FTP 1 - Intro Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is not at the listed coordinates, which would be about three meters deep in Culler Lake. Read on to learn more about the Frederick Trail of Puzzles.
There are nine total caches in the series, all puzzles.
Once all the puzzles have been solved, they can be found along a cache trail that is less than two miles long (though, not necessarily in the same order).
The caches are in the vicinity of connecting trails that run through four parks in downtown Frederick: Baker Park, Memorial Park, Mullinix Park, and Carroll Creek Linear Park. I thoroughly enjoy this area, and I hope you do too. Street parking can be found all around Baker Park.
The series offers puzzles of every difficulty rating, from easiest to hardest. For example, number seven in the series is a 
puzzle.
They are designed to be completed in order of difficulty--though of course, you can do whatever you want. If you want to figure out the last six puzzles, then go back and do the first few, that's up to you.
However, here's the thing.... Each cache contains one highly-helpful hint for the next cache in the series (the cache with the next higher difficulty). Also, once you log the previous cache(s), I (the CO) will be much more loose-lipped with my nudges, should you choose to email me for help.
The mini-challenge in the series is to try to get as far as you can before you need to make a trip out there and get the hint for the next cache. For instance, a particularly sharp solver might be able to figure out the first seven, but then get stuck, and need to go collect the finds to get a hint for the next puzzle.
The previous paragraph contains the word "seven," and so does this paragraph. How very interesting, especially considering how the number of paragraphs in this description equals the number of digits in a set of coordinates. I wonder if that's important towards getting the final coords for this first cache? I betcha it is. And, well, it's my puzzle, so, that's saying something.
The difficulty ratings for each listing pertain to the puzzle difficulty, and not necessarily the hide. Most hides are around a two, maybe a little tougher.
Hopefully, the whole hint thing will encourage cachers that don't usually do puzzles to give this a try. There's no reason that these should take you four years to solve (like some other puzzles I'm all-too-excruciatingly familiar with), since help is always just a cache away.
Each of the first eight puzzles are independent of each other. For the final puzzle, it will be very helpful to be familiar with the solutions of each of the previous puzzles.
Many hides are in areas of high muggle traffic. My goal is for zero of these containers to wander off, so, please do your best to use stealth, and log DNFs.
Good luck! How many hints will you need before you can conquer that final five-star cache? Start by solving the puzzle contained in these instructions, and see how far you can go!
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)