Summer Vacation Mystery

Glen invited his five grandchildren (Cade, Krysta, Casey, Marissa and Patrick) to spend a week with him at the lake during their summer vacation. They awoke to a sunny morning on the first day and Gramps asked them what they wanted to do. Each child had a different suggestion — the beach, visit the USS Silversides, play frisbee golf, the playground and a concert in the park.

Wanting to make each of his grandchildren happy, Gramps thought for a moment and said, “Well, we could start at Pere Marquette Park, head over to the USS Silversides for a bit, then up Lakeshore Dr. to Addison to the park, which has a playground, a band shell and a frisbee golf course. While we are at the park, you kids can help me plant a letterbox that I put together about your summer vacation.”

The kids were pleased with their grandfather’s plan and excited to help him plant his letterbox. Once they were at the park, Gramps settled down with a book and the kids headed off to play frisbee golf. They had decided to keep an eye open for good hiding spots for the letterbox while they played.

After they finished their game of frisbee golf, they reported back to their grandfather with the places they had found to hide the letterbox. Each child had sited one hiding spot, each from a different numbered frisbee golf basket (#8, #10, #11, #17, #18), each a different number of paces (24, 30, 35, 40, 55) at a different bearing (170, 180, 245, 315, 330) to a different hiding spot (a hollow log, a multi-trunked birch tree, a fallen tree, a piece of concrete and a rotted stump).

Using the clues below, figure out each child’s suggested hiding spot.

 
| Click here to open a logic puzzle grid in Adobe .PDF format |

Puzzles Clues…

1. The hiding spots chosen by the two girls — Marissa and the one whose bearing was 315 degrees — were, in some order, the hollow log (which was not sited from basket #10) and the birch tree.
2. The three boys were the child who took 24 paces, the child whose bearing was 330 degrees and Casey.
3. The girl who took a bearing of 245 degrees (who was not the child who took 30 paces) located her hiding spot from the basket whose number was one less than the child whose hiding spot was a piece of concrete.
4. The child who chose the fallen tree as his hiding spot took his bearing from a basket whose number was lower than that of the child whose bearing was 180 degrees (who was not the child who took 40 paces).
5. The basket number from where Krysta sited her hiding spot was the next one lower than that of the child who chose the rotted stump as a hiding spot.
6. The boy who took 55 paces (who is not Cade) sited the piece of concrete from the highest numbered basket.
7. The child who took 40 paces was a boy, but not the boy who took a bearing of 330 degrees (who was the child with the highest basket number).

Finding the Letterbox…

Gramps carefully considered all of the options the kids had presented and after walking through the park to look at each spot, made his choice. To find the spot Grandpa chose, add together the basket number, the # of paces and the bearing for each child’s suggestion. You will find the letterbox hidden in the spot where this sum is 58 less than the next larger sum.

Wine Country II: Leelanau

 
You must complete the Wine Country Word Puzzle to get the location of this letterbox. Once you know the location, follow the clues below to find the box.

| Click here to open the Wine Country Word Puzzle in Adobe .PDF format |

Clues…

Find the trail 250 degrees from the old water pump. Follow this path over a fallen birch and along the edge of the bluff. At the clearing where the path ends, you will be treated to an incredible view up and down the Lake Michigan shoreline. The multi-armed white one at 100 degrees holds the box.

| Click here for Wine Country I Letterbox |

Wine Country I: Old Mission

 
You must complete the Wine Country Word Puzzle to get the location of this letterbox. Once you know the location, follow the clues below to find the box.

| Click here to open the Wine Country Word Puzzle in Adobe .PDF format |

Clues…

If you encounter Ms. Blossom, you’ve gone the wrong away, but don’t be concerned as the trail is a loop. 70 paces down Luann’s Trail find the box in the end of a hollow log.

| Click here for Wine Country II Letterbox |

Great Day of Fire

Background Notes…

Most people are familiar with the legend of how Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in the barn and started the entire town of Chicago on fire in October, 1871. Upwards of 300 people lost their lives and the city of Chicago, an important industrial and commerce center, was paralyzed.

