Written by Night Hawk 3

This is the full Aircraft Wreck #3 story including the posts that were made to www.vigps.com by Nomaddante. I have added the stories of my trip after each of the posts that were made by Nomaddante so that this reads in a fairly accurate chronological order. I have done some editing for brevity and I’ve tried to correct spelling and grammar along the way.

It was very hard to convey all that I was up to in pay-phone calls that ranged from 3 to 10 minutes long and Nomaddante did a great jog of keeping on top of things considering the conditions. I greatly appreciate the support and effort he put into helping me complete this contest. Considering we had only met for the first time a few days before I embarked on this incredible experience he put in an outstanding effort.

Part 1: The BC Component & Introduction:

Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:41 pm
Update by Night Hawk 3

Hello all;

Just a short introduction here regarding my attempt at the Aircraft Wreck #3 contest…

Since having declared 24 hours notice of my intention to take on this challenge at approximately 23:00 on the night of Feb 25th, I have been working around the clock to track down as much information as possible before I start putting on the serious mileage.

As some of you may know, I am new to Geocaching as an activity, and so there is a [understatement] somewhat steep learning curve [/understatement] associated with taking on a challenge such as this. But I am up to the challenge (I hope), and I will pull this off if I have to go around the clock from now until the deadline 21 days from start time.

So far, in the past two weeks I have got a new gpsr to replace my 10 yr old Lowrance unit; learned what GRS80 is all about; done some projections for a couple of local caches for practice (and have been right on the mark); have taken a stab at a few more fun/interesting caches in poor conditions; discovered the great Ed Williams and his handy online calculator and… had almost no sleep.

Since this is the first night in a while that I am actually going to get to bed before 02:30 I am going to have a hot soak and then hit the sack. It’s been a grueling around-the-clock search for information on this contest, but it has paid off and I have reliable or nearby data/info for almost every point along the way. Working a full days at my job on less than 4 hours sleep per night has taken its toll.

Ok, switching off my headlamp for now,
This is Night Hawk 3 signing off.

Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:37 pm
Update by Night Hawk 3

And it begins…

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 3, I will be starting to hit the points along the route to solving Aircraft Wreck 3. I will be covering the Island first, of course, since it is technically the most challenging part of all of this. Then I will be doing the arduous stuff as I head over to the Olympic Peninsula and then south to California.

Hopefully I am on the right path, or this is going to be a very, very long and slow search. The point to locate the gravesites has been plotted and the two projections run. From these projected lines I will be doing a smart/fast ground search, and if that doesn’t dig up the details I’m looking for, then I will crawl every metre of each of my projections on my hands and knees (ok, not really!) until I unearth something that looks like it’s what I want.

The tides have cooperated nicely and there are some 0.7m tides in Cadboro Bay this week before things go back up to >1.0m. This past weekend the tide was about 1.0m and there was still a good 30 to 40 cm of water where we needed to be. The moon bomb search will be taking place very soon, keep your eyes peeled for some sleep-deprived guy haunting a beach near you very soon.

More updates to follow once I have more to report.
Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:34 pm
Update by Night Hawk 3

Recovering the “moonbomb”

Soon I’m going to be hitting the road to put on the serious mileage that this contest is going to take to complete, I thought I’d just drop in a little note about what I’ve been up to over these past few days.

On March 3rd with a little co-operation from the god of tides, and the god of magnetism we were able to locate the moon bomb located at the co-ordinate provided in the Aircraft Wreck Contest #3 information.

I hit the beach with Nomaddante, who has kindly accepted the position of “Canadian operative” while I am doing this contest. The other two Night Hawks are away while I tackling this contest, so it’s really just a solo effort in case you thought “we” were being kind of poky.

Night Hawk 1 has gone off to Japan to get married (congratulations, by the way!) and Night Hawk 2 headed up to the Yukon to throw snowballs and wander around in the cold and dark.

The gps reception on the beach was fabulous and it dropped us right on the correct point within about a meter or so. And with the tide supposedly dropping to its lowest point of 0.6m over the next hour and a half, the area that the gpsr pointed me to was scanned with the magnetic locator (aka pin detector). The pin detector confirmed that we were in the right spot, which was very nice.

With waders on, and shovel in hand, I started to dig away at the sand. With the water level at the location still on the order of about 70 cms deep, digging was a challenge. Add to that the fact that the substrate on the beach, when wet, is like trying to dig in molasses, but molasses with a sandy texture. I had originally thought that the biggest problem was going to be the sand filling in the hole as I dug, but it was more like I couldn’t even get a decent scoop of this stuff up and out of the hole. It was gooey, clingy, hard to penetrate and even harder to lift a scoop of above the water line so that I could pitch it away from where I was working.

The digging part of it ended up being very slow work. I pretty much used the shovel to dislodge a wedge of the sand and then I just reached under the water and pulled out the piece and threw it aside. The few really decent scoops that I got with the shovel were not much better since I had to resort to pulling it off the shovel by hand due to the clingy nature of it.

After scanning my hole a few times while I dug, I had to move over a few cms and resume at the edge of my hole. Each scoop worth took several minutes to actually remove from the hole. In the end the hole was about 50 cms deep and about that much around. Not too large really, but by the time I was done, my hands were frozen and my feet were going numb. Guess I should have worn some wetsuit gloves and my neoprene waders instead of my light weight one… mental note on that for next time.

Finally, the moon bomb was found and extracted from the shovel load of goopy sand. It was pretty easy to know we had the right items when we got it up. Hot pink is not hard to miss amongst dark grey sand and clam shell fragments. With a few high fives, and some “whoops” Nomaddante and I headed for shore feeling that we had done a fine job in locating this unique piece of equipment.

Just as we were finishing, a spectator arrived in the form of Yellowcode3. Not good timing for spectating since the nitty-gritty of this one was just getting wrapped up, but he did have clean and dry hands with which to take a few pictures. Thanks Yellowcode3!

The “moonbomb” located in Cadboro Bay.

Since we felt so good about our success, Nomaddante, Yellowcode3, and I made the difficult decision to celebrate this outing with sushi dinner. So, after drying off and changing clothes, we made our way to Koto at the bottom of Fort Street for some of Victoria’s tastiest sushi. The dinner was great, as always (it’s a regular haunt for me) and it was really cool to meet another cacher.

