Note: Final coordinates here were WRONG
prior to this update on 06/03/2005.
The park managers at Otter Creek Lake did not object to me
replacing the AWOL “You Otter See This” geocache. So, here you go,
but this one comes with a twist. The park manager's primary concern
is that visitors who are NOT camping at the improved campground (NE
portion of the park) STAY OUT of that area and respect the park
rules and the privacy of all campers. To help enforce that rule
this multi-part cache will require that you visit/tour the “otter”
side of the lake only. Feel free to stop at the Nature Center and
the beach/playground area after hunting for this cache but please
do NOT venture north of the beach parking area by vehicle unless
you intend to camp.
If you drive (and I recommend you do) your travel time in the
park should be 10 minutes or less. The walk (and you will walk) to
the cache can be hilly but it's not long. Maybe a couple hundred
yards, some of it on narrow game trails. The final cache is in a
habitat unlike many in Iowa.
The park roads on the “otter” side are quite steep in places so
use extreme caution as you drive. Also note that roads in this park
may be closed in winter. If you're walking - snow or no - you'll
get a good cardio workout!
I have recorded a series of waypoints corresponding to objects
in the park. Find each one and take note of the requested
information at each point to solve for the final coordinates. You
can, and probably should, easily approach these in the order listed
and the final is not far from the last point. Since these are
essentially on a “route” it's probably not necessary to enter all
these coordinates into your GPS as you are not likely to get lost
on this excursion. Take a print (paper, laptop or PDA) of this page
along with you though.
This is a county park so it is closed late in the evening
(closing time is 10:30 PM). Sorry to all the hardcore
cache-by-night hunters out there.
Now, the waypoints...
- N 42° 02.401 W 92° 31.366 - The sign here says “Register
ab Restroom”. So go
there. Registration is not required...unless you're camping of
course.
- N 42° 02.445 W 92° 31.421 - This is where you deposit
your registration if you elect to camp here in one of the
'primitive' campsites. No, this is not precisely the object listed
on the sign...that would just be weird. The registration collection
object is cdefg in
color. Note: From this point bear left to avoid
disturbing folks in the campground loop.
- N 42° 02.645 W 92° 31.279 - The sign at this point reads
“Attention Fishermen!! Experimental walleye stocking. Do your part,
return all walleye hj"
or less”.
- N 42° 02.723 W 92° 31.393 - At roughly this point there
are k mature white birch
trees growing in a raised bed. Stop and enjoy the nice view from up
here.
- N 42° 02.880 W 92° 31.329 - Here you will find a small
foot bridge. There are mn posts supporting the bridge
deck.
- N 42° 02.974 W 92° 31.374 - At location 6 there are
p posts to the east and
qr posts to the west of
you with an open walkway in between.
When you reached waypoint 6 you were probably thinking the cache
must be “down there”. You could be wrong, but I recommend you park
here anyway...and take a hike.
Now, the solution...
By now you should have filled in 15 blanks answering the
questions above. Label the blanks 'a' through 'r' (don't use 'i',
'l' or 'o' because they can be confusing) in the order they appear
above. You will find the cache hidden at:
N 42° nx.pyp´ W 92° km.yzr´
where,
- x = The number of vowels that appear in your 15
blanks.
- y = h + k
- z = y + k
The checksum (sum of all digits in the final coordinates) is
56.
Leave No Trace...
Before you approach the final cache coordinates please
read this important message from the County Conservation
Officer:
“The [cache site] is in a very “popular”
piece of wildlife habitat in the park used for nesting by
song-birds, owls, and birthing site for deer, etc. It is common for
our turkey flock to use this at different times of the
year.”
Please be sure that all members of your party approach
this area quietly, discretely and with utmost respect for the
habitat. I encourage you to take your time and explore a little but
leave-no-trace and respect the area and all its inhabitants. Thank
you.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.