Official Stuff
This cache is available 24/7, but daylight is preferable. Please be careful on road and make sure to pull fully out of traffic lanes. Cache is placed with permission from Jackson County manager.
This Cache
This cache is NOT at the posted coordinates. Solve the puzzle below to find the actual location.
One of the concepts we covered at a GGPS event was coordinate math. "Oh no! I hate math!!", is probably what you are thinking! But coordinate math is necessary to solve some puzzles. I promise it's not super-hard and we'll do some examples together to give you some practice. As a reward for completing the practice, I'll give you the coordinates for a cool cache you can find. How does that sound?
This practice session is divided into 4 sections. The correct answer to each question will give you a letter. Complete all the questions in a section and you will have 5 letters. Unscramble the letters to make a word. When you have finished, you will have 4 words. Enter the four words in the Certitude checker below and you will have the coords for this cache! Easy-peasy, nice and breezy!!
If you need some help with the problems presented, we advise you look at our GGPS presentation that covered these topics which you can find here: GGPS-05 presentation
Section 1 Questions: Identifying Coordinate Types
This will test your ability to recognize coordinate formats!
Question 1: Identify the coordinates in DD MM.MMM format
- N 33 44 50.553 W 083 51 22.143 (C)
- N 33 44.887 W 083 33.724 (A)
- N 33.447885 W 083.99645 (R)
Question 2: Identify the coordinates in DD.DDDDD format
- N 33 44 50.553 W 083 51 22.143 (N)
- N 33 44.887 W 083 33.724 (S)
- N 33.447885 W 083.99645 (H)
Question 3: Identify the coordinates in DD MM SS format
- N 33 44 50.553 W 083 51 22.143 (E)
- N 33 44.887 W 083 33.724 (B)
- N 33.447885 W 083.99645 (D)
Question 4: Identify the coordinates in Plus Code format
- 866R3F4X+8M45454 (C)
- 17SKT6918171159 (R)
- 17S 269181mE 3771159mN (S)
Question 5: Identify the coordinates in UTM format
- 13SGV1167005590 (G)
- 857V78CG+CRQWXWX (N)
- 13S 711670mE 3905590mN (C)
You now have 5 letters. Unscramble the letters to unlock the 1st word!
Section 2 Questions: Coordinate Conversion
While coordinate conversion calculators exist, we cannot stress the importance of being able to do this manually as well. This is a very simple and straightforward concept that can be done with a basic calculator.
Try to convert these coordinates using only a standard calculator. For simplicity, we will only be converting latitudes (North coords)
Question 1: Convert N 34 57.774 to DD.DDDDD format
- 33.59997 (N)
- 34.96290 (R)
- 34.57774 (A)
Question 2: Covert N 34 22.773 to DD MM SS.SS format
- N 34 22 46.38 (C)
- N 34 22 77.30 (S)
- N 34 22 18.77 (P)
Question 3: Convert 33.41211 to DD MM.MMM format
- N 33 41.211 (F)
- N 33 24.211 (H)
- N 33 24.727 (O)
Question 4: Convert 34 55 22.77 to DD.DDDD format
- 34.92299 (I)
- 34.55227 (E)
- 34.77225 (I)
Question 5: Convert n 33.34772 to a DD MM SS format
- N 33 20 51.79 (M)
- N 33 34 77.22 (G)
- N 33 18 50.77 (U)
You now have 5 letters. Unscramble the letters to unlock the 2nd word!
Section 3 Questions: Basic Coordinate Math
Now, we will do some simple coordinate math. Note, we will just perform the math on the North coordinates (But the process would be the same for the West). Remember that when you "cross a 60" for minutes or seconds, you need to adjust either the degrees or minutes (or both)
Question 1: Add .176 minutes to N 34 57.771
- N 34 57.176 (R)
- N 34 57.442 (A)
- N 34 54.947 (N)
Question 2: Subtract .591 minutes from N 34 57.771
- N 34 57.180 (T)
- N 34 57.591 (P)
- N 34 58.225 (D)
Question 3: Add .5 minutes to N 34 57.771
- N 34 58.771 (P)
- N 34 58.271 (E)
- N 34 57.127 (B)
Question 4: Subtract .984 minutes from N 34 57.771
- N 34 56.787 (E)
- N 34 57.787 (M)
- N 34 56.994 (L)
Question 5: Add 2.5 minutes to N 34 57.771
- N 34 57.271 (I)
- N 34 59.271 (G)
- N 35 00.271 (V)
You now have 5 letters. Unscramble the letters to unlock the 3rd word!
Section 4 Questions: Advanced Coordinate Math
Coordinate math can get complicated when different formats are introduced and numbers "cross the 60's". Test your skills by trying these questions! Again, we will just use the latitude (North coordinates)
Question 1: Add 700 seconds to N 34.88774
- N 35 04.931 (S)
- N 35.00797 (R)
- N 35 06 15.38 (C)
Question 2: Subtract .75964 degrees from N 34 22 55.77
- N 34 00 15.78 (E)
- N 33 37.351 (I)
- N 33.98775 (A)
Question 3: Add 1.4 minutes to N 34 59 46.44
- N 34.98551 (D)
- N 35 01.728 (M)
- N 35.01957 (N)
Question 4: Subtract 4.779 minutes from N 34.07114
- N 34.00012 (F)
- N 33 59.489 (O)
- N 33 59 34.22 (H)
Question 5: Add 7000 seconds to N 34 59.741
- N 35 57.227 (L)
- N 36 01 59.87 (F)
- N 36.94012 (B)
You now have 5 letters. Unscramble the letters to unlock the 4th word!
Solution Checker
You can validate your solution with the Certitude checker below! Enter the four words you decoded above to retrieve the coordinates for the cache!
