Welcome to Portal Park, a small park located in downtown Vancouver at the of West Hastings and Thurlow Street. It is just a small bit of green space, which was created over top of some of the city's important infrastructure. Adjacent to it is another public area, called Oxford Plaza, which has some seating areas and public-use ping pong tables.
This geocache is a Letterbox-Hybrid type, so there are a couple of ways for you can discover its location, as described below:
WAYFINDING INSTRUCTIONS:
Start at the posted coordinates, at the entrance to the gazebo. Look for cross-shaped plaque on the ground and then step foward to the center of the world map. Turn towards the direction where the equator line points east, then walk in that exact direction. Go down a few stairs, across the lawn, and briefly up again over just one small set of stairs. Once you reach the white tile, sit down where concrete meets wood. Here you can search for the cache. (Use the Hint for details).
MULTI-CACHE STYLE: (Reccomended if wheelchair of accessibility is needed, for both clue gathering and finding a route to the cache.)
This method will give you coordinates to the hide location. Clues can be found by reading four commemorative plaques that are located next to the posted coordinates. Follow the instructions to figure out the missing digits of this coordinate formula:
N 49° 17.ABC' W 123° 07.DEF'
CLUES:
Plaque to the right of the start location (text begins with "Portal park derives its name from..." ) :
Clue A: the last digit of the year when the CPR tunnel opened
Plaque to the left of the start location (begins with "The pavilion in Portal Park..." ) :
Clue B: on the only year listed, the first digit plus the last digit
Blue oval plaque, on a pillar ahead and to the right of the start (begins with "Canada's magnificent Pacific harbour") :
Clue C: second digit of the year the immigration building opened
Clue D: third digit of the year the immigration building opened
Square plaque on ground, inset with tiles in cross shape, in front of start location: (titled "Vancouver - Gateway To The Pacific") :
Two years are listed at the top of the text.
Clue E: on the second year listed, the second digit minus the last digit
Clue F: on the first year listed, the last digit minus the first digit
Checksum: total of all digits should be 27.
CACHE INFORMATION:
The geocache is a small size cylynder, with micro capacity. There is a log sheet inside, and a tiny pencil, The cache container has a small stamp as well (please do not take it), but there is no room for a stamp pad, so you will have to bring your own ink. There is also no room for any swag inside.
Please be very stealthy while searching for & handling the geocache. This is a busy area and drawing attention to the hidden cache will cause it to go missing. As well, please replace the container correctly, making sure that it is out of sight and the magnet is holding properly it in place.
* First To Find this cache was the pair CarbonaNotGlue and blueberry_pi. *
