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Close Encounters (of the Error Kind) Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

foxfire949: This cache was abducted.

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Hidden : 6/23/2005
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

To solve this puzzle, you'll need to break out that copy of the '70s classic


In response to our musical offering,   the aliens broadcast a series of pulses which are translated by the scientists into a string of numbers. These numbers are what the computer display shows. Then the resident cartographer recognizes them for what they are, longitude and latitude in degrees:minutes:seconds.  Next the scientists grab a globe and declare these coordinates are in Wyoming. Everybody and his brother (including the aliens)  proceed to show up at the coordinates which turn out to be at Devils Tower, Wyoming.  However, if they had really gone to these coordinates,  they would actually have ended up about 300 miles away  in Colorado. No one knew it at the time (geocaching hadn't been invented yet), but the aliens were in fact giving directions to a future cache. Recent SETI data has allowed me to pinpoint it. Remarkably, it resembles a small earthly Rubbermaid container, and it's filled with their gift to you of precious stones from their home planet.  They'd appreciate very small trade items because they might return someday to retrieve it

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Get to the movie scene where the coordinates are printing out and write them down. Remember, the longitude is first. Treat the degrees, minutes, and seconds as separate numbers.  The cache is at:

degLAT +   2*   minLAT + 12 . secLAT + 550
degLON - 28*  minLON - 4 . secLON + 750

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[If you don't want to watch, Google is your friend]

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)