The Upper Lonsdale neighbourhood is commonly considered to be everything above the highway, within a few blocks east or west of Lonsdale Avenue itself. Lower Lonsdale is commonly considered to be everything below where Lonsdale bends; from above the bend up to the highway is known as "central" or "mid" Lonsdale. From the bend upwards, Lonsdale runs exactly north-south; it is also the dividing line between east and west street addresses in North Vancouver. Within Upper Lonsdale, 29th street forms the municipal boundary between the City and District of North Vancouver; the numbering of east-west streets gives way to names. To the west of Upper Lonsdale are the neighbourhoods of Delbrook and Westview; the boundaries of these neighbourhoods are often demarcated by small creeks. To the east lies Lynn Valley, the boundary generally considered to be the peaks of some of the steep hills. Going north beyond the upper end of Lonsdale Avenue, it is still considered the Upper Lonsdale neighbourhood until you enter the forested slopes of Grouse and Fromme mountains.
Nothing familiarizes you with a neighbourhood like growing up there, and in this neighbourhood, "up" is a very important word. This multi-cache visits a few places of personal significance. The route was designed to act as a walking tour where you may find yourself passing by some other geocaches during your journey. The terrain 3 rating reflects the basic terrain type (1.5) plus more tacked on due to the total length (just under 3 km) and elevation change of the walk. It is also possible to complete this journey by bicycle or by car, although some cache waypoints are located in places where wheeled vehicles cannot go. Taking the bus can definitely get you to the cache starting location, and a couple of routes (230, 241) might be useful if a long uphill walk is beyond your fitness level. The cache is a Multi, but its wayfinding methods are like a Letterbox in style (using directions & landmarks rather than coordinates). It was also designed so some clues are in places that Google maps & street-view cannot see. It is not difficult, but there are 7 waypoints after the starting location, so prepare for a lot of note-taking, and read the instructions thoroughly.
The degrees and minutes will always be N49 20.___ and W123 04.___.
You will also never need to enter private property to complete this cache; the cache is in a public location.
The journey begins below...
START:
We begin in the commercial heart of upper Lonsdale, Queensdale – so named because it's at the intersection of Lonsdale Avenue and Queens Road. From Kings down to 29th there are some notable long-standing businesses around: Queensdale Market, Queens Cross Pub, the gas station, Harmony Donuts. However, the one you'll want to glance at is the Tudor-style Sussex Realty building. The Sussex building has several poles with globe-shaped lights on top.
The number of globes upon each pole is your first clue, clue A.
WAYPOINT 1:
Your story of growing up starts here, the first place your family lived after moving to Canada. Just a toddler earning your first memories in a land far from where you were born.
Go east on East Queens, to the sign which is for the multi-building apartment complex on the north side of the street. (Make sure you are at the right place.)
Take note of this sign's text (everything within the brown frame).
The total number of times the letter "E" appears on this sign is clue B.
The total number of times the letter "A" appears on this sign is clue C.
Next, count how many unique letters there are on this sign, meaning letters which occur only one time each within the text (not numbers or punctuation). That number is clue D.
After this, return to the cache starting point on Lonsdale and make sure to tie your shoes, because you have a long walk ahead.
WAYPOINT 2:
Walk straight up Lonsdale (northwards) a number of blocks equal to clue B. On the odd side of this street, count up to "clue A" number of houses eastward from Lonsdale until you are at the address you need to find. Address check: if you did this right, you should be on the last street which goes east from Lonsdale, and the last digit of the house address should be the same as clue B.
At this address, take note of the number of square-topped pillars between the driveway and the tall concrete retaining wall to the east. The number of those pillars is clue E.
Moved up the hill to this house, which had an amazing view of the city. Memories include watching cars struggle up the hill during snowy winter, and a nearby neighbour's dog that liked to howl in unison with any fire trucks that passed by. You lived here when you officially started school. In truth, your maternal grandparents were the ones who owned this place; later, when they moved to Canada as well, you moved to another new home, but not too far.
WAYPOINT 3:
At the T intersection you are standing near, head north until you reach another T, then west to the corner where you will find a stairway and a path, going westwards and down. (This is actually the highest waypoint you will need to visit; now some zig-zagging begins.)
Going down (west) from here, you will see a metal railing alongside this set of stairs. Count the total number of vertical posts on this set of stairs; that number is clue F. After this calculation, keep following the path west to Lonsdale to reach the next waypoint.
WAYPOINT 4:
"I always like going South; somehow, it feels like going downhill." - Treebeard, The Two Towers.
Once you reach Lonsdale, head one block south and one block west, where you will find a yellow concrete barrier and checkered at the top of an alley / pedestrian pathway which leads south; about 5 m west of the barrier there is a small yellow sign as well. Count the total number of reflectors on the south side of the barrier, and multiply that number by the number of letters in the second word of the small sign; that number is clue G.
Next, count the total number of bolts which pierce through the front of the chckered sign; that number is clue H.
WAYPOINT 5:
Continue south on the pathway one block to the next street, then west one block, to find a long stairway with a checkered left turn sign at the top. Head west down the stairs, counting stairs as you go, until you reach the continuation of the same road as the top. The total number of stairs on the entire stairway is clue I.
(Each discrete step you take dropping down counts as 1 stair, so landings and flat areas count as only 1 regardless of their length. The stairway is long and has 3 major sections, so it may be helpful to count each section, and add them up later. )
Also, count how many benches there are along this stairway; that number is clue J.
You'll always remember the journey up this stairway. Pretty daunting for a little kid to walk up after school. Even after you no longer lived at the last place, sometimes you still went this way, to visit your grandparents, or those friends who lived along this route.
WAYPOINT 6:
The zig-zagging journey continues from the bottom of the stairway. Head west to the second cross-street, then two blocks south to the street with the coniferous name, then west again along this "place", to reach another pedestrian pathway at a T intersection. Here you will find a small community garden, and a pedestrian pathway which heads west. The top of the pathway is marked by two signs upon a metal pole.
On the lower sign, count the total number of times the letters "C", "I", and "T" appear on this sign. This sum is clue K.
Also on the lower sign, count the total number of unique letters (those which only occur once each). That number is clue L.
Next, continue west on the pathway behind the sign, until the next street. Count the number of manholes on this pathway; that is clue M.
Count the total number of stairs on this pathway; that is clue N.
Now having reached this point, you will have to do some minor math to figure out the coodinates of the last waypoint.
Of three schools along this street, you attended two of them, as childhood gradually gave way to adolescence. Strange to see them again these days – they have new looks and in some cases, new names, but you'll always associate this street with walking to and from school.
WAYPOINT 7 (Destination Coordinates) :
Calculate coordinates as follows:
N49 20. (J-M) (I) W123 04. (F-E) (G) (K-H)
Go to this location.
Address check: If you did this correctly, you should end up in front of a place with an address number matching this calculation:
( (L+D) xC ) (N).
Once you arrive, take a minute to contemplate what home means to you, and where that is.
There are some who say home is not where you were born, nor the place where you dwell now. Somehow 'home' will always feel like the place you grew up – the small portion of the world where you first made your memories, fought your battles, and learned your lessons.
From this spot, you should have line-of-sight to the cache location. Use the hint to find the cache.
The cache has room enough for a logbook, pencil, and some trackables or pins - but please do not leave low-grade kiddie-swag inside.
Use stealth when you take it out and put it back, taking care to put what is concealing it back in place. And mind the holly.
*Note: aPlant4 earned the First-To-Find honours, and an unactivated geocoin as a prize. Second-To-Find was shared by thepinkertonboys and Mi-Jo.