The Search for Grave Markers…

On Thursday March 4th, I booked the day off work to go and look for gravesites. I really had intended to do this last Friday evening/Saturday but when I plotted the points and did the projections with Ed Williams, I got answers that didn’t jive with what my eTrex was telling me. For one thing, the line that Ed plotted ran more along the east side of Vancouver Island, the line my gps plotted ran up the west side. This was especially frustrating for me since I lack any navigational software (at present, but I’ll solve that one soon enough) and using java-scripted calculators was pretty much all I had to go with.

So, I got home after work last Friday (Feb 27) and decided that I really needed to do as much of the research as possible before I left for this adventure. I searched high and low for other online GC calculators and tested my numbers in them. Some were way off… so bad that it would be unlikely that you could successfully navigate your way out of a tunnel, others had the distance a few kms less than Ed, but with a different course. Which to use?? I worked on this further and could not come up with anything too meaningful, and so I spent most of the weekend (I did take time to eat, walk my dog, and sleep a very little) working on this and other puzzles.

From my previous research, I had managed to locate many of the points of the contest, but a few still eluded me. With more and more reading and more and more research I was able to narrow things down with each passing hour. Soon I was pretty sure of where the Saline Valley Salt Tram interchange lay, then after a little more work I found that it was also called the Swansea Salt Tram… new search, new data… plug rough coordinates into online mapping systems… more looking, different map scales… and finally things started to appear that jived with what the historical accounts people had written. And so I nailed that one down, only a few more to go…. After many more exhaustive hours of work I finally felt I had done my best to get at least close to what I needed to have to make a real go of this. (I’m sure with the proper mapping software and databases, this would have been much easier than it turned out for me, but my example does go to show that persistence does pay off… even if it takes a while).

The only thing that really bugged me was the projection data for the two graveyards on Vancouver Island. So, I decided to go with Ed William’s values and explore the area that the data pointed me to. I plotted the points, explored different online maps (like map quest) and made the journey to where it all pointed.

After arriving at the location, a quick search turned up nothing. I checked out all the local roads, all the public areas and…. nothing! So, I decided to go to my origin point and hike the projection from the start until I hit the water again. Hours later… still nothing I burned up a whole, very long day getting no where except giving my dog a really long walk… and arrived home at almost 02:00. The only things I managed to truly confirm was that A) Ed is not so good at very long distance projections / calculations that B) the area that I visited was really cool and that I’ll be going back there the next time I’m in that neck of the woods looking for odd things like graveyards, and that C) this whole contest was going to be even more work that I had planned… yikes.

So, with some new realizations and some corrected data (I would love to know what software the Team uses, working in UTM to decimal places is kind of cool…and with accuracy) and with some new projections in hand a new search was established. Right away this one looked really good. And almost right away things started to turn in my favour. There were graveyards on the projections. There were a few names that matched the spaces on the information sheets provided by the Team… even better!! With the data in hand (and photos too!) we contacted the Team and got confirmation that things were good. Yippeeee!! Success!!

To celebrate… well, it was a little premature since Nomaddante and I were waiting for confirmation of our information from the Team; we made our way to the Galley for lunch. I had never been there before, but it seemed fitting that we should go since it’s a “good luck” kind of place, and almost every local cacher has been there. The food was really good. Very tasty, with decent portion sizes and at a good price. The atmosphere is pleasant and simple, and it’s got a good view of Shawnigan Lake. I would have to recommend it to anyone who has not been there yet

Now that the local contest data has been acquired it’s time for me to pack up and head south the good old U.S. of Eh! and wander around half-lost in the deserts of Death Valley for a couple of weeks. I got the ol’ beater all fixed up with a couple of new front wheel bearings and a new rear driveshaft (burned a whole lot of midnight oil again last night too!) and I’ve declared her fit take on the drive. So, with nearly half a million kms on the beast I’ll Death Valley bound in pretty short order!!

While I’m away, Nomaddante will be keeping this log up to date as much as possible, so stay tuned for info on all my crazy misadventures in Death Valley and beyond.

The first marker was near Mill Bay.

The other marker was north of Duncan.

Attention All Teams,
“Start Your Engines”
You are being hit with a double shot!!!

Note Changes from original text:

Question #7A – The 5 1/2 deg. is the compass bearing from the UTM determined to the sighting position that is 39.0950 meters away. (11 Mar 04) (Webmaster made an error transcribing The Team’s correction)

Question #3A – Subtract 5, then multiply by 173. (01 Mar 04)

Question #4 – There has been a change to the direction and distance. (20 Feb 04)

Question #17 – Changed to 207461 from 20741 (24 Feb 04)

X-Treme Challange Contest
(Released February, 2004)
by the X-treme gps team

Your Team or Cacher name: _______________

QUESTION #1

A) Go to 10U 364583/5486900
What object is there? _______________

B) Go to 10U 370120/5473887
Here, there’s a buried steel bar with 2 tag #’s.
What are the 2 numbers? _______/_______

C) Go to 10U 402182/5483284
What’s the GPS tag # you’ll find here? _______

D) What is the distance in kilometers between:
A) & B)____________
B) & C) ____________
A) & C) ____________

E) A), B) & C) form a triangle.
How many square kilometers are contained within it?
________________

F) What is the angle at A)? _________________________

G) What is the angle at B)? _________________________

H) What is the angle at C)? _________________________

Question #2

O.K. you laser experts – try this one!

Start at 48deg. 31.328 mins./123 deg. 25.377 mins.
Elevation here is 175 meters.
From this position, determine distances to the following objects:

A) Sight at 197deg.T to a small peaked roof on the left side of a cream colored house, that is 44 meters lower than where you are.

