Geocache Fanatic » geocache puzzle

Tucson EarthCache – Making you Work for it!

lucy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:11:08 +0000

Earthcaches are geocaches that teach you about geology in the points of interest that you visit around you.

When in Tucson, I went to the “Leaning Towers of … Arizona” Earth cache which shows you the pinnacles that have been formed over millions of years from different types of minerals and the natural elements of water and wind.

To log the cache – you needed to ‘measure the verticality’ of the pinnacles. What does that mean? Not quite sure….but then the geocacher required you to make a plumb line….what? Here’s the description given…

So I rummaged the tourist backpack and came up with…a carbinger clip, a hairband, and a bottle of water….and put together this below….quite proud of myself – this Earth Cache made me work for it!

This geocache blog post is about finding an EarthCache geocache whilst in Tucson for a geocaching vacation

Interested in knowing more about EarthCache geocaches? This blog entry talks about the certificate levels and this is an example of an Earthcache in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Puzzle of the Week #2 – Kings & Queens of England – Mary I

lucy — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:02:54 +0000

Adding the second puzzle to the 4 week series I’m setting. This one is easy and can be done at the location.
The 4th cache will be based on the prior 3 and blog posts here…

Disclaimer: All caches will be located in Southern California

Puzzle #1 Blog Entry Geocache – Kings & Queens of England – GC1PZ7D

Puzzle #2 Geocache – Kings & Queens Of England - GC1QPYF

Queen Mary I of England

MARY I (Bloody Mary) 1553 – 1558
Daughter of HENRY VIII and Catherine of Aragon. A devout Catholic, she married Philip of Spain. Mary attempted to enforce the wholesale conversion of England to Catholicism. She carried this out with the utmost severity. The Protestant bishops, Latimer, Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer were among those burnt at the stake. The place, in Broad Street Oxford, is marked by a bronze cross. The country was plunged into a bitter blood bath, which is why she is remembered as Bloody Mary. She died in 1558 at Lambeth Palace.

Use these clues for the coordinates:
1. Mary was born in “ABCD”
2. Daughter of Henry “E”

Final Coordinates are:
N D2 C4.EAB
W AA7 AD.67E

Cache is a small camo’d sized container hidden a few feet off the path. Room for small trade items and travel bugs. BYOP.
FTF is $1 – spend wisely…

This geocache blog post focuses on a Geocache Puzzle of the Week #2 – Kings & Queens of England – Mary I

Puzzle of the Week #1 – Kings and Queens of England

lucy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:16:10 +0000

I am still on the learning trail of Puzzle Geocaches. Some can be quick and easy, whilst others are rock hard!!
So putting out a series of blog posts highlighting Geocache Puzzles – solve the series highlighted in the blog posts…..and I’ll publish a new cache at the end.

Disclaimer: All caches will be located in Southern California

Puzzle #1 – Kings & Queens of England – GC1PZ7D

Puzzle Details from Geocache Site

A puzzle cache to celebrate the monarchy of our homeland – England. Should not be too hard to find the answers, but likely not when you are out in the field.

1. Number of wives that King Henry VIII had = A
2. Month that Harold II died =X? B=X-3
3. Queen Elizabeth I almost died of smallpox in 156Y. C=Y+1
4. How many children did Queen Victoria have = Z? D = Z-3

Cache is locate at coordinates:
N 32 54.AB1
W 117 13.CD1

Cache is a micro cache with room for a log only. Bring your own pen.
Congrats to PQGeoTrekkers for FTF

Puzzled by Puzzle GeoCaches?

lucy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:32:19 +0000

Are you puzzled by geocache puzzles? This geocache blog post has some great tips, tricks, and links to helpful sites…so you can claim a few more geocache hides.

Solving Puzzle Caches: Codes

Good overview, examples, and links for resources and help (including code breakers). Examples include Morse Code, Roman Numerals, Binary, Octal…

Picture from Wikipedia: Morse Code

Solving Puzzle Caches: Ciphers
Good overview, examples, and links for resources and help (including code breakers). Examples include Caesar Cipher, Monoalphabetic, Keyword, PigPen…

Picture from Cipher link above

Geocache Puzzle Solving 101 This link gets you to the Blog story and Geocache Links to a Geocache series with 10 steps – going through the various types of puzzles – strategy, tactics, trivia, wordplay, mathematics, logic, cryptography, steganography and lateral thinking.
The caches are in Florida – but there is a Virtual TB link to take the test and get a certificate! Cool!

Can’t avoid the Puzzle Geocaches anymore…

lucy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:23:53 +0000

I admit it. I have tended to avoid Puzzle geocaches. Why?

They take more time to prepare…you can’t just dash and cache

You have to solve a puzzle…and there are some really hard ones out there

Now that I’ve found nearly 300 caches though, it’s time to start getting some variety. So I loaded up the geocaches in my area and focused on the puzzle geocaches. Went out and found 15 today – so really chuffed with myself now!

This geocache blog post shows an example of one of the geocache puzzles I found, an Alpha – Numeric style puzzle.

Description – “Ask Your Parents” Geocache (2.5 difficulty rating out of 5)

The puzzle is a standard cryptarithm following the standard conventions of the puzzle: Each letter stands for exactly one digit. Each digit is represented by exactly one letter. (That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the letters and digits.) Please don’t try to make up awkward conditions, because there aren’t any.
The two equations are sums. They are taken together. That is the letters in the first stand for the same digits in the second. You will need to solve both sums simultaneously. The solution is unique.

Sample Puzzle Geocache

The alpha characters are then substituted in a GPS coordinates function (not included here)

The answer will be posted in the comments section…