***THIS CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES!***
The little cartographer that could! Maps have been used since the dawn of time to show where the holder is or where something else is. In this case, the above map shows where the cache is hidden (designated by the purple "X") but all of the landmarks are missing. In order to find the cache, you will need to figure out which landmarks belong where on the map, and hopefully discover some cool secrets hidden in the City of Plymouth parks along the way.
Steps to Solving the Cache:
In order to find the treasure that you seek, you will need to master the following pieces to find the final:
1) The Map: The map that you find above is a map of a city of Plymouth park. You do not yet know which park and you will notice that the map currently has distances and directions, but no landmarks. The purple "x" represents the cache and the five green circles are landmarks located within the park. Once you begin to decifer which landmarks belong at each of the green circles, you will begin seeing a map that will lead you to the final cache.
2) The Icons: Around the map, you will notice that there are 10 icons, each representing one such object you would find in a city park, but there's a catch. Only five of these icons belong on the map. You will need to find out which ones and where they belong. Each icon matches up with a park in the list below. Icon A, "Playground" matches up with Park A, the Hilde Performance Center. Icon B, "Bathroom" matches up with Park B, Zachary Playfields, and so on (the parks will all be listed below, along with their icons.) **NOTE** these icons are not landmarks located in their matching park, so the bathroom is not in Zachary Park. The five landmarks you discover by solving riddles are landmarks in the park with the final. They may not be exclusive, as there are bathrooms in more than one park, but they are five landmarks that help you navigate the park with the final. To match the icons up with the numbers on the map, you will have to solve the riddles listed below.
3) The Riddles: In order to decifer which icons will be placed on the map, you will need to decifer riddles. Listed below are the five riddles. The solution to each of these riddles is hidden in one of the ten parks below within 200 ft of the marked coordinates. The solution to these riddles is a large object highlighting a unique feature of five city of Plymouth parks. These ojects are not cache containers, and they aren't small. Think picnic shelters, playgrounds, sculptures, or monuments. There is only one solution per park, no more than that. Once you solve a riddle, you will place the icon from the park you found the solution in to the coorisponding riddle number on the map. There will be an example below to clarify this.
4) The Parks: You will notice that there are ten parks listed below, but only five riddles. When you find one park that has the solution to a riddle in it, you may cross it off, remove it from the list. This park will not have another solution to a riddle and the final will not be located there. Once you discover the solution to all five riddles, you will then have a complete map to the park with the final. You will also know that the final is hidden in one of the five remaining parks that did not have a riddle solution. However, the final is not necessarily located within 200 ft of the posted coordinates.
Get it yet? Still confused? We are working out the kinks as we go. Here is an example to hopefully help clarify. This is just an example, and is not necessarily an answer to the final. So for the sake of the example, let's say Zachary Park holds the solution to riddle four. By discovering this solution, you now know that the final cache is not hidden in Zachary park. You also know that the final is located in one of the other nine parks listed. The icon that matches with Zachary park is the bathroom. Since you found the solution to riddle four was Zachary park, you now know that the bathroom is located at point four on the map, meaning that the final cache is 650 ft SW of the bathroom.
Good luck, and if this still doesn't make sense feel free to message us with questions.
Riddles
1) Doc Rob Wilson's photo, and stories and lore
have all tried to capture this creature off shore.
You now seek it basking near the fine, white sand,
Not in Scottish highlands, but our local land.
2) This next park, I confess, may sound out a chord,
and should you strike true, the sound of chimes reward.
For you seek an instrument, or two or three
along winding trail beneath the Maple tree.
3) This thing's not for water, at least not today.
No, it was set aside for children to play.
It sits in a place oft' reserved for a tire,
hanging up in the air for all to admire.
4) A gnarled, ancient Oak hangs over rocky shore,
and it's this stately arbor you now look for.
It is leaning out towards the rising sun,
next to lake recreation for everyone.
5) Finally, you seek an old structure of wood
what stories it would tell, if only it could.
It's a copy of a shack, built long ago
so Gilfillans could hunt the buck and the doe.
Parks
A) Hilde Performance Center
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 01.238 W 093 28.545
- Icon:
B) Zachary Playfields
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 02.154 W 093 25.452
- Icon:
C) Lake Camelot Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 03.584 W 093 27.672
- Icon:
D) Imperial Hills Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 44 59.885 W 093 30.694
- Icon:
E) La Compte Playfields
- GPS Coordinates: N 44 59.101 W 093 25.038
- Icon:
F) East Medicine Lake Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 44 59.930 W 093 24.170
- Icon:
G) Parkers Lake Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 44 59.735 W 093 28.581
- Icon:
H) Three Ponds Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 03.114 W 093 24.587
- Icon:
I) West Medicine Lake Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 00.037 W 093 25.724
- Icon:
J) Woodland Trails Park
- GPS Coordinates: N 45 02.858 W 093 28.590
- Icon:
Solve as many or as few of the riddles as you need to create your map. Enjoy the stops along the way if you have time. The City of Plymouth has tons of really cool parkland, and this cache will give you just a taste of some of it. Once you think you know which park the cache is located in, follow the distances and directions to locate the cache. The high terrain is not particularly reflective of the final hide, though the final is probably a 2.5 on terrain. The terrain rating is due to the potential number of miles needed to find this cache. The cache is hidden in a very prominent beacon so it shouldn't be too difficult once you narrow the park down. There is a stamp inside which qualifies this cache as a letterbox. Please leave the stamp, it is not a piece of SWAG. As always, best of luck, and thanks for finding!