What is the distance to the top of this small roof? ________

B) Sight at 232deg. T, to the chimney of a black roofed house
that is 4 meters higher than where you are.
What is the distance to this chimney? ____________

C) Sight at 208deg. T to the nearest corner of a cream
colored house with a red roof. It is 58 meters lower than
where you are.
What is the distance to the nearest corner of this
house? ___________________

D) Sight at 219deg. T to an orange and white radio tower.
The center of the tower is 57 meters lower than where
you are.
What is the distance to the center of this radio
tower? _________________________

E) Look for a white topped chimney on the left side of a light
gray house. It’s at 236deg. T, and 71 meters lower than
where you are.
What is the distance to the top of the chimney? __________

F) You’ll see a windmill at 239deg. from where you are. It’s 115 meters lower.
What is the distance to the center of the windmill (i.e. the center of the vanes)? ____________________

G) Sight at 244deg. T, and fairly close by; and 94 meters
lower, you’ll notice two hydro transformers on a power pole. Sight to the nearest one. From where you are, the downward angle is 19deg.
How far is it to the nearest transformer? _______________
Guess what? Your laser can actually reach this one!!

H) Sight at 258deg. T (down 21 meters from where you are)
to the largest cluster of windows on a gray house.
How far is it to the center cluster of windows? ___________

I) Sight at 280deg. T (down -122 meters) to an old
abandoned truck in a field.
How far is it to this truck? ______________

J) Finally, sight at 296deg. T. (down 7 meters) to the nearest
corner of a cream colored house.
What is the distance to the nearest corner? _____________

QUESTION #3

The official B.C. Centrol Survey (#326) established 1965 of the
Gonzales Hill Benchmark in NAD 83 (WGS 84) is 475931.327 East and 5362316.532 North. The elevation is 66.503 meters.

A man named A.A. Sharland (an Anglican) is buried in a churchyard 3.481005 miles from this Benchmark.

We’ve unfortunately forgotten the compass bearing, but it really doesn’t matter, as we know you’ll soon be there!

A) How many years did this man live? _______________
Subtract 5 from this number, then multiply by 173. Note change – you now must subtract 5 before multiplying. 01 Mar 04)

B) What is this number? _______________

You are now going to have to find a post with bottle caps nailed to it (also a blue paint dot).
It is 325deg. 53mins. 31.8302secs. from the Sharland grave.

The distance is 201472.5344 meters, plus your answer to B) above (in meters).

By the way, when you’re there (at the post with the bottle caps – the one with blue paint dot), go 52 meters at 94deg. T, to a legal structure.
What is the GPS tag # here (check the ceiling)? __________

QUESTION #4

This will be fun! You’ll have to check this out.

Go to the Bear Hill Benchmark. We couldn’t find a trace of it, even though we were using a Trimble ProXRS and differential. The elevation is 209.885 meters, and it’s described as being on the Northeast shoulder of Bear Hill. This mysterious benchmark was supposed to be established January 1, 1964. The Tablet # is 3395.

So that you know you have the correct one, the decimal fraction of a meter in the Easting is 061, and the decimal fraction in the Northing is .982. So all you have to do is figure out the UTM.

From here, go 7825.864452 miles at 148deg. 40min. 24.6245sec. What city, or town are you closest to? (Note change to direction and distance. 20 Feb 04)

A) __________________________________

B) What country are you in? __________________________

C) From the UTM you determined above, proceed 12584.661617 Km at 322deg. 59mins. 38.5449 secs.
Where will you be standing exactly, and, what should be under your feet? _________________/___________________

D) What is the elevation of the bottom of your shoe where you are standing? _______________

E) From the position you determine for D), proceed
39.238759 Km at 005deg. 49 mins. 48.3776 secs. There you will find a man made object. Under it is a GPS tag.

F) What is the tag #? ____________________

G) What is the UTM? _____________/_________________

H) What is the tag. # at a position that is 40.191590 miles at 020degs. 45mins. 00.4807 secs. Nailed to asphalt from position G)? __________________________

I) You will have determined a UTM for H) above. From this UTM, proceed on a compass course of 183deg. 07 mins. 21.2011 secs. until you hit Vancouver Island.

Along this compass course, you will come to a set of stairs in Greater Victoria. Figure out this compass course VERY EXACTLY so that you’re in the right place! The top of the stairs will be a few meters North of where this compass bearing lies.
The stairs are in a legal area. You will not be trespassing.
How many stairs are there? _______________

A) 70
B) 71
C) 72
D) 73
E) 74
F) 75
G) 76
H) 77
I) 78
J) 79
K) 80

QUESTION #5

A) We’ve buried a steel bar at :
48deg. 28.281mins./124deg. 08.166 mins.

What is the number on this bar? _________________

B) From A) above, proceed 23.141096 miles at
109degs. 05 mins. 45.0694 secs.
You will find yourself standing on a rocky beach area.
Sight from here, way in the distance to a windmill and a house at 58deg. T.

How far is it to the nearest corner of this house? _______

QUESTION #6

Go to 10U 447424/5356035.
You’ll be standing on a rock.
From this rock, determine the following distances to:

A) The top of a green topped beacon at 339deg. T________

B) The center of the 4 triangle shaped windows on a house
At 342 deg. T ________________

C) A satellite dish at 330deg. T _______________

D) How many meters is it to the house with the triangle
windows from the beacon? ______________

E) How many meters is it to the triangle windows from
the satellite dish? ___________________

QUESTION #7

Let’s have a bit of fun, and do a little touring to exciting places!

FIRE UP THE PIN DETECTOR!

Go to 48deg. 38.413mins./123deg. 51.682 mins.

There you will find a buried steel bar (are you surprised?)
With a tag #.

A) What’s the tag number? _______________
From here, go 39.0950 meters at 5-1/2 deg. True and sight to the highest tree on a mountain top at 263 deg. T. (Note change to position for sighting. 11 Mar 04)

B) How far is it to this tree? _______________

C) You had to figure out a UTM to get to your sighting
position for the tree in B) above. From this UTM go 334deg. 22mins. 39.5579 secs. for 110.360750 miles.
You will be standing on a rock bluff.
There may even be blue paint on the rock!

In the distance, you will see a shed with an aluminum
covered roof.

1) How many meters is it to the roof? _____________

2) What is the compass bearing T to the roof? ________

You folks with lasers will be happy about this one!

