National Park Service Centennial Mystery Cache
National Park Service Centennial
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(regular)
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The National Park Service hit the big 1-0-0 on August 25, 2016!
The NPS oversees 412 units within the United States. As of the 100th birthday, 59 of those units are designated as National Parks. The parks have long transfixed the minds and bodies of outdoors lovers. The documentarian, Ken Burns, and many others have asserted the National Parks are the USA's "greatest idea." Indeed it is a true testament to goodness in our country that we can set aside these marvels for everyone to enjoy, for as long as we might remain a nation. If you have never visited a park, you have a world of wonder awaiting you!
In celebration of the centennial, we have created a simple puzzle in honor of the parks and the National Parks Service. After you have solved and signed the log, we would love if you would include any great stories or photos you have from visiting the parks. Hearing about travels and experiences in these areas is something we love!
This conundrum is really quite simple and straightforward. Simply follow directions and you will have the final coordinates in no time!
Start by making a list of all 59 National Parks. From there, work the subsequent rules:
01. Four parks were created before 1900. Eliminate them.
02. Of the remaining parks on your list, eliminate all parks within the state that has the most parks. (not necessarily the most before we started our game).
03. Two parks exist in territories, not states. Eliminate the one with a smaller park acreage than the other.
04. Eliminate the newest National Park (as of 8-25-2016).
05. Of the remaining parks on your list, eliminate the one that would appear last on an alphabetical list.
06. Canyons? We don't need no stinking canyons! Cross all the remaining parks off your list if they have canyons in their names.
07. These parks are Great, but we don't have them on our list anymore.
08. Whoops, we shouldn't have crossed off the park that contains the highest mountain in the USA. Put it back on the list!
09. Of the remaining parks on your list, cross off the 10 with the highest number of recreation visits in 2015.
10. Your list should now stand at 27 parks. Two of these have ROY G. BIV colors in their names. Throw them away.
11. Look at your list and order the remaining parks in order of date created. Eliminate the four oldest on the list.
12. Of the remaining parks, take the ones that have a single word in their name (obviously we are not counting the words National Park here; for example, Grand Canyon National Park would count as two words, not four) and remove those whose single word end in a vowel.
13. We blew it again. We need to put all the parks we eliminated whose names include three or more words back on the list. Yeah, words connected by dashes will count as separate words here.
14. At this point, we have no time for plurality. Anything with "s" on the end of the name needs to go. Don't discriminate: even if it's the end of a proper name, it needs to go!
15. We've hit the final 10! Let's dump the northernmost, the easternmost, the westernmost, and the southernmost of our list, taking us down to...7.
16. Now that I take a second look, we accidentally removed the park named after a Danish blacksmith. It better go back on the list.
17. Of our remaining list, take off the parks established between 1955 and 1975.
18. On the list of eliminated parks, there is one where you can go to the sun. Put it back on the regular list.
19. One of the names still on the list has ten letters in its name. Take the vowel you don't see and write it down.
20. After you've done that, take the other parks on the list and write down the last letter in their names. With the letters you have written down, you should be able to find a fitting anagram for this puzzle. Enter the solution into the Certitude link below to complete the puzzle!
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Erzrzore gb nyjnlf jbex jvgu lbhe yvfg nf vg fgnaqf, abg snpgf nobhg gur yvfg orsber lbh ortna.