Yes, its another Traveler's Challenge cache, even if the title doesn't state so. The concept should be simple and straight forward - to complete this challenge, you must log a minimum of one find in thirty (30) different degrees of longitude. What? You are a geocacher and still don't know what longitude is? Copied straight out of Wikipedia, longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. Points with the same longitude lie in lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole. By convention, one of these, the Prime Meridian, which passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England, was intended to establish the position of zero degrees longitude. The longitude of other places was to be measured as the angle east or west from the Prime Meridian, ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. Specifically, it is the angle between a plane containing the Prime Meridian and a plane containing the North Pole, South Pole and the location in question. There's your science lesson of the day!
Big Things
- Previous finds do count. Previous finds that have been archived count as well.
- Any geocache ever listed on geocaching.com is eligible.
- The GPS coordinates shall be listed in Degrees and Minutes. Coordinates in UTM format or the British Grid, or any other format outside of Degrees and Minutes shall not apply.
Logging
Certify your find by listing your thirty (30) qualifying degrees of longitude finds any way you wish as long as its clear you have thirty (30) different degrees of longitude covered. If you choose to make a bookmark list for this challenge, it would be helpful if you could list the degree of longitude in the comments section (but not required) and keep it active for three months after you log the find. Here's to show how I qualified myself:
Frequently Asked Questions
- "Why 30 degrees for this Platinum Challenge, but only 15 degrees for the Latitude Platinum Challenge?" Because it was my choice. Plus, depending how you look at the United States with or without Alaska & Hawaii, there are roughly twice as many degrees of longitude as there are latitude as options if you never leave U.S. soil.
Some Last Words
The hide itself is more of a 1.5/1.5 type rating. The posted rating reflects what I believe are the efforts to complete this challenge. The goal of the challenge is to have fun and try something challenging. Please keep the spirit of the challenge in mind as you seek to qualify. Good luck!
The Hide
Oh yes, you want the coordinates for the final location, right? Well, then set your GPS to N 45° 05.248 W 093° 32.131 .