County Line - Alpine Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The cache is not located at the above listed coordinates. They take you approximately to the county line. You must first figure out the puzzle to Alpine County to find the REAL coordinates. This is the next in my series of county line caches. Safe parking is available within walking distance of this regular sized treasure.
Over the past few years now I have traveled throughout the State with a new perspective. Not like I used to… before I would fly through little burgs and towns without taking a second look. I have always traveled for work but never took the time to “see” where I was going. I would hit a town do my work and go back to the hotel and sit in my room clicking the clicker until the wee hours of the morning.
Now, every new town I pass through is an awakening. I thrive on the new treasures I see… monuments I have whizzed by a hundred times in my life are now new nuggets of knowledge, vista points I passed without a blink are postcard images burned in my mind, and side streets of towns are secret treasures that only non tourists find. Geocaching has made me stop and smell the roses.
Hopefully, this little puzzle will help enlighten you on the County of Alpine and maybe make you “stop and smell the roses” too.
N 38° 42.ABC
A = California Historical Marker #(A)15 is the KIT KARSON Marker. The plaque reads: On this spot, the summit of the Kit Carson Pass, stood the Kit Carson Tree on which the famous scout Kit Carson inscribed his name in 1844 when he guided the then Captain John C. Frémont, head of a government exploring expedition, over the Sierra Nevada. The original inscription was cut from the tree in 1888 and is now in Sutter's Fort, Sacramento.
B = Grover Hot Springs State Park has a pool complex with a hot pool and a swimming pool hot springs, a campground, picnic area and hiking trails and is located off State Route 8(B), four miles west of Markleeville, at the end of Hot Springs Road.
C = The Bear Valley Branch Library in Alpine County is located: (C)67 Creekside Drive, P.O. Box 5237, Bear Valley, CA.
Checksum for North = 15
W 120° 02.DEF
D = The town of Kirkwood in Alpine County has a zip code of 9(D)646.
E = The town of Markleeville is the County Seat for Alpine. Markleeville is named after Jacob Marklee who established a toll bridge across a tributary of the Carson River in 1861 during the height of the silver mining boom at nearby Silver Mountain City. He was killed in a gunfight in 186(E).
F = Alpine County was created in 186(F), during a silver boom in the wake of the nearby Comstock Lode discovery
Checksum for West = 12
I would like to thank Scoobert for being my sponsor in the area for this cache.
Fun Tidbit of Additional Information:
Alpine County is the smallest county, by population, in California.
The town of Markleeville is small and quaint; it is host to the Death Ride each year in July, one of the toughest premiere road biking events in California. The ride covers five Sierra passes, 129 miles long and has 15,000 feet of climbing.
As always, enjoy.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tbbtyr vf lbhe sevraq
orgjrra n obhyqre naq n gerr