Solving Puzzle Caches

[+Osceola]

I've only done a few puzzle caches to date. Some of the puzzle caches created are fun to solve, but I just have had little experience with them. Are there a few clues out there and/or references that would be helpful in solving these puzzle caches? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[+Miragee]

Check out this Puzzle Cache for some ideas.

[+wordnerd]

Okay, what about Google Earth puzzles? I've tried about 4 of them last week and all I got was frustrated. I can't seem to navigate GE the way the puzzle indicates -- i.e. "go 4 miles due east." How do you "go" a certain about of miles? How do you "go down to 500 feet elevation"? Sometimes I can't zoom that close because GE won't zoom any farther. Been using GE for a couple of years now, but only now realizing that I don't know all the features.

[+TrailGators]

Okay, what about Google Earth puzzles? I've tried about 4 of them last week and all I got was frustrated. I can't seem to navigate GE the way the puzzle indicates -- i.e. "go 4 miles due east." How do you "go" a certain about of miles? How do you "go down to 500 feet elevation"? Sometimes I can't zoom that close because GE won't zoom any farther. Been using GE for a couple of years now, but only now realizing that I don't know all the features.

So you have a GC number? I haven't seen one of those yet...

[+wordnerd]

Okay, what about Google Earth puzzles? I've tried about 4 of them last week and all I got was frustrated. I can't seem to navigate GE the way the puzzle indicates -- i.e. "go 4 miles due east." How do you "go" a certain about of miles? How do you "go down to 500 feet elevation"? Sometimes I can't zoom that close because GE won't zoom any farther. Been using GE for a couple of years now, but only now realizing that I don't know all the features.

So you have a GC number? I haven't seen one of those yet...

 

Try this one for a good example. I gave up after not understanding C, D, and E. But many other people have done it easily so it must be something I don't know about Google Earth. There are a dozen of these in my area. They look like fun if I can figure out how to do it.

 

.

[+TrailGators]

Okay, what about Google Earth puzzles? I've tried about 4 of them last week and all I got was frustrated. I can't seem to navigate GE the way the puzzle indicates -- i.e. "go 4 miles due east." How do you "go" a certain about of miles? How do you "go down to 500 feet elevation"? Sometimes I can't zoom that close because GE won't zoom any farther. Been using GE for a couple of years now, but only now realizing that I don't know all the features.

So you have a GC number? I haven't seen one of those yet...

 

Try this one for a good example. I gave up after not understanding C, D, and E. But many other people have done it easily so it must be something I don't know about Google Earth. There are a dozen of these in my area. They look like fun if I can figure out how to do it.

You can cut and paste the coords rights in Google Maps. The coords are in DMS (N34 33 57 W84 14 31). Then you can switch to Satellite or Hybrid view and zoom in to see what the cache page is asking. This is a cool idea! Edited July 15, 2007 by TrailGators

[+wordnerd]

 

You can cut and paste the coords rights in Google Maps. The coords are in DMS (N34 33 57 W84 14 31). Then you can switch to Satellite or Hybrid view and zoom in to see what the cache page is asking. This is a cool idea!

 

You just proved my point about how difficult these are. Your coords would land me in Georgia. Should be Texas. The first N digits would be 32 and the first W digits would be 097. I mean, kudos to the cache owners who come up with these puzzles, because they make you work for them. But I wish there was a link to a Google Earth tutorial or something along with the puzzle.

[+TrailGators]

 

You can cut and paste the coords rights in Google Maps. The coords are in DMS (N34 33 57 W84 14 31). Then you can switch to Satellite or Hybrid view and zoom in to see what the cache page is asking. This is a cool idea!

 

You just proved my point about how difficult these are. Your coords would land me in Georgia. Should be Texas. The first N digits would be 32 and the first W digits would be 097. I mean, kudos to the cache owners who come up with these puzzles, because they make you work for them. But I wish there was a link to a Google Earth tutorial or something along with the puzzle.

 

Not true. I used the coords given in B and they are in Georgia on the AT. Just use the coords as given. You will need to get rid of the space between N and 34 and W and 84, but Google Maps works perfectly.

[+ve1bvd]

 

You can cut and paste the coords right in Google Maps. The coords are in DMS (N34 33 57 W84 14 31). Then you can switch to Satellite or Hybrid view and zoom in to see what the cache page is asking. This is a cool idea!

 

You just proved my point about how difficult these are. Your coords would land me in Georgia. Should be Texas. The first N digits would be 32 and the first W digits would be 097. I mean, kudos to the cache owners who come up with these puzzles, because they make you work for them. But I wish there was a link to a Google Earth tutorial or something along with the puzzle.

 

To quote Col. Potter of "M*A*S*H*" fame, "HORSE HOCKEY!!"

