A Pirate's Loot LbNA #22358 (ARCHIVED)
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Nearby Boxes
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Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Sep 14, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Hopkinton |
| County: | Middlesex |
| State: | Massachusetts |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Planted by: | Phineas Spaulding  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | Soaring High |
| Last found: | Dec 30, 2007 |
| Status: | FFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Sep 14, 2006 |
A Different Kind of Letterbox
( 5 clues lead to 1 treasure chest with stamp, etc.)
THIS IS A SLIGHTLY MODIFIED VERSION AS OF 6/22/07
Things you should know before setting out on this hazardous, but challenging, journey:
· Time to complete: 3 – 5 hours.
· Target age group: 15 – 70.
· Degree of difficulty: 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
· Operation of a compass is essential; also, rudimentary map-reading skills.
. Pick up a map at the Park entrance or the boat dock, but be warned that it does NOT show all trails or paths. There are also a few minor errors.
· A “pace” = one of my steps = 3 yards – no, scratch that – make it 26 inches.
· All compass headings are magnetic unless otherwise noted.
· The magnetic variation (declination) for the Hopkinton area is 16º W.
· A “clue” may consist of several steps before you find a container (plastic jar) with a “hint” to direct you to the starting point of the next clue. This will make it possible to break the hunt into sections over the course of several days, so you can come back and pick up where you left off.
· The treasure (genuine Spanish jewelry.......well, maybe the costume variety) is located in the final box with stamp, etc.
· If there’s no treasure there you’ll know some other rapscallion beat you to it. Just stamp the log, let out an anguished scream of frustration and jump in the reservoir. But before you jump I’d like you to provide the following information: age of primary hunter (if parent, admit it) and the total elapsed time it took him/her to find the treasure. This will help me design the next hunt.
· Discretion is advised (demanded!) when digging up or replacing clues/hints so that other spying pirates won’t know where to look. Hints will usually be hidden under rocks or leaves and will NOT require serious digging.
· A pencil and paper will come in handy and, obviously, you’ll need a compass. A calculator would be very helpful, also.
· To save time in the field you are strongly advised to read all the clues at home before you start – no sense lugging text books, computers, encyclopedias, sextants, GPS receivers, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. through the woods.
· My e-mail address for complaints, suggestions and desperate pleas for assistance is: PhineasTS@comcast.net
Clue 1.
Go to the yellow stake labeled “A” near the Hopkinton/Ashland border and head 080º looking for a trail commemorating a reservoir and a very small mountain in central Mass. Follow the trail north and east about 200 paces. At the top of a slight rise you’ll see a 16, 9, 3, 14, 9, 3 20, 1, 2, 12, 5, where these numbers have a certain correspondence to a communication scheme devised by early Romans. After looking around to make sure that no one is approaching (pirates are known to be quite unethical and often spy on each other), compute the object’s surface area. If it is:
· less than 2000 sq. inches, go to yellow stake no. 22
· greater than 18 sq. feet but less than 21 sq. feet, go to the northern terminus of the Foxtrot Trail
· between 12 sq. ft. and 2200 sq. inches, go to the northern end of the Pepperbush Trail
· over 66 pounds, but less than 90 kilos, jump in the reservoir and forget the hunt
Go to the correct location and follow the trail generally SE about 360 paces to where the trail splits. Take the right branch and follow that until it intersects another trail. Go left for 32 paces and start looking for a quartz-studded rock on the left P paces off the trail, where P = the number of pecks in a bushel. From that rock walk on a heading of:
[(no. of square feet in a square yard) x (no. of fluid ounces in a pint of rum) – 14]º
to an abandoned BBQ stand. After cooking some hot dogs (did you remember to bring the mustard?) and sharing wild dreams of what you plan to do with the treasure, take up a heading of Aº, where A = the area of a right triangle with a base of 10 and height of 9, to another less fortunate stand on its side. DO NOT try to cook anything on that one!………instead, follow a heading of Dº, where D = [(number of arms on a giant squid) x (11½)] to a large boulder left by last year’s glacier. Look on the south side between that boulder and its little brother for…………Hint #1.
Clue 2.
Take that trail and pass several more stakes as the trail name changes. When the name changes for the second time you’ll have a major decision to make. If you choose the trail that has a stake with a “5” or a “22” you made the wrong choice. Go back to the intersection and try again.
Follow the correct trail in a southeast-to-east direction to a hard, flat surface where you will notice, on the north side, a would-be raptor's house about 8 feet high. Go “Code #1” through the woods, crossing a road and one trail on the way to another trail where you should see two markers side by side, both generally similar in shape, but placed there for different purposes. One has a sinister Arabic notation while the other has a mysterious Latin symbol on its east face.
