Joy and Misery in Valley Forge Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

uncle_crispy: It's been fun...thanks to everyone who spent the time on this one

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Hidden : 3/26/2008
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Get ready to hike some hills!

*** You MUST visit all the waypoints to claim this cache. You may not claim this as a find otherwise. ***

There is nothing at these coordinates - these are parking
coordinates only! Note: the first two WPs are virtual.

Mt. Misery and Mt. Joy were supposedly named by William Penn who got lost and wanted to find the Schuylkill River. He couldn't see it at one mount (Misery) but could at the other (Joy). This cache puzzle will lead you to a historical marker about another famous visitor to Valley Forge.

Please see (visit link) for the official trails of Valley Forge park.

Park at the designated coordinates. Hike up the Horse Shoe trail up Mt Misery. You will find a green ammo box with white letters on it right on the trail. It's not a geocaching box. That's right, it's a virtual ammo box! I won't tell you where it is, other than it's on the Horse Shoe Trail and in Valley Forge Park, and if you walk from the parking coordinates you will see it. We'll call this WP1.

From there, project a new waypoint 763 METERS from that point. Use one of these four angles based on the topmost word in white letters on the ammo box:

Valley = 45.4 degrees
Horse = 76.8 degrees
Trail = 94.3 degrees
Please = 104.3

This projection will take you to WP2, which is also on a official trail. You can get there from the parking coordinates, too. WP2 is a broken metal sign with only three letters on it. Your GPSr probably isn't very precise with projections, so you're going to have to guess a bit and look around. Please note the metric units.

From that point, read the 3 letters on the sign and project in the following way using this chart:

A = + 0.5 km
B = + 0.4 km
C = + 0.3 km
D = + 0.7 km
E = + 0.8 km
F = + 0.9 km
L = + 3.0 km
M = + 4.0 km
N = + 2.0 km
P = 78.5 degrees
R = 90.2 degrees
S = 94.4 degrees
T = 45.2 degrees
W = 23.3 degrees

So you'll add two numbers to get the distance. This will take you to WP3, which is a historical marker along the side of a road. It's on the far side of the road with respect to WP2, and it is outside of Valley Forge Park. Drive to this one and look for the historical marker as you drive. Park nearby and walk to the marker. Within a few feet of the marker you'll see one of my signature fake rocks - this is the final location now. Bring a pen.

(There used to be an ammo box next stage but it went missing and the area it was hidden in was really a mess)

Use true north (not magnetic) for projections.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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