 

The coords given by Trailgator are just an example of the DMS output of Google Earth. However, if you cut and paste the DD MM.mmm from the puzzle, GE is perfectly capable of translating them, and putting you in the right place. TG's coords are in Georgia; you're right, but if you solve the puzzle, you'll end up in Texas, as you're supposed to.

 

I sat down and did this whole puzzle in about 20 minutes this morning. You 'go' a certain distance by using the ruler function in the toolbar. Click once on the given coords, then move in the appropriate direction--you do know which way 'due east' is, don't you--watching the readout in the ruler dialog box. when it reaches the given distance, click again.

 

As to zooming down to a given elevation, I'm not so sure. I just zoom in until I can see the required detail--doesn't matter to me whether it's 500m or 1500m; if I can see what's needed, that's fine.

 

Try it again, Wordnerd. It really isnt all that hard.

 

Phil/ve1bvd

[+wordnerd]

Not true. I used the coords given in B and they are in Georgia on the AT. Just use the coords as given. You will need to get rid of the space between N and 34 and W and 84, but Google Maps works perfectly.

 

Oh I see. So you are saying that Google Maps would give you a better view than Google Earth? But there is one question (C or D) where it tells you to move a certain distance from the given coordinates, in a specific direction, descend to a specific altitude, and determine how many roads are in that view. If I don't know how to navigate in miles and altitude, I don't know what "view" they are talking about. Some of them, like B or like the one with the airport runway numbers, are easy to figure out. But those questions that make you follow very close details, are complicated.

 

Unless you're just supposed to add or subtract numbers to the coordinates to get to the location. I've just been scrolling back and forth.

[+TrailGators]

Not true. I used the coords given in B and they are in Georgia on the AT. Just use the coords as given. You will need to get rid of the space between N and 34 and W and 84, but Google Maps works perfectly.

Oh I see. So you are saying that Google Maps would give you a better view than Google Earth? But there is one question (C or D) where it tells you to move a certain distance from the given coordinates, in a specific direction, descend to a specific altitude, and determine how many roads are in that view. If I don't know how to navigate in miles and altitude, I don't know what "view" they are talking about. Some of them, like B or like the one with the airport runway numbers, are easy to figure out. But those questions that make you follow very close details, are complicated.

 

Unless you're just supposed to add or subtract numbers to the coordinates to get to the location. I've just been scrolling back and forth.

 

I'm not saying Google Maps is better than Google Earth, but it works fine. You can convert distance into coords. Each .001 minute is equal to 6 feet. If you need to move more north or more west then add 0.001 to the coords you started with. If you need to move more south or more east then subtract 0.001 from the coords you started with. To convert seconds to fractional minutes divide them by 60.

[68-eldo]

 

You can cut and paste the coords rights in Google Maps. The coords are in DMS (N34 33 57 W84 14 31). Then you can switch to Satellite or Hybrid view and zoom in to see what the cache page is asking. This is a cool idea!

 

You just proved my point about how difficult these are. Your coords would land me in Georgia. Should be Texas. The first N digits would be 32 and the first W digits would be 097. I mean, kudos to the cache owners who come up with these puzzles, because they make you work for them. But I wish there was a link to a Google Earth tutorial or something along with the puzzle.

 

I wouldn’t worry too much about the altitude. It does not work the way I think it should. More important is to use the measure tool. Copy and paste the coordinates in parentheses into Google Earth, click go. Use the measure tool to measure from the coordinates in the direction specified. Look in the area of the measurement for the specified clue.

 

This is the first time I’ve seen this type of puzzle cache. Pretty cool.

[+wordnerd]

 

--you do know which way 'due east' is, don't you

 

Hey hey now...be nice. Yes, I know due east.

 

I went back and finally got the numbers. Originally, I had tried the ruler, but the problem was that I was using the mouse to scroll over. Once the cursor hit the end of the page, I couldn't go any further. Figured out that I could hit the arrow keys to go further (duh).

 

I still had some trouble with a couple of them, particularly because of elevations I could not get to or not knowing exactly where to start when moving east or south or whatever. So there were times I had to guess if I was within the right view. Had trouble with the "how many roads" and "how many islands" questions and in the end had to look at the local GE map to see if the final destination was reasonable. Then I had to tweak a couple of numbers to make it go to where I thought the cache was. It took me about a half an hour before the verification checker accepted my coordinates. Now I've got to go get the cache.

 

I agree that these types of puzzle caches are cool. And now I am happy I can finally do them. I went back and did two more (much easier) and got to visit some neat places. Thanks for all your help. I'm sure it gave some people good ideas for puzzle caches of their own.

 

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[Jackmerlin1]

have a chain reaction thats what i do in hiding them

and there multi caches lol

 

jackmerlin1

Edited July 16, 2007 by Jackmerlin1