IMPORTANT: THIS CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES!
This cache is placed in celebration of Big Blue Switch Day! On May 2, 2000, the U.S. government "flipped the switch" - at the direction of President Bill Clinton, selective availability of GPS units was turned off for civilian and commercial users. As a result, accuracy for those users increased dramatically; accuracy reports vary (as they still do), but some reports say accuracy went from +/- 328 feet, to +/- 16 feet! Can you imagine trying to find a cache with a 328-foot margin of error??
One day later, on May 3, 2000, the very first geocache was placed by Dave Ulmer in the mountainy forests near Mt. Hood in Oregon. Dave placed a five-gallon bucket with some fun swag (reportedly a Delorme Topo USA, 2 CD Roms, a cassette recorder, a "George of the Jungle" VHS tape, a Ross Perot book, four $1 bills, a slingshot handle, and a can of beans!), then posted the coordinates online to a google group (which can still be found here). The cache (or "stash" as it was called initially) has long been gone, but a plaque has been placed where the cache was located, and you can find a physical cache nearby.
It wasn't until September 2000 that the geocaching.com website was launched by Jeremy Irish. At the time of launch, there were 75 known geocaches around the world!
In order to get the coordinates for this cache, you will need to solve the puzzle below. You are solving for N 42° 12.ABC W 88° 16.DEF.
1. What year did the U.S. government turn off selective availability? The first two digits will give you EA.
2. What denomination bill was placed in the very first "stash"? That denomination will give you C.
3. What month did the geocaching.com website launch? The digit of the month will give you F.
4. How many known caches were there worldwide when the geocaching.com website was launched? The first digit will give you D.
5. According to any geocacher's statistics page (if public), how many total icons have been published? Take this number, subtract 14, and that will give you B.
The cache itself is a small lock-n-lock.