“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 #7 - "Camrose Drive"
(The following is not based on a true story.)
On an icy & foggy morning in January, Car A was traveling east on Camrose Drive at a constant speed of 60 km/hr. At exactly 6:30am, Car A was 100m on the east side of 50 St. Car B was also travelling east on Camrose Drive but was speeding at a much higher rate of 100 km/hr. Car B passed the intersection of 50 St at exactly 6:30am. At that exact moment, the fog lifted enough for the driver of Car B to see that he was rapidly approaching Car A, so he immediately applied his brakes. He did slow down at a constant deceleration rate. However, due to extremely icy road conditions, his deceleration rate was not near as quick as he had hoped. The driver of Car A never did see Car B and so it continued at its conservative speed of 60 km/hr.
Car B didn’t slow down fast enough to completely miss Car A. However, Car B did slow down enough so that it barely tapped Car A (neither driver felt a thing and neither car suffered any damage). As the driver of Car A continued to travel east at 60 km/hr, the driver of Car B continued to slow down to a stop, turned around on the 2-lane roadway, and headed back to the site where the two cars barely touched. Amazed at his good fortune, the driver decided then and there that he would never drive too fast in the winter ever again and he hid a geocache close to where the close call happened as a reminder of his decision.
(For the purposes of this puzzle, you should assume that both cars have a body length of 0 metres. That is, the vehicles are essentially points on the road. Also, you should assume that the driver of Car B starts applying his brakes at the exact instant that he sees Car A – that is, right at 6:30am.)
Cache is located at N 53° 00.UVW W 112° 48.XYZ, where UVW = 049 – T (where T is the time in seconds between when the driver of Car B first applies his brakes and when the two cars barely tap each other), and where XYZ = 672 + D (where D is the total distance that Car B traveled east of 50 St before it touched Car A).
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Note: The above geochecker link was developed using a "Horseshoes & Atom Bombs" method. Any answers that are within 25' of the actual cache location will give you a correct result. This will allow those of you who decide to use trial and error to be able to find the cache. Keep in mind, however, that additional searching may be required due to the 25' radius.
The recommended parking location is on the north side of Camrose Drive on 34 Avenue. After parking here, we would recommend that you cross 50 Street once safe to do so, and then walk along the north side of Camrose Drive to the site. Parking is not permitted or available along Camrose Drive.
About Camrose Drive
The City of Camrose, with funding assistance from the Province of Alberta undertook a major roadway construction project in the mid- to late-1980’s with the construction of Camrose Drive. Provincially designated as Highway 13A, Camrose Drive acts as a ring road around the south edge of the City. This arterial roadway was design and constructed as the first 2 lanes of an ultimate 4 lane roadway.
Between 1985 and 1987, the majority of Camrose Drive was constructed, starting with an upgrade of 68 Street south of Enevold Drive and continuing east as Camrose Drive across the Stoney Creek valley to 39 Street. The Province also completed the extension of this roadway the whole way to Highway 13 (at the time of construction, this section of Camrose Drive was outside the City limits and was thus the responsibility of the Province; since that time, the City limits have expanded and the City has taken over ownership and management responsibility of the entire section of Camrose Drive).Camrose Drive was officially opened to the public at a ceremony on November 30, 1987.
As noted in the City’s Transportation Master Plans, Camrose Drive will eventually be upgraded to the full 4 lane cross section as traffic volumes increase due to City and regional growth.