Julian Walking Tour - with a Twist!
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
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The historic district of Julian, California features numerous plaques that recount stories of this gold rush town of the 1870s. One of the pioneers was Horace F. Wilcox, president of the Hot Stove Society, an informal gathering of local men who told tall tales and solved world problems at the turn of the 19th century. This five-stop tour of Julian follows a trail leading to the raconteur himself and a numerical discrepancy to use to determine the location of this micro cache.
UPDATE June 7, 2007: Replaced container with sandwich-style plastic container. Thank you to starcrwzr for the assist.
UPDATE January 8, 2005: Replaced container with a larger camouflaged vitamin bottle hidden in the same location. Hint is slightly modified to reflect this change.
Before starting this pleasant walk through the original heart of town, you may want to pick up a map of a more extensive walking tour sponsored by the Julian Chamber of Commerce. The Julian Town Site Map features 29 historic sites and is available at Town Hall on the corner of Main and Washington, where State Route 78 makes a 90-degree turn near the western end of Julian. Also at Town Hall, you can also get one of the Chamber’s History Hunt cards for a chance to win $50 in a monthly drawing. All that is required is to fill in correct answers to nine historical questions that can be discovered from interpretive plaques at many of these same sites. To enter the contest, drop off your card into a box on the front porch of Town Hall. There are four variations of the History Hunt but only one card per family can be submitted each month.
The search for Horace starts at the posted coordinates at a house he lived in for many years after his retirement. Record the date this house was built as abcd where a represents the first digit of the date, b the second digit, and so on. Also record how old he was when he died as ef years. The first set of numbers is needed to find Waypoint 2. The second, treated as a single number, is used to calculate coordinates for the fifth and last waypoint where you will find a log-only microcache.
Coordinates for Waypoint 2, your next stop, are computed as N 33 04.6c0, W 116 36.d00. At this location, you should be in front of a plaque at Horace’s place of business. This building served at various times as a general store, a stage station, a post office, and a telephone exchange. Record the date the building was constructed as ghij.
Coordinates for Waypoint 3 are N 33 04.ih0, W 116 36.j47, putting you near another plaque and a long curving set of steps in front of you. Here you will learn of Mary Clough’s sad fate in the year 1896. The depth of snow, in feet, that 16 men had to trudge through is k.
You are now nearing the home stretch. Horace can be found at N 33 04.i(2*j)5, W 116 36.k00. While looking at his monument, determine his age at death in years as a single number lm. Do not round up or count the extra months.
Recall that the age listed for him at Waypoint 1 is ef, a two-digit number. At Waypoint 4 the computed age is lm where lm, also a two-digit number, is less than ef. Was he still stretching the truth up to the very end … and beyond?
Ready for the cache yet? To discover its nearby hiding spot, subtract lm from ef as follows: ef – lm = n. Now proceed to N 33 04.n00 W 116 36.2n0. The micro container is a camouflaged medium size prescription pill bottle. This is a log only cache that only contains a logsheet and stashnote. Please bring your own pen or pencil.
We hope you enjoy your walk through old Julian and quest for the Truth about Horace.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pyhr 1. Nppbeqvat gb uvf tenirfgbar, Ubenpr qvrq va 1937.
Pyhr 2. Lbh fubhyq or jvguva gur przrgrel. Ernpu orybj n plcehf natry.
Pyhr 3. yz + rs = bar uhaqerq naq avargl bar (nqqrq 10/14/2005)