“WILWIC” series - (“Why I Like Working In Camrose”)
As an employee of the City of Camrose, “J” gets to be involved in a number of really neat projects. As well, thanks to the great work of a number of former employees and municipal Councils from years’ gone by, the City of Camrose is home to a number of facilities and amenities which help make this a great place to live. Fortunately for the geocaching community, there are a number of great caches already in Camrose which highlight some of the amazing amenities of this fair City. The intent behind this caching series is to highlight a few of the remaining – and possibly lesser visited – locations within Camrose, and to hopefully provide some interesting history or facts along the way.
Warning: Not all hides within this series will be winter-friendly. Some of the stages are also more kid friendly than others; although as a family with young kids, we’ve tried to keep these as accessible as possible without losing some of the challenge.
WILWIC #4 - "Mirror Lake"
Considered one of the gems of the Camrose park system, Mirror Lake is actually a widening of Camrose Creek (or Stoney Creek). A man-made lake, Mirror Lake was originally constructed in the early 1900’s by the rail companies in order to create a reservoir for the filling of steam engine tanks. The water level in Mirror Lake is controlled by a spillway at the south end of the lake. The current structure was constructed by the City in 1975, after the previous spillway was washed out during the spring floods in 1974.
As it stands today, there is only one vehicle bridge across Mirror Lake (48 Avenue, which is Highway 13 within the City limits). The location of the 48 Avenue bridge however, is relatively new to the area. Prior to 1949 when the original bridge was constructed, the only way for someone going through Camrose to cross the lake (other than going around) was to use an older vehicle bridge that ran north & south at 54 Street. Following the construction of the 48 Avenue bridge, the 54 Street bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, remaining open for pedestrian traffic. The original vehicle bridge remained until 1996 when the City replaced this bridge with the decorative structure you see today.
Prior to the construction of the 48 Avenue bridge in 1949, we expect that there would have been considerable debate among the citizens and Councillors of the day about the pros vs. cons of constructing a new bridge across Mirror Lake. Interestingly enough, there is still considerable debate happening in Camrose today about a proposed bridge that would run north and south across the lake to connect 53 Street on the north and south sides of the lake. Only time will tell whether the “53 Street Bridge” will actually be built or not.
This cache is a combination puzzle and multi cache, with the final hidden along a prominent location along Mirror Lake. The coordinates of the final are N 53° 0A.BCD’ W 112° 4E.FGH'. To determine the missing north coordinates (A through D), you will need to find the small camo container hidden at the listed waypoint. To determine the missing west coordinates (E through H), you will need to solve a Sudoku puzzle (Click here for Sudoku puzzle). “E” through “H” are single digits that can be found at the following cells in the Sudoku:
- "E" = column J, row 1
- "F" = column B, row 4
- "G" = column C, row 6
- "H" = column J, row 7
Once you have determined the missing north and west coordinates, it should be a relatively short hike to find the actual GZ. The difficulty of the final will be a bit harder than the difficulty of the stages. Good luck and happy searching!
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.