Mystery of the Kickapoo Prime Zone
The legend of the Bermuda Triangle is widely known. Ships that dare to sail through the area get hopelessly lost in the fog, sometimes disappearing forever. Planes have been known to fly over the Bermuda Triangle, only to vanish without a trace. Perhaps less familiar, but just as unexplainable, is a small mystery area just four miles west of the tiny Midwestern town of Kickapoo, Illinois.
Let me introduce the legend of the Kickapoo Prime Zone, a strange area where the properties of time and space seem to defy all natural laws. Most mysteriously, people or things sometimes enter this region, never to be seen or heard from again. People return from the zone with incredible stories to tell of their experience. Wary hikers detour around it, simply to avoid becoming its next victim.
Unlike the vast Bermuda Triangle, our much smaller aberration is almost perfectly square in shape. It covers 20 acres of forested parkland. Plenty of innocent looking picnic tables, parking areas, and trail markers can be found in the vicinity. Of course it looks like your typical, peaceful state park. But is it really?
Take for example this oft repeated tale about an especially unlucky group of Geocachers. A family of cache hunters accidentally drifted into the Kickapoo Prime Zone on their way to place a new cache. It was a routine cache hide, a simple hike in the park like so many they had done before. But as they were about to find out, this day would be different.
They hiked along, casually monitoring their GPSrs rather than noticing where they actually were. They suspected they were inside the Prime Zone when a strange sensation of disorienteering fell over them. Their GPSrs began to show erratic readings. Satellite reception faded without explanation. Compass dials were spinning wildly and all their electronic instruments went haywire. A dense, chilling fog settled in around them.
The group plodded blindly across the next few hundred feet without aid of reliable GPS navigation. Amazingly, they made it through. When they stumbled out on the other side, the fog cleared as suddenly as it had started. Their compasses pointed north again, and their GPSrs, PDAs, and cell phones were back in working order.
For a moment the Geocachers stood and stared, they couldn't even talk. Then it began to sink in. Something very bizarre had happened. They realized to their astonishment, that the cache container they were carrying had vanished! They trembled at the thought, and they all knew at once... the missing cache must be somewhere inside the Kickapoo Prime Zone!
Known to be reliable witnesses, always attentive to their surroundings, the hapless Geocachers reported every detail to paranormal scientists. After a thorough investigation, one theory has surfaced about the exact whereabouts of the Lost Prime Zone Cache. It is known that the location of the vanished cache can be reliably determined by using only logic, math, and the information in the following fact list.
- Fact: The Prime Zone is defined by the following boundaries: 40°49.131', -89°48.161', 40°49.291', and -89°48.371'.
- Fact: The mystery coordinates are also in the XX°XX.XXX' format, and are inside the Prime Zone perimeter, not on any boundary lines.
- Fact: The four boundary measurements and the two mystery coordinates have this in common: Removing everything except the digits makes each into a seven digit prime number ending in 1. For example, -89°48.161' becomes 8948161.
- Fact: There are no more facts.
The next step is up to you, with your sharpened sense of direction, and your talent for operating complex devices like GPSr, mouse, and TV remote. Your job is to discover the mystery coordinates, dare to enter the Kickapoo Prime Zone, and finally, find and log the Lost Prime Zone Cache!
This cache was placed with permission from the Jubilee College State Park administration. Please follow these IDNR rules: 1. Do not place the following items in the Geocache: food items, inappropriate, offensive, or hazardous materials. 2. It is the visitor's responsibility to orient themselves with policies and rules pertaining to this Department managed site.
Smaller trade items are best for this 5" x 5" x 7" container. These trails get lots of use, so be discrete while logging, and re-hide the container well. If you calculated correctly, a five minute stroll on a fairly level trail takes you within 100 feet, but not so close if you're a horse. No spoilers for the coordinates, please. Give everyone a chance. As always, Cache In Trash Out.