GC8JRH0 20 Years of Geocaching - Letterbucket Highbrid
Type: Letterbox | Size: Other | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: NoCo EPIC Adventurers @ | Hide Date: 02/11/2020 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 25.218 W105° 17.117 | Last updated: 06/19/2022 | Fav points: 0
                   

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The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates! (but you should park nearby because it's where you will start your short hike)

This cache is placed in conjunction with a series of seven Adventure Lab experiences and six respective Bonus Caches, all created by a team of adventurous Northern Colorado geocachers. You do NOT need to find those caches to find this cache, but they are listed here because we're sure you will enjoy them.

Barasaur - 20 Years of Geocaching - Timnath Adventure and Bonus Cache GC8J6QJ

Denali41 - 20 Years of Geocaching - Tour of Old Town Fort Collins and Bonus Cache GC8JEFG

Honeybuzzed - 20 Years of Geocaching - Cache La Poudre and Bonus Cache GC8JCCK

icezebra11 - 20 Years of Geocaching - Estes Park and Bonus Cache GC8JHQB

Memfis Mafia - 20 Years of Geocaching - Loveland and Bonus Cache GC8JK12

Quinster212 - 20 Years of Geocaching - Greeley Unexpected and Bonus Cache GC8KX6Y

Waawhoo - 20 Years of Geocaching - Benson Sculpture Garden

 

On May 2, 2000, the U.S government discontinued its use of Selective Availability, which was the intentional introduction of error into the GPS signal. SA typically resulted in horizontal position errors for civilians that were 50 meters or more. With SA turned off, civilians were instantly able to pinpoint precise locations on Earth. For reasons unknown, this is often referred to as the flipping of the “Big Blue Switch”.

The next day, May 3, 2000, Geocaching was born when Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon, hid the very first "geo stash" and posted the location on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav at 45°17.460'N 122°24.800'W. Within three days, the cache had been found twice, first by Mike Teague. According to Dave Ulmer's message, this cache was a black plastic bucket that was partially buried and contained software, videos, books, money, a can of beans, and a slingshot.

In order to log this Letterbucket Highbrid cache, begin at the posted coordinates. Hike up the trail until you come upon a junction with a large sign to your left. Which way do you go? Normally I'd send you left but not this time. Look at the sign, there are two rows with eleven letters in each row. For this exercise, letters one through eleven are the top row and letters twelve through twenty-two are the bottom row. Convert letters to numbers (A=1, B=2, etc.) and do some math. Example: if x = (27th times 20) minus 31st, and the letters in those positions are Q and Z, x = 17*20 - 26 = 314.

To determine the final coordinates:

n = (1st times 3) minus 9th. Add "n" to the decimal minutes of the posted North coordinate.

w = (14th times 6) minus 22nd. Add "w" to the decimal minutes of the posted West coordinate.

Now go find the cache!!!

Note: The cache has a stamp but you'll need to bring your own ink pad. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE STAMP! And there is an un-activated coin for the FTF.

Additional Waypoints

03/01/2020 By Denali41
I was excited to read the cache description for this new Letter Box Hybrid placed on Round/Sheep Mountain! There is one other LBH cache on the mountain—it has always been special for me for obvious reasons--and now, with this one, there are two special LBHs on Round/Sheep. So this morning my puppies Orizaba and Chimborazo and I piled into the car on a mission to find this cache and then continue upward to Estes Park and go through the new 20 Years of geocaching—Estes Park Adventure Lab series by icezebra11 that was published yesterday. It was a successful day despite the chilly temperatures and snow cover. We hiked up to the “sign”, where I wrote the letters down; after I made the arithmetic computations we headed to the cache site. Oh, my…there exist a plethora of hiding spots for a cache that purposely is written to not provide any indication of size. And many of these possibilities were buried under shallow coatings of snow that covered many of the rock crannies. I set about to search all of the possibilities, and I believe I had hit on every one of the “possibles” before finally coming on the marvelous container! I will only say that it is large enough to include the small FTF geocoin left by the CO. I was especially happy to see the geocoin when I opened the lid, because its presence suggested I was the first finder. Opening the log paper confirmed this, and I was elated to sign my name on the {FTF} line! Yes, it took me a long time to locate the cache, but it was excitingly worthwhile. And I shared that time with my pups. They roamed around the vicinity of my quest, taking in the fragrances that are so pleasing and informative to dogs. They never showed boredom during my extended search.

Of course, the cache description theme is in keeping with the theme of all 35 NoCo Adventure Lab caches that had been launched yesterday at the Leap Day Event at Nordy’s--a tribute to 20 years of fun and the evolution of geocaching. I enjoyed the write-up; it reminded me of my time in Oregon years ago when I found the Unoriginal original cache and read about the creative contents that had been placed in that original one by Dave Ulmer. This LBH on Round Mountain is a nice tribute to that special caching launch that occurred 20 years ago. Thanks for your hard work on this, icezebra11! From this location I drove to Estes Park and enjoyed your five Adventure Lab caches there—again, having a 20 years of celebration theme. It would be nice if 20 years from now we can do this again. That might be a challenge for me, in view of my age, but I intend to still be caching then!

This cache deserves and gets a Favorite point.

02/29/2020 By IgnotusPeverell
Published