Background
This is another cache in my series of cryptology puzzle caches
with the goal of demystifying some of the techniques used for
solving and creating puzzle caches.
This puzzle cache is a transposition cipher called Rail
Fence. In the rail fence cipher, the plaintext is written
downwards and diagonally on successive "rails" of an imaginary
fence, then moving up when the bottom rail is reached. When the top
rail is reached, the message is written downwards again until the
whole plaintext is written out. The message is then read off in
rows.
For example, if we have 3 "rails" and a message of "THE CACHE IS
UNDER THE BIG ROCK", then the message is set-up as follows:
T . . . A . . . I . . . D . . . H
. . . G . . . K
. H . C . C . E . S . N . E . T . E . I . R . C .
. . E . . . H . . . U . . . R . . . B . . . O . .
The three rows are read off one by one and grouped in any order.
In this example, I grouped them in three groups -- each grouping
depicts a rail -- which makes this puzzle easier to solve.
| TAIDHGK HCCESNETEIRC EHURBO |
I could have grouped the letters in groups of four which would
make the cipher a little bit more difficult to solve because the
number of rails wouldn't be as straightforward:
| TAID HGKH CCES NETE IRCE HURB O |
Transposition ciphers like this one are easily decrypted as the
number of keys (i.e., the number of rails) is usually between three
and seven so that different solutions can be quickly tried and
deciphered.
Puzzle
Decipher the following rail fence cipher to obtain the
coordinates to where the cache is hidden. Good luck and have
fun!
| North
Coordinates
NRFFZNS. FUTOIEOREOIEI. OWVURNX |
| West
Coordinates
WERVNUOR SVNEOIEIEORWFU EZFNFTO |
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
Cache
The cache is a 6" x 8" clear plastic lock 'n lock located in the
John D. Eaton State Forest in East Kingston, NH. The hike into the
cache is along a logging road in the Eaton State Forest which is
located next to the Hog Hill Swamp area.