Bison Tube Beluga

Overview

Ah, Bison tubes, bison tubes, bison tubes.  We've all seen them at some point in our caching career (I hope), but the truth is anytime we see that micro size, we have 3 ideas of what we might be looking for, and those are the following:  Pill Container, Bison Tube, or neither.  There are no other answers, and this is a proven fact.  ;)  Chances are, everytime you go caching, you probably will encounter a bison tube hide some point or another during any given caching outing.  If I'm being honest, bison tubes are the modern day use conatiner, I mean we all love them, and we all hate them, depending on the type of day it is.  Personally, Thursdays are my least favorite bison tube days, because you know, that how the day rolls out.  But I'm going to keep it breif here, so yeah that's what this multi is about... Our favorite tiny metal tube that somehow has become one of our regular day to day functions.   

The cache:

This is a 6 stage multi along the LeHigh Valley Trail, with all containers being bison tubes, who would have thought?!?  Using the parking coords listed, the cache should be a 3.5 mile round trip.  All parts of this multi are meant to be accessible by bike, with only the GZs needing to be bushwhaked.  Though, as with many of my new caches, this one brings a twist, in fact it brings 3 (maybe 4) twists, and lucky for you, I will give you at least 2 of them. 

The first of 2 twists is that while still pertaining to the bison tube theme, every stage will present to you a new, differently styled bison tube.  I can almost guarantee that you will stumble upon at least 1 unique bison tube, that you haven't seen before, and many of you will proabably encounter up to 3 different styled bison tubes, but the other 3 are definitely ones you most likely have seen before.

The second (and third I guess) twist is that Stage 5 on this multi is sort of a field puzzle, and I will also mention it is a tree climb.  I will further reiterate this in the Field Puzzle section, but for now this is all you need to know until you make it to stage 5.

The Last twist I will not be giving you, and that's for you to handle, but I will assure you by the time you read this descrpition from top to bottom, you will have everthing you need to know to get past this twist.  I will give you a subtle hint though, and that is once you start the multi, and are on your way from there, you will have conquered it.

Stage 5 Field Puzzle

There is a super simple field puzzle at stage 5, but it is not very easy, or in other words, it is super easy to figure out how to obtain the coord fragments, but actually getting the coord fragments will prove to be challenge.  You will need the following below to solve the field puzzle, but how will you figure out the numbers here? Well that is for you to find out.  Oh yeah, did I mention it's a tree climb...?

Field Puzzle Coordinate formula:

N 43 0.ABC

W 77 2X.DEF

This will help you calculate the final coords.  IMPORTANT!!!  You will not find "X" at the field puzzle, rather x is the same digit in Stage 5 coords and the final coords.  I realized after setting this up, that only hiding 6 of the digits would make the final coords less concealed, so this is my solution.  Another way you could word it is that the coords of the field puzzle's location, and the coords to the final location have the same "X" value, so that's how you will find it.  

Last Important notes

The last thing I have to say about this cache is that you will need tweezers for this cache, and maybe another tool that you probably have in your caching bag.  I mentioned it 2 times already, but there is a fairly moderate tree climb involved in this multi, so expect to climb.  The very last thing is I would like feeback on the D/T rating of this cache.  For now, I'm leaving it 4.0/4.5, 4D because of the length, and the overall diffculty of the stages.  I am rating it 4.5T because I believe the terrian for the tree climb is between 3.5 and 4.0, but I also raised it a notch higher due to distance covered.  In your logs, feel free to share what you think, because I tend to underrate things.  I really tried to think of the D/Ts of my newer caches as if I was actually looking for this, and where I would look first over where the stages are actually hidden.

FTF:  Unfortunately, there is no special FTF prize for this one, so I'll just bold and in big print leave the name of the cacher who conquered this challege first :)

CONGRATS TO wwkayaker, Jerseygirl10, and wife April FOR CO-FTF!!!