The puzzle and description were updated August 24, 2021 following some construction that forced a change to the puzzle. If you started the solve previously, it is now different but the cache is still in the same location it was moved to earlier this year. The difficulty and terrain ratings were updated also.
Dead Reckoning is a navigational method where direction and distance travelled are used to determine your position relative to a previous point. Prior to satellite navigation, ships and planes would use this technique to determine their position since there are no landmarks in the ocean. They would use speed & time to determine distance, coupled with direction to determine change in position. In this geocache, you will use distance and direction to navigate through a series of points.
Note: People often use the word "bearing" in different ways. To a surveyor, an azimuth of 260° is equivalent to a bearing of S80°W, but both describe direction. Going in the opposite direction along the same line, the back azimuth is 80° and the reverse bearing is N80°E. If your GPS does not display bearings in this format, you may find it easier to calculate the azimuth (or really the back azimuth) of each line segment.
This table of line segments will take you through a series of points on campus (you are given distance in feet as well as miles, if you prefer). The first point is at the published coordinates, and has an obvious marker (remember: this is NOT winter friendly). From there, follow each line segment through a series of similar markers to the the final point, which is not marked in the same way as the others. Once you are confident you are in the right location, look to the north and you will see a 6-digit number at eye level. The last 3 digits are ABC. The final coordinates are N 44° 23.BCA', W 89° 46.CBA'
Keep your head up! You will cross roads as you travel these line segments.
Segment Data
| Segment |
Reverse Bearing |
Distance (ft) |
Distance (mi) |
| 1 (to second point) |
N 68° W |
220 ft |
0.042 |
| 2 (to third point) |
S 32° W |
246 ft |
0.047 |
| 3 (to fourth point) |
S 1° W |
524 ft |
0.099 |
| 4 (to fifth point) |
N 86° W |
550 ft |
0.104 |
| 5 (to sixth point) |
S 50° W |
388 ft |
0.073 |
If you want to see a graphic of the line segments, open the image.
This cache was placed with permission of Dr. Bobbi Damrow, Vice President of Workforce Development & Community Relations at the college in December 2019.