The Moon Tree Multi-Cache

This cache has been archived.

The Seanachai: Greetings from Geocaching.com,

It has come to my attention that this cache was placed without the permission of the property owner who has requested that this listing be archived immediately. In these cases, we must respect the wishes of property owners and managers. I am therefore, archiving this listing, please pick up this cache or any remaining bits as soon as possible. If there are extenuating circumstance or if there is more information that I should be aware of, I encourage you to contact me directly.

I want to thank you for the time that you have taken to contribute in the past and I am looking forward to your continued contributions to the sport of Geocaching.

The Seanachai
Geocaching.com Volunteer Cache Reviewer

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Hidden : 7/20/2006
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:



Discover a tree that's out of this world!

Your journey begins at the posted coordinates, on the grounds of the Holliston Police Department on Route 16. If you look to the right of the building, you'll notice a modest looking sycamore tree surrounded by a chain link fence.

**NOTE: The Police Department has been relocated to Linden Street until 2008-2009.

HISTORY
Each astronaut on the Apollo 14 mission was permitted to bring a dozen personal items, with a maximum weight of 1.5 pounds. Astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former "smokejumper" firefighter with an interest in forestry, carried special items, which live to this day. "When Roosa blasted off on Jan. 31, 1971, he took a six-inch metal cylinder containing seeds from redwood, loblolly pine, sycamore, Douglas fir and sweet gum trees. According to mission records, the seeds orbited the moon 34 times."

The sycamore found at the coordinates above was grown from one of those seeds. In an offbeat sidenote, the personal items of Roosa's crewmate, Alan Shepard, included a golf club and balls, which Shepard used to hit the longest six-iron shot ever.

PARKING
Park on Washington Street across from and north of the Police Station, or park in the Holliston Historical Society parking lot near the white barn, or park at the Holliston Police Department.

FIND THE CACHE CONTAINER
Observe the moon tree and determine the following:

A = Number of oval brass tags on the tree
B = Number of green rectangular signs within five feet of tree

The one-gallon rubbermaid jar (4" diam. opening) is at:

N42°12.4A0
W71°25.8B3

NOTE: The Moon Tree is currently off limits because of construction. A = 0; B = 1.

Round trip to final container and back is roughly one-half mile. From the Moon Tree, cross the street and walk 40-50 yards north. The trailhead is on Washington Street, near the barn next to the Holliston Historical Society. Look for the green sign. In fact, the trail map posted above shows the Historical Society driveway as the parking area for this conservation land.

TRADE ITEMS
If possible, leave trade items with a space theme. Please, no golf balls.

LINKS
"Wired" news article
An in depth description of the Apollo 14 mission (no mention of tree seeds)
Video of Alan Shepard's lunar golf swing (1:14)
Video of blast off from the moon (with Roosa's voice)(0:57)
Video of LCM "doing a loop" (0:45)
Waymark for Holliston, MA Moon Tree

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[SPOILER. Now where's the challenge in that? Urer V fgbbq, Ohg gura V sryy. Ybbx gra srrg jrfg naq lbh'yy qb jryy. ]

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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