Anchorage has a wonderful tradition of allowing residents to establish memorials within park boundaries. These memorials can be as simple as a bench or as elaborate as rock gardens and giant iron sculpture. The Coastal Trail is home to at least four memorials. I thought it would be nifty to establish caches at or nearby each of the memorials.
The Rankin Bench
The Gordon Rankin Bench is one of my favorite memorials. It just cropped up one day a few years ago - a little gem of a memorial perched on a small hill overlooking the Inlet. The bench is tiled with rounded stream rocks, and brightly colored bits of glass. A big bronze plaque with a moose is inlaid in the center. Mr. Rankin's family obviously loved him very much.
The hide itself is a simple multi-stage. The coordinates for the final location are:
N 61° 12.ABC W 149° 56.CCA
Where:
A = the bench's number of support posts + 1.
B = the bench's number of support posts * 2.
C = the bench's number of support posts.
The FTF gets to grab (and keep) a winter FTF geocoin.
The View From the Bench
Svany vf nobhg 250 srrg sebz orapu. Vairfgv-tngr. Ybjre evtug-unaq fvqr. Ernpu nebhaq gb gur vafvqr.