Welcome to the next installment in the Daring Chix series! This one is a little different, because instead of being daring chix ourselves (well, maybe unless you're colorblind? in which case be careful while driving through this intersection), we will mainly be celebrating some pretty daring folx who kept at their goal until the government caved. Whether you agree with their methods or not, it is quite the story, and quite the unique bit of Syracuse history!
This cache is not at the posted coordinates, but you do have to go there to solve the puzzle aspect of this reverse Wherigo. The posted coordinates will bring you to the Tipperary Hill Heritage Memorial, unveiled in 1997 and dedicated to the early citizens who won the battle of the "Green over Red" traffic light. As the story goes, when the City of Syracuse first installed traffic lights in 1925—including one at the corner of Tompkins and Milton—some of the youths of the Tipp Hill neighborhood were offended that it displayed the British "red" over the Irish "green." Fueled by strong national rivalries, these 11- to 17-year-old youths started vandalizing the red lens repeatedly, putting the light out of commission several times. The neighborhood leaders and local business owners eventually persuaded the city to install a green-over-red traffic signal, and it has been that way ever since. This is the only green-on-top stoplight in the United States!
The Tipperary Hill Heritage Memorial (statue) is located within Tipperary Hill Memorial Park. You will be examining other features of the park to solve this puzzle. Keep in mind that you are ultimately looking to make three six-digit numbers, like this:
AAABBB
CCCCCC
DEEFFG
These numbers will be the codes you use in the Reverse Wherigo cartridge. To get these numbers, answer the following questions:
Find the brick that starts out, "IN LOVING MEMORY TOMMY MOORE" - this stone can be found in the 16th row of red bricks from the top, somewhere near the right side. What is the digital root of the remaining text? (Use the three-digit number; don't keep summing to one digit.) Subtract 30 from this number and set it aside for later. Let what remains be AAA.
You might need to do a little research for this next question if you're not from the area. What is the area code in which this small park and traffic light reside? Let that area code be BBB.
Find the date of death of Scott Mulholland. (Explore all parts of the park.) Treat this as a six-digit number (i.e., ignore the slashes). Subtract 24875. Let this new number be CCCCCC.
What is the numerical value of Michael "Buffy" Pierce's month of death? You can find Buffy in Row 15. Let that value be D.
Find James Coffee Jr. (Row 16.) What are the first two digits after "Buckwheat?" These two digits will be EE.
Find Dawn & John Kivlehan. They can be found in Row 30, a.k.a., the sixth row from the bottom. There is a single date on this brick. What is the day? . . . But remember that 30 you set aside earlier? Add it to this number to get FF.
Now examine the nearby bench with a small memorial plaque and poem. How many lines on the plaque end in punctuation marks? Let this mumber be G.
Alright, now that wasn't so bad, was it? On to the Wherigo portion!
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This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the distance to the cache, but not the bearing. You may begin your search from any spot in the world using your Smartphone or Wherigo compatible GPS to navigate to the cache.
The cartridge was created by -Waldmeister- and is available to DOWNLOAD HERE.
-Waldmeister-'s "The first Reverse Cache [WIG]" is the original cache in this family.
Your task is to find the cache by periodically querying your Reverse Cache Box for the distance to the final location. Try to use your Reverse Cache Box as few times as possible. All instructions and necessary information needed to complete the cartridge is contained within it. The cartridge is multilingual.
To begin, you will have to type this code into your player:
AAABBB
CCCCCC
DEEFFG
It is suggested that you take the code with you on your journey. It will be needed if it becomes necessary to restart your player for any reason.
Optional:
When you have reached the final, you will be given some statistics on your quest. If you wish, you may enter the details into your log, and also post the number of times you calculated the distance.
Also, at the end of the game, you will be given a personal passcode. You can enter this passcord when you start the cartridge after you select "create" rather than "play". This passcode allows you to create your own reverse cache if you would like.
Please do not include hints in your log about where and how you found the cache or post photos that would give away the final location. Any logs that contain spoilers will be deleted.
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Good luck, and enjoy the cache! And hopefully the story of the Stone Throwers inspires you to take action when something is important to you. There are plenty of ways to be socially and civically active, too - signing petitions, commenting on proposed regulations, calling legislators, voting, and so on. These forms of civic engagement weren't as readily available to the Stone Throwers as they likely are to most geocachers. But the lesson might even be as simple as, if you feel strongly about something, you need to express it for anything to happen around it. Which, for me at least, is easier said than done, so that will probably be my Daring Chix lesson for this cache.