The cache is not at the posted coordinates, nor do you need to go onto school property to find the cache. Instead, you will need to put your school-related puzzle solving skills to the test in order to find the location of the final, which is located nearby. The puzzle that you need to solve is located near the bottom of this cache page.
Time to head back to school!!!
Welcome to our "Back to School" puzzle series! With summer finally coming to a close, the kids are heading back to school and so are you if you want to earn this geocaching "smiley".
The City of Camrose has a number of different schools that students can attend to gain an education (in addition to homeschooling). There are a total of 10 different schools available for students between Kindergarden and Grade 12, each belonging to one of three different school divisions: Battle River School Division, Elk Island Catholic Schools, and le Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord (aka the Greater North Central Francophone Education Region). Also located within the City are two post-secondary school options: the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta, as well as the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute.
In order to find the location for the caches in this Back to School series, you will first need to solve a puzzle to find the final coordinates.
Sparling School
The original Chester Ronning School first opened in 1968. However, the school was recently replaced with a new school of the same name, which opened its doors in 2022. The school was named after Dr. Chester Alvin Ronning, who served as the Principal of the Camrose Lutheran College (now the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta) for 15 years from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Ronning also served as ambassador to China, Norway and Iceland, as well as High Commissioner to India.
As a school, Chester Ronning School is part of the Battle River School Division. It offers programming for students from pre-Kindergarden through Grade 5.
Now for the Puzzle Cache!!
The geocache is not at the posted coordinates. You will find the final at N 53° 00.ABC′ W 112° DE.FGH′.
To find the decimal for the north coordinate (ABC), you will need to solve the following Grade 3 'order of operations' math problems:
- A = ( 2 X 6 - 9 ) X ( 7 - 2 X 2 )
- B = ( 3 X 5 - 2 X 2 X 2 )
- C = ( 4 X 6 - 3 ) / 7
To find the west coordinate (DE.FGH), you will be required to solve the following 5th grade 'multiplication' math problems:
- DE.FGH = 133 x 389, divided by 1000.