Josh designed a new type of flasher beacon. It requires a beam from a BRIGHT flashlight to trigger it into operation. There are two sets of three series of flashes. The first set is used in the determination of the final stage’s Latitude and the second set is for the Longitude.
For example, if the first set has 3 flashes, 5 flashes, and 2 flashes the last 3 digits of the Latitude would be 0.352.
The beacon is available approximately 10 minutes after sunset
Finding the Geocache: The first stage is located at the coordinates shown at the top of the page. Go to the first stage and locate Josh’s beacon. The tree upon which the beacon is located has a retro-reflecting trail tack at about eye level. Use the coordinates and your flashlight to locate the tree. The beacon is located on the west side and several yards higher in the tree.
Briefly shine your flashlight on the beacon to trigger the flashes. Count the flashes in each of the 6 series.
As a check, the sum of all 6 sets of flashes is 36.
Latitude set: _____ _____ ____ Latitude last 3 digits: .____________
Longitude set: _____ _____ _____ Longitude last 3 digits ._____________
Complete the Latitude and Longitude determniation:
Final Stage Latitude = N 42 04.__________
Final Stage Longitude = W 083 14._________
Use these coordinates to find the final stage. The cache is in a 5 x 5 x 2.5 inch Lock & Lock Box.
Print this page and take it with you along with your GPSr, Pencil, and a bright flashlight.
LED FLASH LIGHTS DO NOT WORK TO TRIGGER THE BEACON! A two AA cell Maglight works well. An LED Maglight probably won't. The spectral emission of LED flash lights may not have enough of the long wavelength components to trigger the detector. A standard two C cell flashlight with fresh batteries works fine also. We have discovered if you are a good aim with a Red Laser pointer, that triggers the beacon! .
Update 10/16/2017: We found that the MINI MAGLIGHT LED AAA with fresh batteries works very well in triggering the beacon. It is very bright and compact. We also discovered that the area between the trail and the beacon tree has really become overgrown with brush. It is suggested that you mark a waypoint at the point that you leave the trail. We should bump up the terrain rating now but we recently learned that changing the difficulty and terrain ratings is not appreciated by those interested in filling in their charts.
