My goal is to let you walk through most of the park to see everything. You may enter the park from any direction and visit the various waypoints in any order. Unless you are really dashing, you could take an hour or more for the stroll, solve, and find. Don't fight it. Most of the path is paved, although some is well-maintained dirt/bark dust. None of the waypoints require leaving the path. The final cache location requires no bushwhacking at all whatsoever of any kind.
You can approach the park on foot or on bike from any direction (there are paths/trails into the park from every street / cul-de-sac surrounding it), or easiest parking is at N45º26.186 x W122º48.628.
Otto Sorg Rhododendron Garden at N45º26.202 W122º48.607
There is exactly one rhododendron planted so that its marker is between marker #36 and marker #55. What is the marker number for this one plant? Let this number = A. In the garden is a plaque placed in memory of Otto Sorg. This plaque includes a quote. How many letters are in this quote? Let this number be Z. Now compute A = Z + 11.
Playground at N45º26.258 W122º48.422
There is a low concrete wall at the north edge of the play area. You will see that there are letters stamped into the concrete to form a message. The total number of such words in this wall = B and C. (use B from north side of wall, C from south side of wall)
Bridge at N45º26.246 W122º48.329
There is a footbridge over the dam at the east end of the lake. Clearly visible on this bridge is a metal sign / makers' mark. The sum of the numbers on this sign = D. (For example, if the number on the sign is 12345, the sum would be 1+2+3+4+5 = 15).
Sign at N45º26.320 W122º48.337
If you enter the park from the Northeast (on foot), you will encounter several signs at this location. One of these signs has some text that is not in English. The number of words in this "furr-in" language = E.
Path at N45º26.348 W122º48.623
Starting from the Northwest corner of the park, there is a footpath (NOT 130th ave.) that proceeds generally South towards the Rhododendron garden and parking lot. This path crosses some foot bridges. Starting from the Northwest corner of the park and walking south, the second foot bridge has many clearly visible bolt heads in the decking and in the side rails. These bolts feature a makers' mark "PEC FASTENERS VIRGINIA ###A". The ### on these bolts = F. Note that the bolts I am refering to are quite large, larger than a dollar- or half-dollar coin.
Checksum: A+B+C+D+E+F = 379
Now that you have ABCDEF, you need to calculate NNN and WWW as follows:
NNN = F - A - B - C - (2*D) + E - 2
WWW = A*(B + C) + (3*D) + (2*E) + 2
The final cache location is N45º26.NNN W122º48.WWW. The cache container is a tall tupperware; press straight down in the center of the lid to re-seal very large pill bottle.
This is not the most crowded part of the park, but please be discrete around the muggles. I'm not aware of official closing hours for this park; but it's in a residential area, so please be considerate. Have fun!
Update August 2006
It has come to my attention that the math instructions aren't necessarily clear, or aren't written in the same notation everyone is used to. I didn't intend for the math to be a "hard part" of this puzzle, so I have added this additional strategy for solving:
NNN = F - A - B - C - D - E - 14
WWW = NNN + A + F - B - C - D - E - 1
Both the new and old formulas for NNN should give the same result. Likewise for WWW. Happy hunting!
Update April 2007
There has been some confusion about "B" and "C". Note that neither B nor C is equal to 1.
Update August 2009
I have had to change the instructions for the Otto Sorg Rhododendron garden, since one of the plants either died or was moved.
Update August 2021
I have had to update the instructions for the Otto Sorg Rhododendron garden again, since many of the markers have failed with age. Hopefully the bronze plaque will be longer-lasting.
My own guess at the rating for this cache is H33212.