From there take the adjacent trail about LX yards to the north and look for another trail on the right, where L and X are numbers familiar to those same devious Romans. Follow that one in an easterly direction (about 150 paces) until you see a 3-pronged, hideous black tree growing from the gaping jaws of a split rock only 10 paces from the trail. Look on its north side at the base of the tree for Hint #2.
Clue 3.
Go due north to a double slab sofa put there by the Wampanoags or Ponce de Leon or Leif Ericson or – most likely – some disgruntled postal workers who didn’t want other people to be comfortable while they ply their endless mail routes. Rest up there (if you can stand it) before heading NE about 60 paces to take the first trail on your right. Continue on that named trail until your hat floats......uh.....I meant, until your feet hit another hard surface.
Take a right and look south for an object, about 100 yards away, painted with a primary color that is NOT blue or yellow, probably put there as an accommodation to dogs. Go there, whip out your trusty compass and follow a bearing of [(Code #2) + LXXVIII]º until you fall into a giant asteroid crater. When you recover from the fall look for Hint #3 under an overhanging rock on the east rim of the crater. If you can’t climb up to it, the hunt may be over for you, so you should consider bringing along some food, a tent, warm clothing and a cell phone to call for help. (A DVD player and an Xbox wouldn’t hurt, either, to wile away the time) Unfortunately, the Hopkinton Fire Dept. doesn’t own a ladder long enough to reach to the bottom, but at least we’ll know where you are and you can notify your relatives.
Clue 4.
Take that trail about a mile until you come to two stone walls intersecting at a right angle. Admire the geometric precision of the early settlers, then continue toward the west while generally paralleling one of those walls to your left. When you come to a break in the stone wall stop and look about (XLV)º to your left where you’ll see a 2' x 1' quartz rock lying next to another stone wall with an alignment of 200º and 20º. After admiring this priceless relic from the past, get back on the trail (without stealing the rock) and continue to the next intersection.
Go right if the maximum height of the sun is exactly 23 degrees above the equator on June 21st. Go straight if your favorite aunt's name is really "Millie." Go left if the number of days in Mercury's orbit is greater than 87. Walk 56 paces and look for the first concrete marker in the middle of the trail and take up a heading of Code #3 from that marker. Look for Hint #4 under the west side of a split rock. (You’d better jot this hint down carefully if your attention span is less than 2 minutes or your reading skills are like a typical pirate's.)
Clue 5.
Now look to the east for a stake with a double warning. Then look for a doggy doo-doo mitt dispenser and line up the two on a distant home for small critters. Go there and admire its classic architecture. If its front door faces 110º walk 6 paces in that direction, then take up a heading of Cº and look for a trail to the left, about 100 yards away.
Follow that trail to the north until you reach a 5-way intersection. After checking carefully for traffic (your parents insisted I mention this), run quickly to the tree in the middle of the intersection. Next, take the bearings of each of the 5 trails, starting with the one closest to north and proceeding in a clockwise direction. We’ll call these trails A, B, C, D and E. If the bearings of:
(E – D) > (B + 62º), go to the boat ramp and start over
(E –VLº) < (D), take trail A
[B x (number of feet in a fathom)] = C, take trail D
[C x (number of bottles in a six-pack)] – [4 x B] < [(LXXII)º x 11], take trail C
[E – (the cubic feet in a cubic yard)º] < [(number of gills in a pint) x (M – 950)º], take trail E; otherwise, search the nearby trees for a number, add 114º and take the trail closest to that bearing.
Follow that to its end and look straight ahead for a near-cube with strange lettering on it. Find the model number and select the last two digits, add 4 and proceed northward by that many stripes. When you spy a pointed symbol, take the bearing of its hypothetical target, subtract Xº and follow that heading toward a concrete marker, skipping merrily as you go and singing, “We’re off to see the marker, the wonderful marker of……….” Sorry, that was a different hunt I did several decades ago.
When you finally make it all the way to the aforementioned, architecturally obscene marker, take time to contemplate its uninspiring shape and try to divine its purpose. As passers-by laugh at your studious behavior and dogs lift their legs on your feet, you may want to ask yourself why you’re doing this. Well, I don’t know, either, but you ought to look across the street for something with letters and numbers on it. Hopefully, the dog-walkers will have left you alone so that you can read the numbers and move on. Call those numbers H.
Follow the trail around to the west until you can see two yellow stakes simultaneously. (If you see more than two you should lay off the rum and have your eyes checked before returning to the starting point of Clue 5.) Go to the one closest to a bearing of notheast and then take up a heading of (H + 5)º. Keep walking past a place where former humanoids used to satisfy their thirst, then continue in that direction until you find yourself blocked by a giant sequoia – sorry, I meant dead oak – across the path. Look (over the stone wall) in the remains of its rotted trunk for the TREASURE, but beware of the man-eating termites that are sick of their oak diet and desperately crave human blood to wash down that acrid taste.
