Soccer 12 gave me this geocache container as part of my birthday present this year. My birthday also happens to fall around the same time as the Pride Parade, so we thought we would theme this cache around rainbows in order to celebrate love and happiness. Because rainbows make us happy! The cache is full of rainbow-themed items, including many that were acquired at this year's parade. The FTF prize is a photocopy of some of my geocoins, including a rainbow one - send me a message to get the codes so you can "Discover" them :)
The posted coordinates will take you to the Rainbow Tunnel (history below). When you are in the tunnel, you will notice a beautiful mural painted inside. Count the number of birds in the entire mural. Soccer 12 and I had to do this several times in order to make sure we got the same number, so count carefully! NOTE Oct 5 2024: There is graffiti currently covering some birds and 4 are painted over. Please count the birds you see and add 8 to that number and then do the following:
Once you have the number of birds, insert it in the following formulas:
(# of birds - 13) + the posted North decimal coordinates = North Coordinates
the posted West decimal coordinates - (# of birds + 124) = West Coordinates
History of the Rainbow Tunnel
"The first time the rainbow mysteriously appeared on a tunnel visible from the Don Valley Parkway, the North York parks department painted over it. But the guerrilla mural artist — known as “the Caretaker of Dreams” — persevered, eventually winning them over. Now, 40 years later, the city has officially restored the psychedelic mural that has brought smiles to countless grim commutes — just as the artist intended. (. . . .)
The idea sparked in 1972 when 16-year-old B.C. (Berg) Johnson arrived from Norway and noticed something depressing. “People in Toronto never looked up. They looked down. They never smiled too much.” The “Caretaker of Dreams,” as he’d come to write on his business cards, decided a “rainbow project” would be just the thing to cheer up dour Torontonians.
So he fashioned a swing from some rope, attached it to the tracks of the abandoned CN rail line that runs above the small tunnel, and lowered himself over the side to paint.
Except the railway line wasn’t abandoned.
A train whizzed by, slicing the rope, and Johnson tumbled down the embankment breaking his leg. But a class from Don Mills Middle School stepped in to help him finish it, creating a symbol of hope and love that has enchanted children and adults for decades (...)
However, the parks department at the time failed to be charmed, painting over it in grey.
Undaunted, Johnson returned to restore the rainbow (with a ladder) at least 40 times until his fourth arrest, in 1994, when a judge issued a no-trespassing order. The police did let him finish painting before arresting him, he told the Starin 1995 after his identity was uncovered by a curious city recreation co-ordinator.
But other community members took up the cause, including Rainbow Hunter, a group of about 250 people dedicated to helping needy animals, who maintained the mural as a memorial to the cat their group was named for.
Maintenance workers from the parks department also provided touch-ups.
In the seventies, Johnson also spread his vigilante rainbows through the GTA.Only the DVP rainbow remains, nestled east of the highway and south of Lawrence Ave. in Milne Hollow Park.
Its deterioration in recent years inspired the city to restore the landmark, along with building the East Don Trail. The $20,000 two-phase project [turned] the entire tunnel into public art with the help of youth from the Flemingdon Park area.
Phase one — restoring the rainbow — started Oct. 9 [2012] and took Rob Matejka and Anthony DeLacruz six days to complete. Matejka is the education programmer at Mural Routes, a non-profit dedicated to creating and restoring wall art in the city. DeLacruz is a graduate of its summer artist training programs.
As they started scraping the paint off, passersby would rush up, concerned they were taking away the rainbow.
“We did a lot of reassuring,” said Matejka. For people who grew up in the area, “it always seemed like a magical place to them, a tunnel to a special place.” " - Toronto Star