GC836QY Gone to the Birds
Type: Mystery | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: MLCCrashers @ | Hide Date: 02/03/2019 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 40.894 W105° 26.735 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                 

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When someone says something has, “Gone to the Birds,” they are implying that it has become worthless. But why? This is a fun, quizzical, and quirky little mystery cache that probably won’t help make any sense out of that odd little phrase. But we’re hoping you will enjoy this mystery cache nonetheless, and we designed it in hopes that some kids will give it a whirl. Here's what you do:

1. The physical container is not at the posted coordinates, but the posted coordinates are a great place to park, and the cache isn’t too far from there. The actual coordinates can be found before you set out by completing the remaining steps below.

2. Start by finding the names of 20 different US states hidden in the word search for this puzzle (picture attached). These can be hidden horizontally, vertically, diagonally, forward or backward. Be sure to check the hint before finalizing your list of states.

3. Make a list of the official state birds for all 20 states that you found in the word search. Look this up in a birding book, Google, or any other source.

4. If any of your state birds have more than one word in their names, remove the words that act like descriptive adjectives before or after the main bird name so that each bird name has only one word. Most of these adjectives are things like colors, directions, state or city names, plants, or just plain adjectives. If the bird name is already a single word that contains an embedded adjective, do not remove the adjective. For example, "Common Loon" should be reduced to "Loon." "Western Meadowlark" should be reduced to "Meadowlark." "Purple Finch" should be reduced to "Finch." But "Bluebird" should remain "Bluebird" since it is already a single word.

5. Put the 20 unique bird names in the crossword puzzle for this puzzle (picture attached). Be strategic! For example, just because a bird’s name has 4 letters does not mean it will fit in any 4-letter space. To complete the puzzle, each bird name will fit in one and ONLY one correct place.

6. Once the crossword puzzle is complete, find the boxes that contain both a letter and a number. Replace the letter with its corresponding number in the following coordinates:

   N        C Q °  N T . Q W F’

   W  M T W °  P R . R  B  C’

Additional Waypoints

12/26/2019 By hartsdale
I had to solve this one fast this morning, because of the new ones that I was up here for.

After not finding you other one I trudged through the snow straight at this one.

Got to GZ and what a nice hide you have here!

Thanks for a fun one!

HD

12/14/2019 By GeoDog74
Finally Finally FInally! My youngest daughter and I have been working on and off this puzzle cache for some time, I figure we have more hours combined into finding this cache than any other up to now. The word search was indeed a challenge, not knowing what states to look for and we mistakenly made one state into two, (thanks to the CO and a couple helpful clues), they put us back on the right path. The crossword component was challenging as well, but didn't take as long as the word search ultimately did, and I credit her with finding most of the correct spots for the birds. Last weekend we finally broke through, and confirmed the correct coordinates but ran out of time to go grab the smiley. Today was our day, snow storm and all! We along with Geodog shorty made the easy walk in somewhat deep snow to finally discover what we've been hoping to find for a long time. I would give this cache two favorites if I could, one for the puzzles, and the other for the cool cache itself!! Thank you so much MLCCrashers for bringing us out here, and thanks for the rewarding puzzles. SL TFTC !

09/30/2019 By Buster4Cat
Brilliant! I love puzzles! And a puzzle within a puzzle? Yes please. Solved it last week and had to wait to retrieve until now. Also I learned that even if my phone has no cell service, the GPS still works, albeit slowly, as I totally bypassed the cache until it caught up to me, pointing me in the right direction. Birdy good! Fav point for sure!

09/14/2019 By WalkingDuo
I knew my neighbors wife liked solving word puzzles so I shared it with her and she found them all. I didn't. She even went further and worked on the state birds. I used her answers because I couldn't read my list. The final is just two miles from by oldest brother's home so I intended to find it with his wife and him but went for it myself when I saw the terrain. It was not all that bad but they both have knee issues. I took pictures at the final to share the creative cache with them. Favorite from me . Thanks

05/26/2019 By MtnPorgs
This was our second mystery cache and it was so fun. VERY clever - the puzzles were entertaining themselves - but what an adventure to get there. This cache has it all - a puzzle element, an educational element (learn about state birds!!), and a beautiful hike in the woods. My 8-yr old solved the word search with some help from me and we both completed the crossword puzzle together - a memorable cache indeed!!

Saw bear tracks in the snow on the way to the solved coordinates, hope he wasn't thinking about robin the cache.

04/24/2019 By Greasepot
9:08:00 AM Out with my new dog Prince Hairy and my husband Garlic. It was fun postholing through the snow. Thanks! Nice puzzle. For the puzzle, it took me quite a while of puttering around to find all the states. I got help from Garlic when I got stuck at only finding 15 . Garlic spotted the final quickly. Lovely container, I'm giving it a favorite point.

02/07/2019 By LostinDenver
Today's geo-adventure started on the west side of town and ended near my home. In the mountains it was 10 degrees with harsh winds blowing snow (and my FJ) sideways. Once back in civilization the temperature returned to a comparatively warm 14 degrees.
[FTF] on 2-07-19 at 3:13 pm. I solved this puzzle today after watching this cache linger, unfound, for a few days. Of course the day I chose to come up here was miserably cold.
I wasn't sure if this container could be found in the new snow blanketing the area. I treked to the GZ and was immediately relieved to see the container. Accompanying the cache were two TB's. I discovered one and grabbed the other. After stamping my name on the log, I returned the container and journeyed back to my Toyota. Well done theme from beginnimg to end! Tftc!

02/03/2019 By Heartland Cacher
Published