The Olympic Sculpture Park is a relatively new addition to Seattle but it has quickly become one of our favorite places to take visitors, or spend an afternoon when it’s nice out.
Here’s a picture I took at the park at the opening weekend, January 21st, 2007:
You can find the clues in any order you like, though finding them in the order listed will be the shortest route through the park and to the cache. Not all the sculptures are included in the hunt but feel free to enjoy those as well.
A map of the park is helpful to have but not required. If the pavilion is open grab one there or you can print one ahead of time.
Please also note that the final hide becomes inaccessible during Hempfest usually held in mid August each year.
Clue 1: At the starting coordinates you should see a sign on the wall welcoming you to the park. What is the name of the parent organization of the Sculpture Park? Get the 3rd letter of the 3rd word in the organization’s name.
Clue 2: Still at the same sign, what action harms the art? Take the 3rd letter of this word.
Clue 3: Walk around the corner to the sculpture that is mounted on the wall. The artist of this sculpture is “not interested in the _____ of a rock”. What’s the first letter of this word?
Clue 4: Find the sculpture called “Wake”. How many pieces are included in this sculpture? You can get this information by viewing the sculpture from above, but we love walking among the pieces.
Clue 5: Find the sculpture whose name includes a common board game. In that board game, you start out with the most pieces of this type _ _ _ _ . What is the first letter of this word?
Clue 6: Find the Eagle. Who is the artist? What is the second letter in his last name?
Clue 7: If you walk around the Eagle, you will notice that three of the legs are held down with __ bolts. Now multiply this number by 2.
Clue 8: The fourth leg is held down with __ bolts.
One interesting factoid about this sculpture is that it was originally on the grounds of the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park.
Clue 9: Now find the sculpture where you can walk amongst the clouds. In the 4th line of the quote, the last word starts with what letter?
Clue 10: What is the 2nd digit in the year that the artist was born?
One interesting factoid about this sculpture, is that the photographs were actually taken in Miami, FL even though the title implies otherwise.
Clue 11: Now find the sculpture called Love and Loss, with the spinning neon ampersand sign. It is down at the bottom of the walking path. Stand at the “e” part of the sculpture. How many seats are there at the “e”? Multiply this number by 3.
Clue 12: Still standing at the “e”, look in the distance in the direction of the neon ampersand. (north/northwest direction) Feeling dizzy? How many spinning stars do you see? Update October 2012: Unfortunately, the Seattle PI globe is no longer spinning. There are three stars on the globe. You can see a cool picture of it here.
Clue 13: Within this sculpture is the letter “v”. What is the second letter of the object
(_ _ _ _) that the “v” is painted on?
Now solve for and head to the following coordinates:
(convert any letters from your clues to numbers using a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, …, z = 26)
N 47° 37.abc
W 122° 21.def
a = clue #6
b = clue #10 – (clue #12 * 3)
c = clue #4
d = clue #2 – clue #11
e = the first digit from clue #3 + 1
f = the first digit from clue #5
Clue 14: (at the new coordinates) You should see a phrase on the ground that has a particularly large occurrence of the letter “o” in it. How many “o”s do you see?
Clue 15: Also, at this same location, how many pipes are there in the seawall?
Keep walking down the path that you got here on. When the path splits, stay on the side closest to the water. Shortly you should come upon a sculpture titled “Adjacent, Against, Upon”. The information plaque for this sculpture is close to the path approximately in the middle of the sculpture, flush with the ground. (Update September 2014 - the plaque is at N47 37.163, W122 21.702)
Clue 16: This sculpture was commissioned as part of the __ % art fund.
Continue down the path until you reach a small stone lighthouse structure.
Clue 17: What is the second letter in the title of this structure?
Now solve for the final coordinates!
(convert any letters from your clues to numbers using a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, …, z = 26)
N 47° 37.ghi
W 122° 21.jkm
g = the first digit from clue #14
h = clue #15 + 1
i = clue #9 – clue #8 – clue #1 + 2
j = clue #17
k = clue #7
m = clue #16 * 4
Check your solution:
