Circling around Columbus Virtual Cache

Welcome to Columbus Circle located at the southern end of Central Park.

While technically available 24/7 the late night to morning hours will not be realistic. People may be sleeping at waypoints covering info you may want. More enjoyable between 8am and 10pm

The location is quite active and interesting. You can enter the circle if you want to see the people and pigeons around the titular statue, but if you are not a fan of those nor Columbus this cache lets you ignore all that and walk around in a circle and appreciate the busyness of Manhattan to earn a Virtual Reward.

After arriving at posted coordinates you will see the circle with several streets intersecting with it. While waypoints are provided if you get confused, all the locations to visit are visible by walking in a counter clockwise circle in the sidewalks crossing each of the streets. Due to the 24x7 high volume of traffic, pedestrians, commuters, bicyclists, photographers, people standing there for no reason or some reason - you are best served with full attention on where you are walking as you will not get lost. When you are done you end up near the spot you started after walking in a circle. And at any point you can look around and see all the spots you will be visiting.

• First: Begin at the posted coordinates and look towards the museum. Soon you will have Close Contact with the first clue - the Year that this sculptor created the bench sculpture piece already named here in this sentence: YYYY
• Next: Carefully cross Broadway and then cross 59th street even more carefully. You'll arrive near the entrance to Central Park. Before you reach any entrance to the park you will see a tall and large statue dedicated to the 298 men killed aboard the USS Maine when it exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898. On the side facing most to the North West what is the first name of the Fifth Anderson mentioned on the Crew?
• Now carefully cross Central Park West and find yourself continuing to avoid people that think bicycling is the way to go. Here look for the Elevator for 59th St - Columbus Circle Station for the A C B D 1 lines with Direct Access to Uptown Trains (see photo if needed) Just above the doors to that elevator it has a name "El #XXX" the XXX is your third answer.
• Finally cross Broadway twice and pass by the stores and another subway entrance until you find yourself almost back where you started, just on the western side of 8th avenue this time. Take a look at the fire hydrant in front of you. The fire hydrant is on edge of 8th avenue near elevator and if standing behind it - the hydrant, a traffic light and the Columbus statue will all align (see photo in gallery) On the top of the hydrant is a 6 digit number of 665620 just above a four letter word. That word is your fourth answer ZZZZ

• Now that you have all four answers: a four digit year YYYY; a persons first name (all uppercase); a three digit elevator number XXX; and a four letter word from the fire hydrant ZZZZ - put them all together like 1985FRANK123NYPD (not correct answer) and message them to me for confirmation. You can also confirm them by entering them in the Certitude checker below.

  
  You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
  

  
  

  Virtual Reward - 2017/2018

  This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.