Congratulations!
Phineas T. Spaulding
Pirate First Class
( 5 clues lead to 1 treasure chest with stamp, etc.)
THIS IS A SLIGHTLY MODIFIED VERSION AS OF 6/22/07
Things you should know before setting out on this hazardous, but challenging, journey:
· Time to complete: 3 – 5 hours.
· Target age group: 15 – 70.
· Degree of difficulty: 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
· Operation of a compass is essential; also, rudimentary map-reading skills.
. Pick up a map at the Park entrance or the boat dock, but be warned that it does NOT show all trails or paths. There are also a few minor errors.
· A “pace” = one of my steps = 3 yards – no, scratch that – make it 26 inches.
· All compass headings are magnetic unless otherwise noted.
· The magnetic variation (declination) for the Hopkinton area is 16º W.
· A “clue” may consist of several steps before you find a container (plastic jar) with a “hint” to direct you to the starting point of the next clue. This will make it possible to break the hunt into sections over the course of several days, so you can come back and pick up where you left off.
· The treasure (genuine Spanish jewelry.......well, maybe the costume variety) is located in the final box with stamp, etc.
· If there’s no treasure there you’ll know some other rapscallion beat you to it. Just stamp the log, let out an anguished scream of frustration and jump in the reservoir. But before you jump I’d like you to provide the following information: age of primary hunter (if parent, admit it) and the total elapsed time it took him/her to find the treasure. This will help me design the next hunt.
· Discretion is advised (demanded!) when digging up or replacing clues/hints so that other spying pirates won’t know where to look. Hints will usually be hidden under rocks or leaves and will NOT require serious digging.
· A pencil and paper will come in handy and, obviously, you’ll need a compass. A calculator would be very helpful, also.
· To save time in the field you are strongly advised to read all the clues at home before you start – no sense lugging text books, computers, encyclopedias, sextants, GPS receivers, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. through the woods.
· My e-mail address for complaints, suggestions and desperate pleas for assistance is: PhineasTS@comcast.net
Clue 1.
Go to the yellow stake labeled “A” near the Hopkinton/Ashland border and head 080º looking for a trail commemorating a reservoir and a very small mountain in central Mass. Follow the trail north and east about 200 paces. At the top of a slight rise you’ll see a 16, 9, 3, 14, 9, 3 20, 1, 2, 12, 5, where these numbers have a certain correspondence to a communication scheme devised by early Romans. After looking around to make sure that no one is approaching (pirates are known to be quite unethical and often spy on each other), compute the object’s surface area. If it is:
· less than 2000 sq. inches, go to yellow stake no. 22
· greater than 18 sq. feet but less than 21 sq. feet, go to the northern terminus of the Foxtrot Trail
· between 12 sq. ft. and 2200 sq. inches, go to the northern end of the Pepperbush Trail
· over 66 pounds, but less than 90 kilos, jump in the reservoir and forget the hunt
Go to the correct location and follow the trail generally SE about 360 paces to where the trail splits. Take the right branch and follow that until it intersects another trail. Go left for 32 paces and start looking for a quartz-studded rock on the left P paces off the trail, where P = the number of pecks in a bushel. From that rock walk on a heading of:
[(no. of square feet in a square yard) x (no. of fluid ounces in a pint of rum) – 14]º
to an abandoned BBQ stand. After cooking some hot dogs (did you remember to bring the mustard?) and sharing wild dreams of what you plan to do with the treasure, take up a heading of Aº, where A = the area of a right triangle with a base of 10 and height of 9, to another less fortunate stand on its side. DO NOT try to cook anything on that one!………instead, follow a heading of Dº, where D = [(number of arms on a giant squid) x (11½)] to a large boulder left by last year’s glacier. Look on the south side between that boulder and its little brother for…………Hint #1.
Clue 2.
Take that trail and pass several more stakes as the trail name changes. When the name changes for the second time you’ll have a major decision to make. If you choose the trail that has a stake with a “5” or a “22” you made the wrong choice. Go back to the intersection and try again.
Follow the correct trail in a southeast-to-east direction to a hard, flat surface where you will notice, on the north side, a would-be raptor's house about 8 feet high. Go “Code #1” through the woods, crossing a road and one trail on the way to another trail where you should see two markers side by side, both generally similar in shape, but placed there for different purposes. One has a sinister Arabic notation while the other has a mysterious Latin symbol on its east face.
From there take the adjacent trail about LX yards to the north and look for another trail on the right, where L and X are numbers familiar to those same devious Romans. Follow that one in an easterly direction (about 150 paces) until you see a 3-pronged, hideous black tree growing from the gaping jaws of a split rock only 10 paces from the trail. Look on its north side at the base of the tree for Hint #2.
