Brushy Peak puzzles

Having prepared by solving a couple of puzzles, I decided today was a good day for a hike at Brushy Peak.

I started with a search for Christmas in July, a very simple puzzle cache near the airport. It’s pretty poor–a plastic baggy for a container hidden under some low growing shrubbery.

The Sorting Hat in Brushy Peak is a clever letterbox cache with a Harry Potter theme. After arriving at the starting location, you answer a series of questions and follow the movement directions that correlate to your choices. In this way you will be directed (sorted) to one of four different final cache locations (corresponding to the four different houses at Hogwarts). I was sorted into Gryffindor. After signing the log I hunted down the other 3 cache locations just for the fun of it.

From this cache I struck out cross country heading more or less directly west to Tip the Cows and Solitaire Hike (both puzzles). This took me through a very enjoyable part of Brushy Peak–rocky outcroppings, scattered oaks, and good views. I only solved Solitaire for the latitude , but was still able to find the cache.