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Blue Herring Mystery Cache

Hidden : 5/8/2010
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


BEWARE THE BLUE HERRING!

THE LISTED COORDINATES ARE BOGUS COORDINATES. YOU MUST SOLVE THIS PUZZLE TO DETERMINE THE FINAL LOCATION.

The blue herring is a tricky fish to catch. Tricky because when threatened, it often leaves the water for extended periods of time, searching for a new place to hide. It is one of a rare breed of semi-aquatic fish, sharing similarities to it's more famous cousin, the Flying Fish. I was hot on the trail of this elusive creature when it jumped out of the water. As I chased this down, I noticed that whenever I approached the fish from the South, it always saw me and escaped before I could get close. When I approached from the North, I could get surprisingly close to it before it even notices you are there. And this rule applied no matter what location it was resting in. It also seemed to struggle with sharp changes in elevation. It could make short hops, but if there was a sharp change in elevation it just couldn't climb. It's feeding behaviors are omnivorous in nature. I once approached it feeding on a small lizard. The teeth it was using were strangely Piranha-ish. Despite these behaviors, I continued to hunt this fish as far as I could. I eventually lost sight of it in Warrensburg, MO.

Oddly enough, it left behind a trail of clues. Would they lead me to where it might have hidden itself? Unfortunately, I got distracted by the equally elusive Red Herring, which had been spotted in Warrensburg. Interrogation of the Red Herring produced no new information. I left Warrensburg with only some odd sequences of numbers, and no Blue Herring in tow.

Sequence A: 5 6 9 1 53 7 8 15 19 16 74 92 23 39
Sequence B: 64 53 100 96 56 102 90 155 133 97 120 97 85 126

From what information I gathered while in hot pursuit of this odd fish, Sequence A actually equals Sequence B! In other words, 5=64, 6=53, 9=100, and so on. But that's not all. I was also left with some weird math equations. How they relate to the above sequences is eluding me much like the fish was. Maybe you will do better.

C = 84-49
D = 24+61+44+79+106-26+30+85+34+57-28
E = 36-31
F = 32+22+66+40+94+77+73+50+2

N 38 C.D W 093 E.F

Good luck.

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

N vagb O znxrf n erny zvaq grnfre gung znl erdhver znal oenva oernguref. Ohg vs lbh gel gheavat O vagb N Va n fgenvgwnpxrg lbh'yy or gnxra njnl. Bu ab! Fbzr zngu! Pna Nhag Fnyyl fgvyy uryc? Vf fur fgvyy qrne? Abcr, fur'f pbashfrq ol guvf chmmyr fb jrveq. Fbyir gur chmmyr jvgu thfgb, Purpx gur pbbeqf. Teno lbhe xrlf. Nccebnpu sebz gur Abegu naq lbh V'yy fbba frr. Sbejneq lbh'yy tb, abg hc abe qbja ohg pybfr, qba'g sebja. Guvax yvxr n svfu. Jung qb lbh arrq? Pbafvqre lbhe bcgvbaf, naq pbzr svaq zr. Fvta gur ybt, fubhg lbhe gubhtugf, gura oent gb lbhe sevraqf nobhg gur svfu lbh whfg pnhtug.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)