GC4BB1W SwtM - Frankenmuth Covered Bridge (Multi-cache) in Michigan, United States created by The Mitten Crew

This cache has been archived.

The Mitten Crew: [maroon]It's time to close down the fourth year of the [b]Smitten with the Mitten[/b] series.

Thanks to [b]The Mitten Crew[/b] (Climb Guy, bigcatcog, fitfinders, MI Barrel Makers, and bretina) who paid for the p@thtags/stamps/supplies and placed the caches in order to make this series possible.

We hope you enjoyed the series.[/maroon]

GC4BB1W ▼

A cache by The Mitten Crew Message this owner

Hidden : 5/10/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

This is a quick two stage.

The town of Frankenmuth is famed for its Bavarian style shops and festivals. Zehnder's Holz Brucke (German for wooden bridge) looks as though it could have been plucked up from the Black Forest or a river valley in Switzerland and planted astride the Cass River in the middle of town. Though this bridge is a modern construction built in 1979, the architects of Graton and Associates remained faithful to traditional covered bridge timber framing techniques, utilizing a 3 span Town lattice truss system of Douglas fir. This sturdy 239' bridge accomodates automobiles and pedestrians numbering in the hundreds of thousands every year.

The man behind the construction of the bridge was Milton S. Graton of Ashland, New Hamphire, who at age 70 spent two years building Zehnder's Holz Brucke. With the help of his son, Arnold, and a grandson, Graton began the project in August of 1978 when three flat cars of timber arrived on the eastern banks of the Cass River. The trusses and floor joists were fashioned from 100,000 board feet of Douglas Fir. The flooring is comprised of 15,960 board feet of 4 inch planks. The portion receiving the greatest wear is of oak while the remaining portion is spruce. 20,000 board feet of Douglas Fir make up the rafters and the roof is shingled with cedar. An additional 4,340 board feet of pine was required for the bridge side boards.

After the 230 ton structure was completed on the east bank of the river, Graton Associates employed a system of block, capstan, comealongs and pulleys to enable two oxen to pull as much as 180 oxen could normally displace. The "pull" took place over a twelve day period ending on January 29, 1980.

Visit 14 geocaches in the SwtM series. At each geocache collect a letter and number combination. Insert them into the phrase FiTS LIKe A GlOVE. Use the coordinates from the phrase to find the final geocache and become a Mitten Master
2013 Smitten with the Mitten caches

Whites Covered Bridge	St. Joseph River Bridge	Sixth Street Bridge	Frankenmuth Covered Bridge
Mackinac Bridge	Langley Covered Bridge	Lake Lift Bridge	International Bridge
Fallasburg Covered Bridge	Croswell Swinging Bridge	Ambassador Bridge
Ada Covered Bridge	Ackley Covered Bridge	Blue Water Bridge	Mitten Master

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fgntr 1: GNT lbh'er vg. Vs h unir gebhoyr ernqvat vg - hfr n cvrpr bs cncre naq crapvy gb rgpu gur vasbezngvba ba gb gur cncre. Fgntr 2: Bss gur tebhaq. Jvagre sevraqyl. Vs gur tcf fvtany vf onq, ybbx sbe gur fgbar jnyy naq sbyybj vg hagvy lbh svaq n gerr jvgu n fcyvg arne gur jnyy. Gurer lbh jvyy svaq jung lbh frrx.

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)

This cache has been archived.

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SwtM - Frankenmuth Covered Bridge Multi-Cache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

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