Divine Comedy, Part 3: Paradiso Traditional Cache
Hidden : 10/15/2005
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The third part of three geocaches

Divine Comedy, Part 3: Paradiso

Parking can be found at these coordinates for all three geocaches in this series:
N43° 58.577
W80° 01.602
At the trailhead, there are steps over the fence.


The Author and the Book

The Divine Comedy was one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages and continues to be one of the greatest works of world literature today. It was written in 1307-1308 by Dante Alighieri. Dante was born in Florence, Italy in 1265 and died in Venice in 1321.

The Divine Comedy details the author’s imagined journey from Hell to Paradise. It is a weaving together of pagan myth, literature, philosophy, theology, sciences (physics, astrology, cartography, mathematics), history and politics into a complex poem. It was originally written in the Italian dialect (rather than Latin) so that it could be widely read. The effect of its greatness was immediately felt: the book was already being studied at universities starting in 1320.

I am including drawings by the French artist, Paul Gustave Doré (1832-1883) since they capture the essence of the poem so well.


The Geocaches

This is a series of three geocaches:

Divine Comedy, Part 1: Inferno (GCR07E)
Divine Comedy, Part 2: Purgatorio (GCR0AW)
Divine Comedy, Part 3: Paradiso (GCR0BF)

I tried to find a place which would take people down to a valley which was kind of scary and rocky and then allow them to take the slow ascent up to the heavens with a scenic view at the other side. We couldn’t really find anything exactly like that but did our best in the Hockley Valley area.

It makes sense to do the three caches in order but it does not have to be so. There is some back-tracking involved. Each part is a separate geocache and each is a small Tupperware-type container with trade items and a logbook.

Dante’s was a journey from Hell to Heaven but your journey, Geocaching Pilgrims, will just be a nice, long walk in the woods!


Divine Comedy, Part 3: Paradiso

Turn back from Divine Comedy, Part 2: Purgatorio and double back along the white trail walking past where you entered from the blue trail. Venture to the top of the hill and enjoy the view and find your Paradiso.


Although the image in the farthest glass
Will be of lesser size, there you will see
That it must match the brightness of the rest.
Canto 2, lines 103-105

By now my gaze had taken in the whole
Of Paradise-its form in general-
But without looking hard at any part
Canto 31, lines 55-57

I lifted up my eyes; and as, at morning,
the eastern side of the horizon shows
more splendor than the side where the sun sets,

so, as if climbing with my eyes from valley
to summit, I saw one part of the farthest
rank of the Rose more bright than all the rest.
Canto 31, lines 118-123.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ba gur tebhaq. Ba gur uvyyfvqr, ng gur onfr bs n gerr.

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)


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