Clue 3.
Go due north to a double slab sofa put there by the Wampanoags or Ponce de Leon or Leif Ericson or – most likely – some disgruntled postal workers who didn’t want other people to be comfortable while they ply their endless mail routes. Rest up there (if you can stand it) before heading NE about 60 paces to take the first trail on your right. Continue on that named trail until your hat floats......uh.....I meant, until your feet hit another hard surface.
Take a right and look south for an object, about 100 yards away, painted with a primary color that is NOT blue or yellow, probably put there as an accommodation to dogs. Go there, whip out your trusty compass and follow a bearing of [(Code #2) + LXXVIII]º until you fall into a giant asteroid crater. When you recover from the fall look for Hint #3 under an overhanging rock on the east rim of the crater. If you can’t climb up to it, the hunt may be over for you, so you should consider bringing along some food, a tent, warm clothing and a cell phone to call for help. (A DVD player and an Xbox wouldn’t hurt, either, to wile away the time) Unfortunately, the Hopkinton Fire Dept. doesn’t own a ladder long enough to reach to the bottom, but at least we’ll know where you are and you can notify your relatives.
Clue 4.
Take that trail about a mile until you come to two stone walls intersecting at a right angle. Admire the geometric precision of the early settlers, then continue toward the west while generally paralleling one of those walls to your left. When you come to a break in the stone wall stop and look about (XLV)º to your left where you’ll see a 2' x 1' quartz rock lying next to another stone wall with an alignment of 200º and 20º. After admiring this priceless relic from the past, get back on the trail (without stealing the rock) and continue to the next intersection.
Go right if the maximum height of the sun is exactly 23 degrees above the equator on June 21st. Go straight if your favorite aunt's name is really "Millie." Go left if the number of days in Mercury's orbit is greater than 87. Walk 56 paces and look for the first concrete marker in the middle of the trail and take up a heading of Code #3 from that marker. Look for Hint #4 under the west side of a split rock. (You’d better jot this hint down carefully if your attention span is less than 2 minutes or your reading skills are like a typical pirate's.)
Clue 5.
Now look to the east for a stake with a double warning. Then look for a doggy doo-doo mitt dispenser and line up the two on a distant home for small critters. Go there and admire its classic architecture. If its front door faces 110º walk 6 paces in that direction, then take up a heading of Cº and look for a trail to the left, about 100 yards away.
Follow that trail to the north until you reach a 5-way intersection. After checking carefully for traffic (your parents insisted I mention this), run quickly to the tree in the middle of the intersection. Next, take the bearings of each of the 5 trails, starting with the one closest to north and proceeding in a clockwise direction. We’ll call these trails A, B, C, D and E. If the bearings of:
(E – D) > (B + 62º), go to the boat ramp and start over
(E –VLº) < (D), take trail A
[B x (number of feet in a fathom)] = C, take trail D
[C x (number of bottles in a six-pack)] – [4 x B] < [(LXXII)º x 11], take trail C
[E – (the cubic feet in a cubic yard)º] < [(number of gills in a pint) x (M – 950)º], take trail E; otherwise, search the nearby trees for a number, add 114º and take the trail closest to that bearing.
Follow that to its end and look straight ahead for a near-cube with strange lettering on it. Find the model number and select the last two digits, add 4 and proceed northward by that many stripes. When you spy a pointed symbol, take the bearing of its hypothetical target, subtract Xº and follow that heading toward a concrete marker, skipping merrily as you go and singing, “We’re off to see the marker, the wonderful marker of……….” Sorry, that was a different hunt I did several decades ago.
When you finally make it all the way to the aforementioned, architecturally obscene marker, take time to contemplate its uninspiring shape and try to divine its purpose. As passers-by laugh at your studious behavior and dogs lift their legs on your feet, you may want to ask yourself why you’re doing this. Well, I don’t know, either, but you ought to look across the street for something with letters and numbers on it. Hopefully, the dog-walkers will have left you alone so that you can read the numbers and move on. Call those numbers H.
Follow the trail around to the west until you can see two yellow stakes simultaneously. (If you see more than two you should lay off the rum and have your eyes checked before returning to the starting point of Clue 5.) Go to the one closest to a bearing of notheast and then take up a heading of (H + 5)º. Keep walking past a place where former humanoids used to satisfy their thirst, then continue in that direction until you find yourself blocked by a giant sequoia – sorry, I meant dead oak – across the path. Look (over the stone wall) in the remains of its rotted trunk for the TREASURE, but beware of the man-eating termites that are sick of their oak diet and desperately crave human blood to wash down that acrid taste.
Congratulations!
Phineas T. Spaulding
Pirate First Class