QUESTION #8

Let’s start at a point ½ way between Satlam Lodge (10U 434919/5401936) & Quamichan House (10U 453209/5404407)

From the halfway point, we’d like you to go to a scenic area and perform some distance measurements!
From this halfway point, proceed 69.020188 Km at 329deg. 38 mins. 25.8943 secs.
Establish a new UTM

A) What is the UTM? ______________/________________

Now that you’ve reached this UTM, determine the following distances:

B) Sight at 54deg. T to a white sign on an island.
How far away is the sign? ________________

C) Sight at 122deg. T, to the left side dormer of a green
roofed house (it’s 86 meters higher than from where you are).
How far away is this house? ______________

D) Sight at 128deg. T to the nearest side of a white house.
It’s 181 meters in elevation above where you are.
How far is it to this house? _______________

E) Sight at 244Deg. 46mins. 08.6642 secs. (up elevation
2 degs.) for 19.440993 Km.)
What large man made object is there? _______________

F) Sight at 251deg. T to a microwave tower. Measure to the
area between the actual ‘domes’.
How far away is this? _____________________
(The dome is 278 meters higher than where you are.

G) Sight at 267deg. T to the phone number on the
bottom of a sign.

What is the phone number? ___________________

How far is it to the sign? ______________________

H) Sight to the middle window on a house with a light colored
roof at 276 deg. T
How far away is this window? ________________

QUESTION #9

We’ve buried a steel bar inside an area circled by these UTM’s.

408630/5462804

408623/5462806

408617/5462814

408622/5462818

408627/5462818

408632/5462814

What are the two numbers on this steel bar? _______/_______

If you were to go 27865.180446 yds. at 266.30614544333 degs.from this steel bar, you’d be looking at a sign.What does it say? ________________________
QUESTION #10

Break out the metal detectors! We’re going up to 10U 360309/5480822

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a motor bike with a licence plate; but maybe you prefer long distance hikes!

Go to the above UTM. It’s a buried steel bar.

A) What are the two numbers on the bar? ________/________

Now remember, for mapping detail we generally use the software in the Garmin 76S (if we use American 1:24000 topo maps we’ll let you know).

So, from the UTM above proceed 797.262196 nautical miles at 152 deg. 50.1358633 mins.
You will be at a street intersection.

B) What town will you be in? ___________________________

C) What UTM will you be at? Zone ___ ________/__________

D) What street intersection will you be at? ________&______

From the UTM you have determined in C), proceed 910.962138 miles at 338 deg. 18 mins. 07.0601 sec.

You will (or should be) by an orange plastic circle nailed to a log.

From this point, sight at 340 deg. T (and down 633 meters) to a white building at the base of a microwave tower (it’s on a downward slope from where you are, of 7 degs.)

E) How far is it to the white building? ___________________
F) Sight from the plastic circle at 340 deg. T (down 5 degs. and down 898 meters). In the distance you’ll see two freeway bridges. How far is it to the center of the most westerly freeway bridge? ____________________

QUESTION #11

REMEMBER, we use the Garmin 76S software for determining stateside positions, unless advised otherwise.
Required answers are based on this.

Start at SODAVILLE, Nevada (Sodaville is an old mining town, long since abandoned). The old Carson and Colorado narrow gauge railway used to run through here, as well as the standard gauge Tonopah railway. The former was finally abandoned in 1951, the last used section, which ran through Owens Valley, California.

What is the approximate UTM of Sodaville?
Zone _____/________________/_______________

Now proceed to to MINA, Nevada. This was a terrific old town 25 years ago, when many of the original structures were, unfortunately, demolished. Today, the Southern Pacific railway dead ends at Mina.

B) What is the UTM of the most southerly section of track
which is just south of Mina?
Zone ______/___________/___________

C) Proceed to First Avenue & Copper St. in Luning, Nevada.
What is the UTM of this intersection?
Zone _____/______________/_______________

A spherical triangle is formed joining A), B), and C).
From B), extend a line out at 248deg. 23 mins. 36.4498 sec.
so it intersects with the leg of the triangle running from A) to
C)
D) What is the distance from B) to this point of
intersection? ______________________________

E) What is the UTM at this intersection?
Zone ___/_______________/______________

QUESTION #12

You’re starting position is at Geocaching.com cache # GC6C3D.

From here, follow a bearing of 99deg. 55 mins. 41.5431 secs. until you come to a large sign.(It’s in Greater Victoria).
On this sign, in the left hand top corner, there’s a drawing of an acorn on a turquoise background.

What is the UTM of this sign? _____________________________

A) Please note: This sign is on Vancouver Island proper.
(see above)

O.K., you’ve had some exercise, and found this sign, now
let’s have a scenic visit by going 70.655086 miles at
325degs. 22 mins. 41.8270 secs. from the ‘sign’ UTM.

B) This will put you at a new UTM.
What is this UTM? ________________________________

From the UTM in B) determine the following distances:

i) Sight at 341 degs. T to a green-black-white marine
marker.
What is the distance to the marker? _________________

ii) Sight at 344 degs. T to a sign that says “Beachcomber
Marina”.
How far away is the sign? __________________________

iii) Sight at 353 degs. T to a flagphoe.
What is the distance to the flagpole? _______________

Note: Those with 1000 meter lasers can hit all of these!

QUESTION #13

Years ago the ‘team’ placed a GPS tag at 10U 367117 5494197
On July 16, 2003, the team returned to confirm it was still there (it was).
This is the same tag that the legendary cacher ‘P.J.’ found many years ago.
We talked to ‘P.J.’ the other day. He’s 29 now, and laughs when we tell him about the caches we’re doing on Vancouver Island.
“Those guys are a bunch of sissies” was his reply. “When are you going to have them going for days through the mountains with satellite phones like we did in the year 2000? Most of these guys are generally within a few miles of a decent restaurant and a motel! You’ve got to toughen them up a bit; these boys moan about kayaking through rapids – heck, we swam through them, and it wasn’t during the early Fall. Give them some sort of that Southeast Utah stuff like we did in the 90’s – these guys think Geocaching and GPS started in 2001; heck, we were doing this in Death Valley, California with first Magellan units back in 1989! Some of these guys, like Peregrine 007 have great potential. It’s interesting watching their progress”.

