Placerville (Hangtown) Historic Main St. Walk Letterbox Hybrid
Hidden : 4/12/2013
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


This is a two part Letterbox Hybrid cache. You can walk or drive part 1 of this, I highly recommend walking you will see and feel more of historic Main Street Placerville and parking might be an issue. Part 1 of your journey will take you down Main Street, taking you to historic buildings and gathering information that will take you to the starting point of part 2 and completion of your journey. Except for one small deviation your Main Street journey will have you walking east with no back tracking. Pencil and paper might be handy. You might want to drive to or near part 2… Walking is doable.

Before you start a brief note, if you are not in a hurry, there a lot of other nice old buildings to enjoy besides the ones I’m guiding you to, enjoy them if you have the time.

(A) Starting at the posted coordinates, although not historic the original Placerville train station was near this location, now buried under highway 50. The house in the above picture is still there. From here you will need to walk a little ways west and find what looks kind of like a train tunnel, actually a train over-crossing. There is a date on this structure, you might want to take note of it. Not to worry the train won’t be coming along anytime soon (please watch for vehicle traffic). Add the first two numbers, subtract the last.

(B) Now you will head east on Main Street until you come to a hotel, this hotel has been in business since XXXX (or so it says on the building). Once again you might want to take note of this info. Got the idea, I won’t be repeating that every time. You won’t have a time to book a room, you have a mission to complete. Second number minus 8.

(C) Your journey through the past will take you to the Historic Hangman’s Tree location. Stop hanging around, people are beginning stare. The building was dedicated May XX, 1934, subtract second X from the First X.

 (D) Next east is the newsstand, not just any news stand, read about in their window. When you are done we can all read about your adventure here but probably not in this window. Christina Reeg Duffey assumed ownership of the building in the year XXXX. Add all the numbers together then subtract 9.

 (E) The hardware store, the oldest continuously operating hardware store west of the Mississippi. That should have been the question, oh well. You should be able to hammer this out pretty quickly. Native Daughters of the Golden West June 9, XXXX. Add all the Xs together then minus 15.

 (F) Now isn’t this an Odd place? If you are looking for Rebekah, she is ahead you, on her way to the hide. … Completed December X 1911… X+0=?.

 (G) The ketchup and mustard building, now vacant but most recently City Hall, originally a firehouse. The alarms are sounding, you must be getting hot. Ketchup is Historical Site X and Mustard is Y. X+Y+4=?.

(H) Finally the soda building… it is built in front of a mine shaft that you can still go into. No info is needed here that wraps up part 1. There is a public parking lot across the street, a great place to position a second vehicle. Now as Jethro would say, time for some ciphering.

 You need to solve for 38°4A.BCD 120°46.EFG
Check Sum ABCD = 12
Check Sum EFG = 20

Now you should have the coordinates for part 2. From the part 2 coordinates you will need to walk west, towards the darkness, although if you enter the darkness you have gone too far. Listen very carefully, let there be a sign to guide you, then you’ll know you’re on the right track… this walk should only take about 20 minutes round trip. There will be muggles here and blackberry bushes too.

A few notes: Some of you will end up cheating and getting the final coords from a friend (we all have done it) but you will miss out on the fun. But at the end of the day it is only a game not to be taken too seriously.
Although listed as Letterbox Hybrid there will not be any room in the container for stamps or ink or even a pen/pencil… (hint hint)
The T2.5 is based on distance if you choose to walk the whole thing, about 3.5 miles RT. You will be on pavement 99.8% of the time.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Gb frr cvpgherf bs gurfr ohvyqvatf va beqre tb gb TP1N5PK Ab arrq gb evc hc gur sbyvntr

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)


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