I love bridges! I've always been interested in them. Maybe it started back when I was seven years old and heard about the moving of the London Bridge to Arizona, piece by piece...how cool is that! Or my fascination whenever I go over a really high bridge and see the great view from it. Or seeing some new innovation in bridge design or a good-looking bridge, be it in the daylight or at night. If you haven't already done so, please read through "THE SERIES EXPLAINED" section below and then work on this fun, informative, and easy puzzle.
HELPFUL HINT: When looking at the links, click right mouse button and open up links in either another tab or window. This way you'll still have the main cache page to view.
THE PUZZLE
This is the sixth in a series of caches about bridges. This set of bridges are made from various materials, and probably ones you might never have thought could be made into a bridge.
The final coordinates for this puzzle are determined by finding the following answers.
Coordinates are: N43 AB.CDE W77 FG.HIJ.
A: Bamboo Bridge
Kampong Cham, Cambodia
The bamboo bridge in Cambodia is rebuilt every year. The bridge is dismantled before the rainy season and reassembled when it's over...that's over 50,000 sticks removed and put back over the length of the 3,300 foot bridge! Otherwise the bridge would be swept away with the rain.
A is the second (or third) digit in the number of riels the locals are charged to use the bridge.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/08/the-bamboo-bridge-of-kampong-cham-that.html
B: Sundial Bridge
Redding, California, USA
The bridge consists of a steel structure with galvanized steel cables, non-skid glass panels, and granite accents. This is not only a bridge but a working sundial during the middle of the day.
B is last digit of the height of the bridge's pylon, in feet.
https://www.turtlebay.org/sundial-bridge
C: Iron Bridge
Shropshire, England
Opened in 1781, the Iron Bridge was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron, and was greatly celebrated after construction owing to its use of the new material. However, cast iron is not a good structural material for handling tension or bending moments because of its brittleness and relatively low tensile strength, though it was the only bridge on the river to survive a flood in 1795 (see the wikipedia link for repair history, including issues with gorge landslides). In 1934 it was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument and closed to vehicular traffic and now exists as a pedestrian bridge.
C is the date in July 1779 when the bridge first spanned the river.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Bridge
D: Keshwa Chaca Rope Bridge
Huinchiri, Peru
The bridge consists of ropes twisted from the fibers of the cabuya or maguey plant, and are about four inches thick. The floor or walkway is of small sticks and canes, fastened transversely with raw-hide strings. In ancient times, Indians coming from Andahuaylas and other districts had to pay tolls to use the bridge. So they usually brought cabuya leaves to pay toll with. These leaves were used for subsequent repairs.
D is the number of parallel ropes that the bridge consists of.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/04/keshwa-chaca-last-inca-rope-bridge.html
E: Clachan Bridge
Seil, Scotland
The Clachan Bridge is a masonry bridge over the Clachan Sound. While there are many masonry bridges in the world, this bridge has an interesting story associated with it. On the island side of the bridge is an inn called Tigh an Truish, which means house of trousers. Back in the 1700s the government banned kilts. Islanders would then stop at the inn to change into trousers before heading to the mainland, and then change back to kilts upon their return. The inn can be seen in the second photo.
E is the first digit in the road that this bridge is part of.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clachan_Bridge
F: Chengyang Bridge
Sanjiang County of Guangxi Municipality, China
The Chengyang Bridge is made mainly of wood but uses no nails or rivets. All connections are made by dovetailing wood. It is constructed to have five pavilions, with porches and eaves, on three stone piers and three spans between them.
F is the first digit of the bridge width, in meters.
http://www.bridgesdb.com/bridge-list/chengyang-bridge
G: Neal Bridge
Pittsfield, Maine, USA
The Neal Bridge was the first bridge in the world constructed using concrete filled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) arches. The University of Maine Advanced Engineered Wood Composite Center developed the bridge design as a novel use of composite materials to simplify construction and reduce the maintenance and life cycle costs associated with buried structures. The link below is very basic project information. The BONUS VIDEO is a very interesting explanation of the research and construction.
G is the last digit in the year the bridge was built.
http://aii.transportation.org/Documents/BMDO/BMDO-factsheets.pdf
BONUS VIDEO: Check this informative video out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e36gUTytjA
H: West River Bridge
Brattleboro, Vermont, USA
Vermont’s first cast in place segmental concrete bridge, a 1,000-foot plus span, carries Interstate 91 over Vermont Rt. 30 & West River. Ternary concrete mixtures containing slag cement, portland cement, and micro-silica were used to increase strength and durability. The pillars are not real stone slabs but done with formliners. There are viewing platforms at the bottom of each side and on the west side is a geocache (GC7FBTZ, which I signed 12/26/2018).
H is the last digit of the number of white pine branches that the platform's pattern represents.
https://www.figgbridge.com/pti-journal-i-91-brattleboro-bridge
I: U Bein Bridge
Amarpura, Myanmar
The bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and (once) longest teakwood bridge in the world. There are nine passageways in the bridge, where the floors can be lifted to let boats and barges pass. The bridge was built in curved shape in the middle to resist the assault of wind and water. The main teak posts were hammered into the lake bed seven feet deep. The other ends of the posts were shaped conically to make sure that rain water would fall down easily.
I is the first digit of the total length, in feet, of the bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Bein_Bridge
J: Living Root Bridges
State of Meghalaya, Northeast India
Bridges made from living roots are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees. They are created by manipulating the roots by hand or by routing the roots along scaffolding. Since the material used is living, the bridge gets stronger as the roots grow.
J is the first digit of the length (in meters) of the longest known root bridge (near Pynursla, India).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridges
Check your answers on Certitude, where you will also get useful and informative details about the final location.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
THE SERIES EXPLAINED
To share my interest in bridges I've created this series of 12 caches. For each cache you'll look up information for 10 bridges. The bridges are from around the world, and no bridges are repeated throughout the series. So 12 caches with 10 bridges...120 bridges for you to enjoy!
The caches will be released throughout the winter months, allowing you to spend some time sitting nice and cozy in your pajamas & bunny slippers, researching the answers and watching videos or viewing photographs about each bridge. And I even give you links to where you can find the answers! Once you've solved it though you'll need to take off the bunny slippers, bundle up and go find the cache.
I've tried to make the hides as winter accessible as possible for the location. Happy caching!