A) What is the tag # at the UTM mentioned above? __________

B) How far is it approximately from the UTM at A) above, to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England? ___________________

C) At what compass bearing? _____________________________

QUESTION #14

The team were very excited one day when they put out a very large cache box, then discovered, to their horror, that only a short distance away, was cache GC36EA that the legendary JRAV team had placed a year and a half ago. The JRAV cache was only 22.3703 meters at 79degs. 15mins. 53.6656secs. from the new ‘team’ cache!

The team knew that CacheAdvance would never approve this new super large cache loaded with cash and Land O Lakes chocolate cocoa! This ‘Mystery Cache’ was the X-Treme GPS Team cache #15. Information on how to get to this cache was found on a piece of paper inside the X-Treme GPS Team cache #17.

NOW IT GETS EXCITING!

From cache #15, proceed 21.221286 km. at 10degs. 06mins 55.5778 secs.

You will now be close to a large tall white tank.
Determine the exact UTM of the NNE side of this tank.
Determine the distance to the top of this tank.
Now look NNE at 62 ¼ degs. T approximately.
Follow this compass bearing to an area below a public viewpoint. There you will find a blue paint dot on a rock bluff.

What is the UTM of this paint dot? __________________________
(P.S. The blue paint dot is approx. 173 meters higher than the top of the large white tank)

Note the laser distance you require is from the top of the white tank to the blue paint dot!

QUESTION #15

Start at a point that is halfway between UTM 60U 723776E 5320656 N and UTM 01U 276224 E 5320656 N

From the UTM you determine, follow a compass course of 67degs. 31mins. 13.6217secs. until you come to a bench.
You’ll know you’re at the right bench when as you are sitting on the bench and looking out at 282degs. T, approximately 150 feet away, you’ll see a small satellite dish attached to the side of a house.
When you’re at the bench, you’ll be 67degs. 31mins. 13.6217secs. from the starting point you determined.

What is the UTM of the bench? ____________/______________
(The bench is in the Capital Regional District)

QUESTION #16

Remember, for all mapping UTMs, we base most of our questions on what is found on Garmin mapping. We specifically use a Garmin 76S for this.
This mostly applies to U.S.A. and distant B.C./Canada positions. This information is for you to keep on file.

SO HERE WE GO!

Start at the revised position of Team KFWB’s “Pride of the West” cache, located under an old 1920’s or 1930’s ruins of a car. From the ruins of the old car, and presuming FLAT WORLD, proceed 27810 meters West and 8475 meters South.
Now here comes the challenge!
Who can convert this to a Round World calculation?
You’ll know you’re at the correct position when you find a GPS tag glued to cement.
What is the tag #? ______________

FWS/CDMS might be the big ‘stars’ on this one!

Don’t email us asking how to do this!
This is yet another – ‘Team’ challenge!

Please note that just using FLAT WORLD without a correction will NOT put you in the right place!

Tell us how you solved it! (In the space below)

QUESTION #17

Proceed through the guard station just off the freeway, south of Parksville, B.C. It’s actually called the Northwest Bay gatehouse. Phone # is 1-250-468-5983. Late exit phone # is 1-250-954-4975, (but it will cost you $$$’s to get out).

By the way, if you break down, call Pete’s Towing at 1-250-287-2161(they have flat deck trucks). In Gold River the Petro Canada tow truck is at 1-250-283-7334 or 1-250-283-2464 (24 hrs.)

If you’re in a terrible jam behind a locked gate North of Parksville, call Ken Keenan at 1-250-335-2328. He’s at 7042 Old Island Hwy (beside the Tsable River). He’s the gatekeeper, and has keys for Hastings Rd. and Buckley Bay. For those of you requiring a water taxi in the Lasquitti Island area, call Milans Water Taxi at 1-250-333-8862, or cel: 1-250-954-5672. If you’re stuck on Lasquetti Island you can stay at the Old Bakery B&B, call 1-250-333-8890. It’s 1/8 of a mile from the ferry – up the main road on the left. (Don’t confuse this with the new bakery, a bit further along the road, on the right.)
Start at 10U 646344 E 5609997 N
Look for a GPS tag attached to a tree.
What is the tag #? ____________

You are to get to a GPS tag glued to a rock.
To get there using FLAT WORLD, go 190192 meters West, PLUS (in meters) the number on the tag at 10U 646344 E/5609997 N and then go 207461 meters South (presuming flat world). Note change to South distance. (24 Feb 04)

Unfortunately, we set this up using Round World, so you’re going to have to translate this into ‘Flat World’, otherwise you’ll be way out at your destination.
What is the GPS tag # at your destination? _________________

We can hear the howls, and sense the frustration!

CDMS/FWS may be quite relaxed about this, but will ZoomZoom?….or has he found magic, and possibly a degree of happiness out there?

Will Peregrine 007 head for the bridge? Or church? Is salvation at hand?

Will Marinerbc and crew invest in a snowmobile? And what about Roswell and his band of experts; will they just work all this out in their heads during a coffee break?

Better be dressed for winter! Baby, it’s cold outside!

Have fresh batteries in your Globalstar or Iridium satellite phone!

QUESTION #18

Start where Water St. joins Overland St. in Austin, Nevada.

A) What is this UTM? Zone ____/__________/__________

Now while you’re still in Austin, Nevada

B) Determine the UTM where Pine St. intersects with Paul St.
Zone ____/_______________/_______________

C) What is the distance between points A) & B)? ___________

D) What is the compass bearing (True) from A) to B) ________
(Please state degs. mins. Secs. & fractions of secs.)

E) If you were to travel 789.773022 miles at 333degs. 39
Mins. 20.0983 secs. from A) above, you would be standing
on a man made object.

Look under part of this structure. There’s a GPS tag there.

What is the tag #? __________

QUESTION #19

Start at imaginary point 10T 451300.003 E and 5280407.800 N
From here:

A) Draw a line heading out at 17degs. 06mins. 05.3268secs.

B) Draw another line heading out at 346degs. 39mins.
48.8575secs.

Extend these lines outward from 10T 451300.003 E and
5280407.800 N until the furthest points of A) & B) are
61419 meters apart.

