WSGA 49: Boy Scouts ROCK! Mystery Cache

Enough room for a geocoin or a very small TB. Like all Scouts, Geocachers should BE PREPARED and bring a pen, pencil, crayon or other writing stick. Please leave the outer container in place - you can remove the inner container and sign the log without moving the outer container.

Boy Scout Troop 909 is getting ready for their annual Merit Badge clinic, during which the Scouts get to earn new Merit Badges and progress along the trail to Eagle. Troop 909’s Scoutmaster has asked each of the Patrol Leaders to ask the Scouts in their patrol which merit badge they’d like to work on during the clinic. To make it more challenging for the event coordinator, the Scoutmaster has taken all the required information and turned it into a logic puzzle. Solve the logic puzzle and follow the instructions below to determine the correct coordinates for the geocache.

The Patrol Leaders are Tucker, Kevin, Max, Alex and Tom. Their ranks (listed in order from lowest to highest) include Tenderfoot, First Class, Star, Life and Eagle. The Patrols (named by the Scouts themselves) are Duct Tape, Holy Hedgehogs, Flying Bison, Hawks and Falcons. The Merit Badge choices are Camping, Geocaching, Astronomy, Woodcarving and Swimming.

1. The Duct Tape patrol is led by a First Class Scout.

2. Because we’ve had clear skies at night, the patrol being led by the Eagle Scout wants to work on Astronomy.

3. The Duct Tape patrol is being led by a scout who holds a lower rank than Tom.

4. The 5 patrol leaders are the leader of the Hawks, the Tenderfoot Scout, Kevin, the Scout who wants to work on Camping, and the leader of the Duct Tape patrol.

5. The leader of the Flying Bison holds a lower rank than Alex.

6. The Star Scout does not lead the Falcon patrol.

7. The leader of the Duct Tape patrol holds a higher rank than the leader of the Flying Bison.

8. Of Tom and Alex, one is an Eagle Scout and the other leads the Duct Tape patrol.

9. The leader of the Falcons patrol is either the Scout who wants to work on Geocaching or the one who wants to work on Astronomy.

10. The leader of the Holy Hedgehogs is not Max.

11. The patrol leader who wants to work on Woodcarving (or as the Medic refers to it, “Fingercarving”) is not Alex.

Once you have solved the logic puzzle, you may derive the coordinates that you will need to find the cache, by solving for ‘abc’ and ‘d.efg’ as noted below. Convert the first letter of each answer using a=1, b=2, c=3, ... i=9, j=0, k=1, ... z= 6.

Then ADD the value for ‘.abc’ to the posted latitude, and SUBTRACT the value for ‘d.efg’ from the posted longitude.

a = the first letter of the Duct Tape patrol’s merit badge selection

b = the first letter of the name of Tucker’s patrol

c = the first letter of Tom’s rank

d = the first letter of the Hawks patrol’s merit badge selection

e = the first letter of Kevin’s merit badge selection

f = the first letter of Tucker’s rank

g = the first letter of the merit badge selected by the Life Scout

You can check your answer here: GeoChecker.com

FTF will find a very cool unactivated geocoin commemorating the Boy Scout Merit Badge for Geocaching. Everybody else can get one here: Boy Scout Geocoins

Scouting is a great opportunity to learn leadership skills, spend time outdoors and have fun. Kind of like Geocaching - and they even have a Merit Badge for that! Learn more at Be A Scout

Update from owner 4/4/13 - thanks for all the comments on the container. It's homemade and an idea I had been considering for a long time. BTW - all the patrol names used above are real (that's what happens when you let the boys name the patrols).

CONGRATULATIONS to Tobias & Petronella on the FTF!!