Cache Notes:
- This is a two part puzzle cache. The first part will test your knowledge of Houston freeways while the second part will test your math skills!
- The cache is not located at the listed coordinates.
- You are looking for a bison tube container located somewhere in downtown Houston. :)
- Be sure to bring your own pen and please replace the cache back exactly as you found it.
- Depending on the time of day, there could be many muggles around so cache with caution! :)
Intro:
Like any major city, Houston has its fair share of freeways. Everything from Interstates (10, 45, 610) to US highways (59, 90, 290) to State highways (288, 8, 225, 249, 3, 99). Not to mention numerous F.M. and County roads. We even give our freeways nicknames, making it easier to identify the direction they go or places that they go to.
Part 1:
Your first task is to look at the freeways and match them up with their nicknames from the lists below. For example, "610 would be matched up with "The Loop".
Some freeways will have more than one nickname on the list associated with it. You will want to remember those freeways and disregard the rest.
Freeways
Nicknames
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North Freeway
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The Loop
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Eastex Freeway
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Grand Parkway
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East Freeway
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Katy Freeway
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The Beltway
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Southwest Freeway
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South Freeway
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Northwest Freeway
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Gulf Freeway
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Crosby Freeway
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Pasadena Freeway
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Galveston Road
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Tomball Parkway
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Now, let's take your list and move on!
Part 2:
This is where we get into the math!
First we'll take our example freeway from before, Loop 610, which almost every major Houston freeway intersects. You will need to take your list of freeways that you kept from the previous step (the ones with more than one nickname associated with it) and find where they intersect Loop 610 at. Each one of these intersections will be a vertice, which should be in the direct center of the intersection between the two freeways. Now, play connect the dots and draw a line from vertice to vertice until you are back to where you started. You will now have a huge polygon sitting within Loop 610!
Your next task is to find the area of this polygon, in square miles. :)
Finale
Once you've found the area, round your answer up to the nearest whole number and multiply it by half the number of vertices that you had in Part 2. Now subtract that result from the last 3 numbers of the North coordinate that is listed for this cache. You will now have the final coordinates!
You can validate your puzzle solution with
GeoChecker.com.
Congrats to SunnyandSticks for being FTF!