C) Determine the UTM of the furthest extension of line A)

D) Determine the UTM of the furthest extension of line B)

E) Extend an imaginary line from C) to D) above. (i.e. the two UTM’s you determined.)

F) Now go .47820706947% of the distance from C) to D) above, to a buried steel bar.

G) The compass bearing from C) to D) is 291degs. 53mins. 06.5057secs. You must do all computations presuming Round World.

H) Having done the above, you should be standing on top of a buried steel bar.

What numbers are on this bar? ________/________

QUESTION #20

A) Determine the lat/long of the Mount Matheson
Bench Mark to 1/10,000 of a second.

B) Determine the lat/long of the Bench Mark on the
Headland East of Glencoe Cove in Greater Victoria to the nearest 1/10,000 of a second.

C) Determine the elevation of both these points.
Now that you’ve done this, answer the following:

D) What is the Delta (height) difference between these
Two Bench Marks? _______________________

E) What is the Ellipsoid distance between these 2 points in meters. _________________________

F) What is the mark to mark distance between these 2
points in meters. _________________________

QUESTION #21

Position yourself on Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States at 36degs. 34 mins. 42.89133 North and 118degs. 17mins. 31.18182 West
Ellipsoid height (GRS 80) is 4395.8320 meters.

Now position yourself at Bad Water in Death Valley, California (the lowest point in the contiguous U.S.A). at 36degs. 01mins. 37.00000 North and 116degs. 49 mins. 32.00000 West.
Ellipsoid height (GRS 80) is -101.8680 meters.

A) What is the forward Azimuth from A) to B)?
_______________________

B) What is the back Azimuth distance from B) to A)?
________________________

C) What is the Ellipsoidal distance between A) & B)?
________________________

D) What is the Delta height between A) & B)?
_________________________

E) What is the Mark to Mark distance between A) & B)?
_________________________

QUESTION #22

Cachers like laser action, but isn’t it frustrating when you can’t ‘go the distance’? The ‘team’ are more or less kind to you. We could be using the super long range laser that could determine a distance 14 kms. away (to a prism) – but this would stress the ‘team’ out, as we’d have to go to two different locations!
We might use this device in the future. We could laser to an object you can’t even see!

For the time being, we’ll be kind!

SO, put on the hiking boots, and head to 10U 453811 East and 5386336 North. Elevation is approx. 281 meters.
From this position, how far is it to:

A) The area between 2 white windows on a green shed with a
red roof at 276degs. T (down 7 degs. and 163 meters lower). ___________________________

B) What is the horizontal distance from where you are, to the
point 163 meters above the shed? _____________________

C) How far is it to the top of a flagpole at 269 degs. T (down
14degs. and 161 meters lower). _______________________

D) How far is it from where you are, to a point 161 meters
above the top of the flag pole? _____________________

E) How far is it to the center front of a lone white house on a
hill at 322 1/2 degs. T? ________________________
It’s down 2 degs. and is 124 meters lower in elevation.

QUESTION #23

Go to 11U 321525 East 5531788 North

A) Look for a GPS tag glued to rock.
What is the tag #? ____________________

B) Multiply this number by 1307.
What is this number? _________________

Now go to 11S 693848 4001720
Look for GPS tag

C) What is the tag number? ______________
Multiply this number by 127.
D) What is this number? __________________
E) How many miles are between the two positions shown
above? __________

F) Add your answers of B) & D) ________________________
Call this six digit number ‘meters’

G) Convert F) into miles. ________________________________
Now proceed 929.017346 miles, plus your answer for G) above from UTM 11S 693848 4001720 above.
What is the total distance in miles? ____________________

Follow a compass course of 334degs. 48mins. 11.3797secs. There, glued to rock, you will find a GPS tag. What is the tag #? _______________________________

From this tag, look out at 236degs. T. Look for a large sign, the lowest letter on the sign being an ‘E’.
What is the distance in meters, to this sign? ___________

QUESTION #24

Proceed to 10U 345767 East 5559954 North. There you will find 2 GPS tags glued to rock.

A) What are the tag #’s? __________/___________
B) Total these #’s ________________

Now go a point that is the number you got in B) above, call it meters directly above UTM 10U 345767/5559954. In other words, you’ll be at a point 1814 meters above UTM 10U 345767/5559954.
From this high in the sky point, on a downward slope angle of
.54449438959124degs. at 152degs. 41mins. 04.5774secs. There you will find a steel man made object, and glued to it a GPS tag.

What is the tag #? _____________

QUESTION #25

Start at 10U 397126 5446961.
There you will find (if it’s not covered in snow!), a purple triangle on a rock.
From this purple triangle, proceed 3793.0056 meters at 268degs. 55mins. 55.8146secs.
Determine what this UTM is.
From the UTM you determined, proceed 7147.8604 meters at 358degs. 53mins. 32.1479secs.
There you will find a wooden stake driven into the ground, with 2 GPS tags on it.

A) What are these tag #’s? ____________/____________
From the position of the stake proceed 82.102366 miles at 301degs. 27mins. 37.1739secs. until you come to a tree with a pink triangle marked on it, and an orange circle nailed to the front of the tree. On the back side of this tree, we’ve nailed 2 GPS tags.

B) What are these tag #’s? __________/__________

From the position of the orange circle, proceed 131.529066 miles at 123degs. 09mins. 02.0740 secs.

C) What is this UTM? _____________/________________

You’ll find yourself at a viewpoint. If it’s not buried in snow, you’ll see a blue paint dot on the rocky area where you are. BE VERY CAREFUL – it’s a LONG way down!

From this position, determine the following distances, etc.

D) How far is it to the middle window of an old church structure that is 254degs. T and down 16degs., 460 meters below you? ______________

E) What is the horizontal distance from where you are to a point 460 meters above the church window? _____________

F) How far is it to an off-white church with a brown steeple, to the area at the base of the brown steeple? _______________

The church is on a slope angle of 11degs. down from where you are and is 445 meters lower.

