Rimutaka Cycle Trail - The Rail Trail
The Rimutaka Rail Trail is part of the 115 km Rimutaka Cycle Trail that runs from Petone foreshore to Ocean Beach on the Wairarapa coast. This multi covers just 10.5 kms of the Cycle Trail over the section from the Rimutaka Rail Trail car park at Pakuratahi to Summit. You will need to stop at the shelters at both ends of the Rail Trail as well as the 10 information signs that have been erected at various places along the route to be able to answer all 15 questions to get the co-ordinates for the final. Some of the information posts contain multiple information boards and there are also multiple boards at the two shelters. Make sure you check out all of them to find the answers. There are also two answers that need to be provided from a single information board at one of the waypoints.
The picnic area and shelter at Summit
This multi can be done in about two and a half hours if you are cycling, or 5 hours if you are walking (including the time required to return to the car park). The entire Rail Trail over this section is an easy grade and the track surface is kept in good condition by the Wellington Regional Council, which administers this section of the track and the surrounding land. There is one curved tunnel, 73 metres long, to pass through along the way: you may want a torch, although the tunnel has sufficient reflections from water running down the walls and trickling along the side of the track to show you the way through without too much difficulty. Being built on a curve you cannot see the far end of the tunnel when you enter.
Toilets are available just after the start of the Rail Trail near the car park and at Summit. There are seats and/or picnic tables where you can rest at several spots along the route as well as at Summit and at a well-signposted picnic/camping ground a few minutes off the trail near Ladle Bend, 7 kms from the start.
The Cache
The published co-ordinates are those of the first waypoint where you have to look at an information panel and answer one or more questions to obtain a digit for the final co-ordinates. The cache can then be found at S AB° CD.EFG E HIJ° KL.MNO and is not located on the actual Rail Trail, so you should be able to find it without much chance of being muggled. It is a small plastic lunchbox, large enough to take small Travel Bugs or small trade items. At the time of placement it contained a log sheet and a small treat for FTF to help get you back to the car park. Please bring your own writing implement.
If the log gets too wet or damaged to use, please remember to record a Maintenance Request so that I get automatically e-mailed that there is a problem: don't just comment in your Found log, I may not be checking the logs every day! Found logs online that are not also in the written log will be removed unless you provide other evidence that you really did find the cache (e.g. a photo of the cache, but don't show its actual location).
When replacing the cache after signing the log please remember to replace it exactly where you found it.
Checksum for the answers to questions A to O = 58.