New to the nps cache series by nsearls25, or want to learn more about it (including the history, and the best way to plan to find all the puzzles)? Visit GCA0X01 nps - information cache!
This is a puzzle geocache. There is no container or relevant information at the posted coordinates.
The United States has 63 National Parks. All of these parks have different beauty between each other. The oldest is Yellowstone (1872), and the newest is New River Gorge (2020). Each National Park has a 4 digit “Alpha Code.” The Alpha codes are made up of the first four letters of the park name. But if the park has more than one word, it takes the first two letters of the first two words. But there are some exceptions.
Examples:
1 word: Yosemite - yose
2 word: Petrified Forest - pefo
2+ word: Black Canyon of the Gunnison - blca
Exception: Carlsbad Caverns - cave
I will hide a geocache to honor all of these parks. I will do 6 groups of 10 caches. Each of these are a puzzle with 6 questions.
I used Wikipedia for this information. Also say in your log if you have been to this park. If you have, please post pictures.
FTF Prize:
This is 1 of 8 caches in nsearls25's nps series that were given away as FTF prizes at KCSearcher's GC8M906 - CCE: DeLorme Challenges + State County Challenges event. For those attendees that received this as a prize, they had an 8 day head start on those that didn’t attend the event. The prize winners were instructed to sign the log in the “Pre-Publication FTFer(s)” space.
However, for the FTF Hounds that were not able to attend, they too had the opportunity to be FTF on this cache after publication that was targeted for Sunday, November 6, 2022 @ or around 8:00 AM Pacific Time. All they had to do is find the cache and be first to sign in the “Post-Publication FTFer(s)” space on the log.
Thanks CarlottaP for helping check the puzzles.
The final container is at: N 37° 58.ABC W 122° 06.DEF
A. Zion Canyon is the main feature of the park, with the canyon being about 15 miles long, and up to 2,A40 feet deep, with large red sandstone walls.
B. The hike to the top of Angel's Landing follows the ridgeline up to the top, with the last half mile being very steep and requiring chains to hold on to. Some consider it the hardest hike in the park (I've hiked both Angel's Landing, and Half Dome in Yosemite, and Half Dome is way harder than Angel's Landing). The trail to Angel's Landing was first built in B926.
C. Kolob Arch, located in Zion National Park, requires a 14 mile round trip hike to see the 6th longest arch in the world at C87.4 ± 2 feet (there are different ways to measure arches, so it varies slightly on how it is measured).
D. One of the most popular trails in Zion is The Narrows hike, a slot canyon in which the river is the trail. Hiking up into The Narrows from the Temple of Sinawava is popular in summer, but hiking beyond Big Springs requires a permit. The entire Narrows from Chamberlain's Ranch is a 1D-mile one way trip that typically takes 12 hours of strenuous hiking
E. In 19E9, President William Howard Taft named the area Mukuntuweap National Monument in order to protect the canyon. In 1918, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service, Horace Albright, drafted a proposal to enlarge the existing monument and change the park's name to Zion National Monument, Zion being a term used by the Mormons. According to historian Hal Rothman: "The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience."
F. Work on the Zion Mount Carmel Highway started in 1927 to enable reliable access between Springdale and the east side of the park. The road opened in 1930 and park visit and travel in the area greatly increased. The most famous feature of the Zion – Mount Carmel Highway is its X.1 mile tunnel, which has Y large windows cut through the massive sandstone cliff. X+Y=F
Congrats to RV CREW and dkata for the Pre-FTF!
and Congrats to SweetDuo for the Post-FTF!
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.