What is the horizontal distance from where you are to a point 445 meters above the base of the brown steeple? ________________

G) How far is it to the base of a pointed church steeple (white in color) at 288degs. T (down 9degs and 434 meters below you)? ___________

H) How far is it to the center of a white water tank at 181degs. T (down 6degs. and 412 meters below you? _____________

I) What is the horizontal distance from where you are, to a point 412 meters above the center of the white tank? _______________

QUESTION #26

Go to the official Bench Mark on top of Mount Douglas. Make sure you are at the right position, and at ground level.
The ‘team’ has used a special very long distance laser to figure out this question…

From the Mount Douglas Bench Mark (in Victoria, B.C.), sight in the far distance at 212degs. 19mins(True).
Look for a very tall object that is black, red, and white in color.
The slope angle from where you are, to the highest point of this object is .435degs. down from where you are on Mt. Douglas.

What is the slope distance from the Mt. Douglas official Bench Mark to the top of the tall object? _________________________

You should determine the exact compass declination for the Bench Mark on Mt. Douglas to figure this out, rather than just using our ‘standard 19deg. E’ declination.

QUESTION #27

Venture to 10U 474989 5412864
Look for a fir tree. On the SSW side of the tree about 6 feet above the base of the tree, you’ll find a small aluminum nail driven into the tree.

A) From this nail, sight at 193degs. T to a red and white
object at sea level.
How far away is this object? ________________

B) Sight at 231degs. T from the tree.
How far is it to the center of the roof of a house that is
painted white, and has a blue roof? __________

QUESTION #28 (worth 5 points !)

There’s a bright green stake with a GPS tag on it at Zone 11U 477844.5 East and 4097866.2 North. Elevation 4784 feet.
Please note: This is in NAD 27(conus – continental U.S.A. – not WGS 84). This applies to this position only. We determined this position with a Trimble PRO XRS and OMNISTAR SATELLITE DIFFERENTIAL. Accuracy is approximately ½ meter.

What is the GPS tag #? __________

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X-TREME CHALLENGE CACHE/CONTEST INFORMATION

1ST PRIZE = $4,000.00
2ND PRIZE = $3,000.00
3RD PRIZE = $2,000.00
4th PRIZE = $1,000.00

No other prizes will be given.

In order to qualify, you must have answered every question and be within the prescribed limits (specified below) of 80% of all questions asked.

Each correct answer is worth one point, except Question#28, which is worth five points.

We will allow an approximate 1% error rate in your answers, i.e. if a required distance is accurate at 1,000 meters, we will allow an approximate range of 990 to 1010 meters. We’ll let this percentage slip a little over shorter distances, to allow for GPS error in positioning. All compass bearings presume 19deg. East declination.

This contest must be completed by June 30th, 2004 at 6:00 PM.
In the event of a tie, or ties, (for example if one team comes in 1st, they get $4,000.00; if 3 teams tie for 2nd, then $6,000(2nd, 3rd, and 4th dollar amounts) divided by 3 = $2,000.00 is what each Team would get.

When you have completed this contest, please return this entire ‘booklet’ with your answers filled in the blanks, to either Jill or Pam at ‘The Galley’. Then please put a log on the ‘X-Treme Challenge’ cache page stating you have done this.

If you have questions, bunch them together, rather than ask individual questions, and please use UTM’s not LAT/LONGS.
Team KFWB GPS/X-Treme GPS Team may be away on ‘assignment’ for a period of time, and may not be available for a quick response.

We will give no hints. If other Teams have figured out questions, you can too!

We have the right to eliminate a question at our discretion; an example would be “if a tag had gone missing”.

You are responsible for your own safety and well being at all times.

You will require distance measuring devices, pin detectors, binoculars, GPS and navigation skills (of course!).

You MAY use ‘operatives’ for non-Vancouver Island positions!

We trust, and specify that Teams not share information with each other.

You must notify us immediately, your intention to enter into this contest, and state both your Team and player’s names.

We will require your PERSONAL email address so we can notify you at once if an error is discovered in our test, or instructions.

You may log and tell your exciting story and on the X-Treme Challenge Cache page.

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Published on vigps.com with permission of The X-Treme GPS Team

This challenge has been completed. Congratulations to Night Hawk 3!!

A new X-Treme Team contest that promises to make Aircraft Wreck #2 look like a walk in the park.

Note change from original text:

Question #1 – Distance changed to 50.7918589489532% (01 March 04)

AIRCRAFT WRECK #3 CONTEST

Brought to you by The X-Treme GPS Team, February 17, 2004

(All UTM’s in WGS 84)

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This contest will make ‘Aircraft Wreck #2’ look like a walk in the park!

Some parts of this contest are brutal, and will require REAL MEN/WOMEN to complete.

You must have a 4X4 vehicle, or be prepared for extremely long hikes.

You may run into snow and extreme weather.

You should have a Victoria operative with whom you can keep in touch.

Cellular phones won’t work at virtually all locations. You must have a satellite phone and be prepared for all eventualities.

You are responsible for your own safety and well being the entire time.

This contest will take you to Washington State, California, Nevada and B.C.

You are required to answer 10 questions in order to get to ‘Aircraft Wreck #3’.

You are required to take photos of yourself, or your team at all locations. Foreign operatives are NOT permitted to answer questions, or do the grunt work for you.

$5,000.00(Cdn.) will be paid to the first individual/team to complete this entire contest.

You must state your intention on the ‘SKIPTRACER’ cache page within 24 hrs. of your departure to begin this contest. You MUST NOT attempt any part of this contest before the 24 hr. notice has been given, except to read over these details.

You will have 21 days to complete this contest. During that time, no other individual/team will be allowed to start ( or until you post on the ‘Aircraft Wreck #3’ cache page that you have given up – in which case another team can make the attempt by stating their intention on the above mention cache page).

Any individual/team that abandons their effort cannot re-apply for a 48 hr. period after their initial efforts have been abandoned. After this 48 hr. period, they may proceed unless another individual/team has taken up the challenge.

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This contest is valid until April 21^st, 2004 at 6:00 PM. If you are the winner, please put a lively story of your adventures and all required photographs on the ‘SKIPTRACER’ cache page, so others may enjoy it!

REMEMBER – Photos required at ALL locations, so everyone can see them. At least ONE photo at each location must have you or a team mate in the photo.

