Washington DC has so many delightfully obscure historical relics! Still, I’m really surprised that this one is not already a cache. After all, longitude is something geocachers know about!
This is a challenge cache. There are two stages but they are only a half block apart. At stage one there is a plaque with information relevant to meeting the challenge (although, alternatively, you may ascertain that information from your armchair with a little research and the guidance below, or just run the checker.) The log is located at stage two. While you could go straight to stage two, do take time to visit the plaque at stage one and straddle the line. It's a very cool little piece of history for locals and tourists alike.
To claim the smiley, you must meet the following challenge:
You must have found at least one cache in each of at least five of the 15 western US states named on the plaque and – to make this truly a challenge that awards those who are a bit more adventurous, in the spirit of the Western pioneers – each find must be of a different type, from this list: virtual, mystery (unknown), earthcache, letterbox hybrid, webcam, Whereigo, multi-cache, or Project APE cache. To be clear, traditional caches, labs, and events, of any type, do not count toward satisfying the five finds.
For those who want to assure they’ve met the challenge before getting to stage one, you can figure out which 15 states are named on the plaque with the following hint and some on-line research (or by finding a picture of the plaque, which is pretty easy). The states named on the plaque are identified as having a boundary determined by reference to the American Meridian that passed through the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which was the third American Meridian. Various on-line sources affirm that the Third American Meridian, used between 1850 and 1912, was used to set state borders but not all sources agree on which states those were. In particular, although the three states in the lower 48 bordering the Pacific Ocean are omitted from some sources, they are listed on the plaque. (For more detail on the discrepencies, this website might be helpful: <https://www.usends.com/washington-meridian.html>). Thus, for purposes of this cache, you may use any of the 15 states in the lower 48 states that have at least one border that is on or west of 25° west of the third American Meridian, exclusive of Oklahoma and Texas. (Yes, I could just give you the list, or you can just run the checker, but isn’t it more interesting to have to figure out what would be 25° west of a Meridian that ran through Washington D.C.?)
To demonstrate you have met the challenge, the list must be verifiable from your public log page. In your log, include the following five pieces of information:
- the state (which must be one of the 15 named on the plaque; five different ones are required)
- the type (which must be something other than a traditional, lab, or an event, and each one must be different)
- GC code
- Geocache name; and
- date on which you found it
For example, my log could include:
1. Idaho - Virtual Cache: [GCGRCF](https://coord.info/GCGRCF) Fieldtrip of History on 2020-06-30
2. Montana - Unknown Cache: [GC2782P](https://coord.info/GC2782P) Enjoying Montana On A Rainy Day on 2020-07-02
3. Nebraska - Earthcache: [GC23NBA](https://coord.info/GC23NBA) Chalkstone Earthcache on 2020-06-22
4. South Dakota - Multi-cache: [GC5NT5Q](https://coord.info/GC5NT5Q) Annes Beattitudes #3 Be-Steadfast on 2020-06-24
5. Wyoming - Letterbox Hybrid: [GC34853](https://coord.info/GC34853) Historical Store Hybrid on 2020-06-24
You can determine whether you qualify with this checker:
Note that it would be highly appropriate to count caches located on a longitudinal border of one of the 15 states (if they otherwise qualify), but the find will count for only one state, and that state will be the one in which it is “located” according to Geocaching.com.
Congratulations to WJFamily for First to Find. Particularly impressive start with a Project APE find included!
And many thanks to vogelbird who created the very cool output table for the checker. It is far beyond what I expected and I'm glad others have appreciated it too.