one in a million Mystery Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
the cache is not at the posted coordinates.
the cache can be found at N 37 59.ABC W 122 30.XYZ .
sometimes putting out a cache is as simple as just taking a walk in the woods and dropping a container in some little corner along the way. this cache is somewhat like that, only it required a great deal more effort to place. let me explain.
i decided to place a cache somewhere within the N 37 59.ABC W 122 30.XYZ domain. to do this right, i thought i'd better check out each of the possible (ABC, XYZ) hiding locations with my trusty gpsr. how many could there be?? i started at (ABC, XYZ) = (000, 000). i made notes so that i could evaluate all the possibilities later and choose the best hiding spot that i had found. this location was denoted as N = 1. i took about two steps north -- or was it west, i can't seem to remember (i must have had a slight bout of temporary dyslexia). one of the coordinates still read 000, the other read 001. i looked around, made some notes (this was N = 2). i took a couple more steps in the same direction until the gpsr read (000, 002) -- or was it (002, 000)? made some more notes (N = 3). i kept doing this until i got to N = 1000, stopping at each location long enough to look around and take notes. i then turned 90 degrees and continued walking in a straight line (N = 1001, 1002, etc.), keeping the other coordinate constant this time, and taking notes at each incremental digit of the gps. when i reached (999, 999) on the gpsr, i again turned right and kept at it, finally making a third turn when one of the coordinates read 000, and headed back towards my starting point. when i got to within a couple steps of the starting location, i turned for the fourth time (my turns were always in the same direction), checking out each of the new possibilities as i walked. this sure looked familiar -- i was now walking parallel to, and just a few feet away from, the first path i took when i started out. this time i didn't have to walk quite as far, since i had already covered the very last location in this direction, before turning again. i continued exploring all the hide possibilities within the domain like this for a very long time, walking more than a thousand miles in all, until i eventually reached N = 1,000,000. at that last location (very close to the posted coordinates), one coordinate of my gpsr read 499, the other read 500.
a hiding spot was selected from all the possibilities that i had checked out. a small cache container was hidden there. then something terrible happened. i lost all my notes. the only thing i have left are the locations of a few existing caches that i had visited on my way. for example there was an existing cache at N = 82,628 and another at N = 365,512. i also have the location of the cache that i hid. it can be found at N = 679,386. there were a few more existing caches in the domain before i was done spiraling inward, the last being close to the end at N = 984,939.
[UPDATE Feb 2013: the existing cache at N = 365,512 has been archived. two additional existing caches can be found at N = 762,601 and N = 924,799. that should help... ]
[2nd UPDATE Dec 2016: the existing cache at N = 82,628 is still there. the caches at N = 762,601, N = 924,799, and N = 984,939 have been archived. An additional cache (that was not there when I placed my cache) can be found at N = 50,943. ]
confirm your solution: (visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
hc gur uvyy, njnl sebz gur perrxorq, ng gur onfr