CONTACT US DIRECTLY TO CONFIRM YOUR TAG #’s AND UTM’s! Your UTM’s will vary slightly from ours, and, as long as you’re reasonably close, we’ll correct yours so all the numbers work out correctly. CONFIRM THESE NUMBERS AFTER you visit the various locations and have determined tag/UTM #s.

We’ve included a form for you to fill out and put down all the answers to the various questions – to determine the Easting/Northing numbers. PRESUME ALL ANSWERS ARE IN METERS.

TOTAL the Easting/Northing #’s. DIVIDE the Easting total by 27.03611126615688. This will give you the Easting of the plane wreck. DIVIDE the Northing total by 4.453737190560838. This will give you the Northing UTM of the plane wreck.

The plane wreck is located in a canyon. The aircraft UTM may be slightly out.

DON’T RUSH INTO THIS! DO YOUR RESEARCH.

If you aren’t fully equipped and lack experience in rugged regions, DON’T EVEN ATTEMPT THIS CONTEST. You must be in excellent physical shape!

YOU WILL BE VISITING SOME VERY EXCITING LOCATIONS. Remember – if you don’t have a good high clearance ‘real’ 4X4 vehicle, don’t even think about starting this contest.

Good Luck!

The X-Treme GPS Team

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AIRCRAFT WRECK #3 CONTEST

Question #1

Follow a great circle route between 17J 792245.203 E/7158751.450 S and 49S 257630.961 E and 3875267.321 N.

Determine a position 50.7918589489532% of the distance from the 17J UTM to the 49S UTM following this great circle route. Note change to distance (01 March 04)

From the position you have determined, proceed to two (2) graveyards. One is at 100deg. 09min. 23.8479sec. from the position you determined; the other is at 103deg. 51min. 52.5817sec. Both graveyards are on Vancouver Island.

On the 100deg. 09min. 23.8479sec. bearing:

A) What year was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ born? _______

B) What year did she/he die? _________

On the 103deg. 51min. 52.5817sec. bearing:

C) What year was _ . _. _ _ _ _ _ _ born? __________

D) What year did she/he die? ____________

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Question #2

Go to 10U 477917 E / 5366846 N. Retrieve a tag attached to a pink ‘moon bomb’. What is the tag number? ____________

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Question #3

Proceed to 10T 396712/5273249.

Look for a GPS tag (approximately 6 ft.up) which is attached to the back of a vertical driftwood log, (log dug into the sand).

What is the GPS tag #? ____________

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Question #4

Go to Hall Canyon in Death Valley National Park.

What is the UTM of Charles Mansons ‘other’ cabin that you’ll find there? (determine the UTM at the front door)

Zone ______/_______________E/_______________N

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Question #5

Visit Death Valley, California. Determine the UTM of ‘Mushroom Rock’ (or what’s left of it!).

A) What is this UTM? Zone____/____________E______________N

From here proceed on a compass course of 291deg. 19min. 36.2971sec. until you reach an old cabin, known as the ‘Martin Crossing Cabin’ (named after the legendary ‘Moon’ Martin). When you arrive (after a very long journey!) determine the UTM of the cabin door.

B) What isthe UTM?

Zone______/____________E/________________N

This cabin is located in a small valley at 5107 feet elevation. You will reach it before you get to Longitude 117deg. 07min. 30sec.

This is a very long, arduous, journey. You’ll have to spend at least one night camping out.

You must be in extremely good shape, capable of hiking dozens of kilometers in rough desert terrain. You should carry at least 4 gallons of water per person, have survival gear, and carry a satellite phone with extra batteries.

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Question #6

Determine the UTM of Jean LeMoigne’s grave in Death Valley, California.

What is the UTM? Zone ______/____________E/________________N

From Jean LeMoigne’s grave proceed 54.859862 km @ 333deg. 01min. 02.8542sec.

Here you will find a bright green 2X2 in. stake driven into the ground, with a GPS tag number on it.

What is the tag #? ____________

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Question #7

Go to Saline Valley, in California.

Hike up to the major tramway interchange of this pre-WW1 salt tramline that is mostly intact, even today (the interchange is where the tramway changes direction).

Determine the UTM of this giant wooden interchange, found at approximately 3680 ft. elevation, from the middle of the structure.

What is the UTM? Zone______/____________E/______________N

Now proceed 92.982378 km. @ 135deg. 18min. 26.5678sec.

Look for a green stake with a GPS tag # on it.

What is the tag #? ____________

Don’t even attempt to do this if you don’t have a rugged 4WD vehicle.

You must have a low speed transfer case, or be prepared for a very arduous hike!

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Question #8

Visit ‘Mexican Camp’ in Death Valley National Park.

What is the approximate UTM? Zone_____/__________E/________N

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Question #9

Go East on Hwy. 168 out of Big Pine, California.

At 7557 ft. altitude you will come to a road branching off to your right.

There you will see a sign supported by two steel posts and, possibly, a GPS tag still on it.

What is the UTM of the most Northern post?

Zone _____/_______________E/________________N

From here, proceed 10.89472 km @ 39deg. 47min. 53.3119sec.

There you will find a wooden post in the ground with a GPS tag on it.

What is the tag #? ________________

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Question #10

Start at Zone11S 452477 E/4079439 N (WGS 84)

There you will find a green stake in the ground. There are two tag #’s on it.

A) What is the number on the GPS tag? ____________

B) What is the number on the red tag? ____________

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EASTINGS		NORTHINGS
Ques #1	A)__________	Ques #6	Easting ___________
	B)__________		Northing _________
	C)__________		Tag # ____________
	D)__________
Ques #2	__________	Ques #7	Easting ___________
			Northing _________
Ques #3	__________		Tag # ____________
Ques #4	Easting ___________	Ques #7	Easting ___________
	Northing __________		Northing __________
Ques #5	A) Easting _________	Ques #9	Easting __________
	A) Northing ________		Northing _________
	B) Easting _________		Tag # ____________
	B) Northing ________
		Ques #10	A) ____________
			B) ____________
TOTAL	________________________	TOTAL	________________________
	Divide by 27.03611126615688		Divide by 4.453737190560838
	_________________________		_________________________
	(Easting of aircraft wreck)		(Northing of aircraft wreck)

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Published on vigps.com with permission of The X-Treme GPS Team