**This is a Challenge Cache and IS at the posted coordinates. You may sign the log at any time and post a "write note" but you may only claim this as a find if you have completed each of the tasks listed below. A cache can only be used for one task. Please use the Project GC Checker to see if you qualify**
The Sound of Music is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical first brought to the Broadway stage in 1959. More famously it was made into a movie released in 1965 starring Julie Andrews. It is based on the true story of the Von Trapp family singers set in 1939 Austria.
This is one of the best known classic musicals and is often shown around Christmas. In "normal" times it is sometimes shown as a "Sing Along Sound of Music" version where theatre patrons dress up in character and belt out the well loved tunes.
The opening scene of Maria joyfully singing about how much she loves being in nature reminds me of the love geocachers have for the outdoors. This is intended to be a fun challenge cache that is easily attainable by most geocachers. There are a number of tasks - loosely based on the most popular songs from the musical - that must be completed in order to claim a find. Feel free to sing along as you wander the hills and trails. Use the Project GC checker to confirm that you qualify.
The cache is located at the posted coordinates along a new trail in Colony Farm Regional Park. You can look forward to a lovely longish walk or bike ride along a well graded trail. Parking is available on Pitt River Road (take the trail under the bridge) or at the entrance to Colony Farms Park off Lougheed (note that the connector trail does not allow bikes). Please check the park open hours and do not attempt when the park is closed.
The Tasks:
1. The Sound of Music
"The hills are alive with the sound of music,
with songs they have sung for a thousand years . . ."
Find 10 Earthcaches
2. The Lonely Goatherd
"High on a hill was a lonely goatherd. . ."
Find 2 caches with the attribute “Livestock Nearby”
3. Edelweiss
"Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me,
small and white, clean and bright . ."
Find 30 caches listed as “small” size
4. Sixteen Going on Seventeen
"You are sixteen, going on seventeen . . . "
Find 16 caches with the “other” size listed
5. My Favourite Things
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens . . ."
Find a cache with at least 50 favourite points
6. Maria
"How do you solve a problem like Maria . . ."
Find 25 “unknown” type caches
7. Climb Ev’ry Mountain
"Climb every mountain, ford every stream
follow every rainbow, till you find your dream . . ."
Find 3 caches located above 700 Metres elevation AND find 3 caches with the attribute “may require wading”.
8. Do-Re-Mi
"Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start . . ."
Complete a small fizzy square (difficulty from 1 – 3 and terrain from 1 – 3; 25 caches total)
9. So Long, Farewell
"So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good night . . ."
Find a cache on December 31 of any year.
Good luck, have fun! You are welcome for the ear worms. As a side note I have heard recommendations that singing loudly as you are hiking will alert bears to your presence and identify you as human so they can avoid you. The full Sound of Music lyrics can be found through a simple internet search.
***Special thanks to Kev_MacD for the incredible job coding the Challenge Checker***
