vertices also describe two sides of the parallelogram; one side connecting the first two vertices given, and another side connecting the second vertex with the third. By calculating the coordinates of the fourth vertex of this parallelogram, you will learn the true coordinates for the location of this cache. (Link to library.thinkquest.org/20991/geo/index.html or search “geometry“, “parallelogram” and “coordinate” if necessary.)
The nearest street parking (after 5:am and before 8:pm - where did those signs come from?) can be found at a bearing of 154° from the third vertex and a distance of 0.34 miles. (For hiking after 8 or before 5, a park-any-time access point is 500 feet east of here.) It’s a mile and a half from the parking space to the cache, and takes me an hour +/- (and I’m old enough to be your grandfather.)
From this parking spot, you can find the trail up the ridge at Desert Classic Trail Marker #15. Follow this trail up to the second vertex where it joins the main trail.
Follow the main trail to the first vertex given. Here you will find the side trail that leads off the main trail, past the south side of the palo verde tree and to the cache. Although this trail is faint, (keep looking well ahead of where you are to see where it goes), this will be the easiest hiking of the entire trip.
The marvelous 270+° view from this cache spans from The White Tanks behind you (west), clockwise past the Bradshaws, Piestewa Peak, Camelback, the McDowells, Four Peaks, the Superstitions, the SanTans, Mt. Lemmon, and Table Top, to Montezuma Head and the Sierra Estrellas on your right. The solitude here invites you to spend some time looking; puzzling; reading; getting in touch with nature.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre n yvggyr arfg bs yvggyr ebpxf ba gbc bs n ovt cvyr bs ovt ebpxf.