But what not everyone knows is that equally catastrophic fires took place in Peshtigo, WI and throughout the state of Michigan on the same day. The most significant fires in Michigan were located in Port Huron on the eastern side of the state and Holland and Manistee on the Lake Michigan shoreline, with several lesser fires erupting in forested areas throughout the mid-section of the state.

While Mrs. O ‘Leary’s cow has for years been the scapegoat for the Chicago fire, there are no colorful tales as to how the fires in these other areas were started. Although the entire region was suffering from a severe dry spell that autumn, it is coincidental for so many large-scale fires to have broken out literally within hours of each other, for the most part without plausible explanation. One theory suggest that a meteor shower rained down burning astroids in a “V” shaped pattern, the cortex being Port Huron, MI, and then fanning out toward Chicago, IL and Peshtigo, WI. This theory actually makes a lot of sense and there are several eyewitness accounts in both MI and WI which claim to have seen fire coming from the sky.

The name for this letterbox is taken from both the reference commonly made to that day — the “Day of Fire” and from the popular song title, “Great Balls of Fire.”

To find the box, you must locate the marker shown in this photo, and then follow the clues provided below.

Clues…

You will find the trailhead due east from 140. 8/2=4. At 4, head the opposite direction from the cross. At the next numbered intersection, turn the way where you see a two-track crossing up ahead. When you come to the Eagle’s resting place, begin watching the right side of the trail for a glimpse of a water tower in the distance — if only this had been around in 1871! A faint trail runs through the clearing toward a fence row. Pace along the posts to the SE corner. At 35 degrees find the Great Day of Fire letterbox in a hollow stump.

Case of the Missing Salmon

A salmon is missing from the Platte River Fish Hatchery in Beulah. Detective B. Stealthy is on the case and is gathering bits and pieces of evidence, most of which he has scribbled helter-skelter on odd scraps of paper. Piecing together the detective’s notes will help you to solve the crime and put you on the trail of the missing salmon.

Background Notes…

1. Five area cats (Lucy, Mr. Bigglesworth, Sebastian, Phoebe and Mozart) were seen in the vicinity of the Fish Hatchery around the time of the heist, but only one was actually at the scene of the crime.
2. The five cats, each a different breed (Persian, Siamese, Angora, Tabby and Himalayan), each wear a tag with a different ID number on it (127, 268, 382, 417 and 503).
3. Each cat fled to a different area trail (Beulah Village Park, Platte River State Forest - Honor, Betsie Valley Trail - Beulah Trailhead, Betsie Valley Trail - Mollineaux Rd. Trailhead and Railroad Point Natural Area) when they learned their name was on the suspect list — one cat had the salmon with him/her.
4. Inspection at the scene of the crime turned up a cat’s ID tag; the detective found it an odd coincidence that the number on the tag was the same number that had been assigned to the missing salmon.

Collected Facts…

1. Lucy is the Persian cat.
2. Mr. Bigglesworth, who is not the Himalayan, wears number “503″ on his tag.
3. Phoebe, who is not the Tabby or the Himalayan, wears number “127″ on her tag.
4. The cat who wears number “268″ did not flee to either the Village Park or Railroad Point.
5. Mozart’s tag is not numbered “417″ or “382″.
6. The cat who escaped to Platte River was not the Himalayan.
7. Phoebe is not the cat who fled to Railroad Point.
8. The Tabby cat ran off to the Beulah Trailhead.
9. Sebastian is not the Angora.
10. The cat who fled to Platte River, who was not Lucy, wears a tag numbered “382″.

Finding the Letterbox…

Once you have pieced together the information and completed the additional research to deduce which trail the guilty cat headed to, make your way there and use the following clues to find the spot where he hid the salmon:

Follow the trail straight ahead from the main parking area. You will come upon a large inscribed memorial stone. From this rock, walk at 150 degrees to the edge of the trees. Due East, find the salmon hidden under bark in the center of a triple trunk cherry tree.