GC69BZH Arboreal Arithmetic
Type: Mystery | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: -E T- @ | Hide Date: 01/29/2016 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 10.729 W105° 07.241 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                 

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A short 4 stage (including the final) field puzzle for those who like puzzles and trees. 

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Welcome to Arboreal Arithmetic. Or perhaps I should have called it Simian Subtraction. This cache is not for everyone. Please consider the attributes before attempting. Teamwork may not be required for everyone but will be necessary for some. Tree climbing IS required however, but my 9 year old daughter managed to safely locate the clues once I gave her a boost. Do not attempt if you're not comfortable with heights.

Stage 1 is NOT at the posted coordinates. You'll have to decode the coordinates using a fairly simple code. According to my code the posted coordinates can be represented as:
NEA KHCJ WKF HYB
Now, for example, if you subtract the 'letters' DNF from each side you would get NEA HFJE WKF EKG like this:

NEA KHCJ WKF HYB
-         DNF -       DNF
---------------------------
NEA HFJE WKF EKG

Or to write it differently:
NEA HFJE WKF EKG = NEA KHCJ WKF HYB minus DNF.

Got it? Now decipher the coordinates for Stage 1 by subtracting the'letters' FTF from each side of these coded coordinates like this:
Stage 1 = NEA PIGE WKF MEFG minus FTF

You can check your answers for Stage 1 on GeoChecker.com.

Once you've got the correct coordinates for Stage 1, you may want to make a key to more easily decipher the other stages. Make sure to bring some paper and a writing implement for the decoding and arithmetic on the subsequent stages and be alert for flying disc golf discs. :-)

Somewhere above Stage 1 you will find a tiny 3 letter code. You may want to bring your reading glasses or a magnifying glass (especially if you need reading glasses). Once you have the 3 letter code, subtract it from each side of these coded coordinates to get the coordinates for Stage 2 like this:
Stage 2 = NEA DSDJ WKF CIFV minus (the code from Stage 1)

Locate the 3 letter code at Stage 2 and subtract it from each side of these coded coordinates to get the coordinates for Stage 3 like this:
Stage 3 = NEA DRGJ WKF CIDDF minus (the code from Stage 2)

Locate the 3 letter code at Stage 3 and subtract it from each side of these coded coordinates to get the coordinates for the Final like this:
Final = NEA BKCG WKF HEGH minus (the code from Stage 3)

If you have a smart phone you may check your answer for the Final onGeoCheck.org.

Congratulations to sleuthers for being FTF almost 3 months after it published.

Additional Waypoints

04/13/2019 By Ahli
Tftc!

03/23/2019 By noslekrot
And we’ll favorite this one too! Very nice! Thx ET!

03/23/2019 By noslekrot
Wow! An odyssey! Thx for a fun trek...final was hardest stage of all and after all that climbing that’s saying something! I’d consider raising the difficulty level. Anyway, son Adam made the final find—not sure I would have. #685 for team Torkelson, first in Longmont. SL, left bouncy ball, cache is in great shape! Tftc!

01/27/2019 By -E T-
The cache and all stages are definitely still there. I checked the same day as the DNF log and messaged the cacher. Hopefully no one was deterred. Perhaps climbing higher is required. The clue for the next stage is small but should be quite noticeable.

10/07/2018 By peace love pi
Booooo! This is my all time favorite type of caching - puzzles combined with tree climbing. lasouthpaw and I climbed the heck out of the tree at GZ, but we couldn't spot the clue to the puzzle. We sent a SOS to the CO and scouted the nearby trees while we waited for help, but none was forthcoming so after about 30 minutes we decided to go swing on the playground. I found some other climeable trees so I'm thinking I'll head back on a sunny day and see if I can find another tree with a clue. Since it's been so long since anyone found this it's hard to tell if it's missing, hard to see, or even if it's been pruned away over the last year-and-a-half. Too bad! This seemed like a fantastic puzzle!

03/12/2017 By Denali41
icezebra11's Found it log reports the fun we had on this nice sequence. He did the work of setting up the format for quickly calculating the stage coordinates, before we left our homes. So at every field stop he had the new coordinates in hand in a jiffy. Thanks for an interesting set of climbs, -E T-

03/12/2017 By icezebra11
Denali41 and I drove down from Wellington and Loveland today to find some quality Longmont caches and this one was on the list. Stages 1 and 3 were found fairly quickly but Stage 2 took some searching. But with the code from Stage 3 we were off to the final. When we arrived at the final location we were concerned due to the fairly recent "arboreal" work that the final might be missing. But we commenced searching and it wasn't too long before Denali41 said "got it." We signed the log as just the 4th and 5th finders of this nice cache. Really surprising it hasn't seen more activity! It's a really well done urban cache that more people should try. Thanks -E T-!!!

08/13/2016 By laru1036
Great cache! Found with keenemmitt. One of our favorites!

08/13/2016 By keenemmitt
Awesome! Enjoyed the climbing and the puzzle. TFTC!