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.

Spirit of the Lake

 
This letterbox was originally created for the 2004 Great Lakes Letterbox Gathering held at Morraine Hills State Park, McHenry, IL on June 12, 2004. The box was replanted in its permanent spot in Michigan, with the original stamp and logbook in July 2004.

Clues…

As Sherman and his dog, Nugent, walked toward the lake, they passed the entrance to Idlewild. Sherm fondly recalled summers he had spent with his grandparents in the neighboring beach community of Winnetaska. Mindlessly he began humming the song written so many years ago by Douglas Malloch, one of Winnetaska’s renowned residents.

As they crossed through the parking lot and headed down the boardwalk toward the beach, he listened to the whisper of the wind in the trees and the clapping of the waves hitting the shoreline, and thought how fitting the words of the song, “The whisper of the forest tree, The thunder of the inland sea…” They certainly captured the spirit of the lake that stretched endlessly before him. The poet could have been standing in this very place when he so eloquently penned his tribute.

He turned and started back up the boardwalk, the words of the song still running through his mind as he headed off to hide the letterbox.

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One Tin Soldier

(the return of Billy Jack Beale)

 
Now they stood before the treasure, on the mountain dark and red,
Turned the stone and looked beneath it, “Peace on Earth was all it said.”

Clues…

On a cold and rainy evening in November, the brave one-legged soldier returned home from Virginia, after many years of seeking his great-great-grandfather’s treasure.

Several years later, he sat beside a crackling fire at the Circle R Ranch and told of the lessons he had learned — about greed and the uselessness of violence, “Listen children to a story…”

When he finished, a little boy who had been listening intently to each word of the soldier’s tale, murmured — as much a question as a statement, “But you can justify it in the end?”

The old soldier looked away, far off toward the mountains as if remembering how it had been. Quietly he answered, “There are some who say you can; I don’t.”

51, 62, 157, 14, 118, 159, 98, 124, 181, 36, 170, 133, 150, 40, 61, 16, 98, 5, 13, 68, 108, 22, 136, 20, 180, 9, 1, 79, 182, 137, 100, 68, 3, 159, 88, 58, 176, 1, 181, 41, 117, 102, 87, 92, 130, 103, 100, 68, 171, 68, 29, 109, 66, 133, 181, 39, 49, 145, 159, 53, 50, 99, 2, 166, 61, 38, 178, 160, 98, 181, 65, 136, 125, 124, 92, 98, 105, 63, 68, 87, 176, 146, 29, 184, 171, 181, 54, 117, 178, 120, 136, 23, 22, 110, 12, 159, 57, 96, 108, 133, 47, 95, 162, 143, 13, 61, 128, 9, 176, 65, 136, 111, 100, 68, 54, 1, 181, 10, 159, 59, 50, 51, 102, 184, 160, 29, 31, 147, 16, 148, 176, 1, 181, 19, 68, 87, 108, 171, 181, 68, 136, 93, 159, 68, 181, 65, 136, 114, 61, 175, 133, 68, 55, 128, 109, 142, 26, 61, 143, 36, 125, 137, 100, 154, 23, 128, 93, 48, 68, 50, 120, 159, 6, 63, 181, 141, 86, 90, 22, 102, 105, 39, 184, 5, 176, 120, 61, 68, 1, 49, 153, 178, 160, 68, 17, 48, 181, 15, 78, 9, 68, 32, 162, 18, 87, 68, 181, 174, 161, 115, 61, 169, 89, 107, 61, 3, 66, 91, 164, 128, 68, 37, 162, 68, 35, 181, 50, 80, 143, 29, 181, 45, 87, 68, 181, 86, 20, 159, 120, 82, 69, 39, 65, 147, 126, 133, 68, 181, 102, 59, 136, 145, 101, 154, 60, 98, 16, 91, 71, 68, 100, 59, 160, 78, 42, 63, 181, 86, 23, 98, 130, 153, 1, 40, 181, 127, 38, 144, 68, 185, 173, 129, 136, 181.

Sandy Seasons: Autumn

Site Notes…

Lake Harbor Park is located south of Muskegon where the Mona Lake Channel flows into Lake Michigan. There is a network of hiking trails through several acres of wooded land and a boardwalk that runs along the dunes at Lake Michigan. During the summer, the beach is a favorite spot to enjoy Lake Michigan; in the winter, the large sand dunes provide excellent sledding hills.

Series Notes…

This box is the third in the 4-box Sandy Seasons series. The boxes in this series are linear (more or less), and are intended to be found in succession, as the clues are given from one box to the next. The entire loop is about 2.5 miles and makes for a wonderful afternoon hike. There is a large sand hill at the beginning and several moderate, steep hills en route. If you are coming during the summer, wear your swimsuit under your clothes and enjoy a swim in Lake Michigan when you are through with the boxes.

Other boxes in this series:

Sandy Seasons: Winter (1)
Sandy Seasons: Spring (2)
Sandy Seasons: Summer (3)

Clues…

From the “Summer” box: Head back through the area of fallen trees and back up the gully trail. Where trails meet at the top of the hill, follow the ridgeline path at 80 degrees. Where a centipede sleeps across your path, turn to see a stump riddled with holes, about 10 paces off the trail. From this trunk, proceed 25 paces at 240 degrees to the place where a wrinkled gent dances with a fair-skinned maiden. See that dead-beat trying to cut in? Follow him, I think he’s hiding something.

After stamping in at this last box, retrace your steps along the ridgeline trail back toward the lake. Stop and enjoy a swim in Lake Michigan before proceeding south along the beach. Where the Mona Lake channel empties into Lake Michigan, find the main park trail, which will bring you back to the parking lot.

Sandy Seasons: Summer

Site Notes…

Lake Harbor Park is located south of Muskegon where the Mona Lake Channel flows into Lake Michigan. There is a network of hiking trails through several acres of wooded land and a boardwalk that runs along the dunes at Lake Michigan. During the summer, the beach is a favorite spot to enjoy Lake Michigan; in the winter, the large sand dunes provide excellent sledding hills.

Series Notes…

This box is the third in the 4-box Sandy Seasons series. The boxes in this series are linear (more or less), and are intended to be found in succession, as the clues are given from one box to the next. The entire loop is about 2.5 miles and makes for a wonderful afternoon hike. There is a large sand hill at the beginning and several moderate, steep hills en route. If you are coming during the summer, wear your swimsuit under your clothes and enjoy a swim in Lake Michigan when you are through with the boxes.

Other boxes in this series:

Sandy Seasons: Winter (1)
Sandy Seasons: Spring (2)
Sandy Seasons: Autumn (4)

Clues…

From the “Spring” box: Continue along the ridge trail toward the lake. You will come to a place where many trails to and from the beach meet and intersect with each other. Locate the twisted oak at 325 degrees. 30 degrees from the oak, find a small trail and follow its root steps down to a place where a sandy trail crosses perpendicularly from the beach. Stay your course straight ahead into the trees and up a small incline.

At the top of the hill, again there is a meeting of trails. Proceed straight ahead, following the gully down to a place where a tree first lies overhead and then lies underfoot. Thirty paces further down the hill, a split-trunk beech on your left marks the entrance to a bowl-shaped area containing many fallen trees.

Walk through this area, following the base of the hill along your right. When you are near to reaching the open end of the bowl-shaped area, you will come to a 6 ft. trunk, hollowed by fire. Four paces from here, rests the root end of a massive tree. Walk along the tree to the place where it Y’s, and then to the place where the arms of the Y each Y. Nestled snuggly under one of these splits is the treasure you seek.