Leakage from a Cluttered Mind

IQ Test #2 was cache find number 1,000 today.

This puzzle cache stumped me about a year ago, although I didn’t pursue it very hard. I plotted the waypoints on a map, thought I saw the start of a pattern, but couldn’t figure it out. I never did try computing azimuth and distance between the waypoints—something that is mentioned in the description. That proved to be the key, and the solution to the puzzle became readily apparent.

I wasn’t sure I believed my answer though, because it was about 50 yards from another cache. I decided to go ahead and check and sure enough, found the cache.

Using “findstats” on all my cache logs, I get the following:

1000 unique caches.
1000 finds logged.
Centroid = N 37 35.844, W 121 33.780
Avg. Difficulty = 1.79
Avg. Terrain    = 1.78
Avg. Challenge  = 2.14
247 hard<br>caches (25%)
1 countries
4 US states
0 multiple finds (0%)
76 (7.6%) archived
First log:  09/23/2004
Last log:   03/21/2006
Most finds: 25 on 11/13/2005
Maximum one-day distance: 240.9 miles on 12/9/2004
From N 37 42.848, W 121 28.604 to N 37 42.629, W 125 52.446
Oldest cache: #121 (GC79)
Newest cache: #360360 (GCTWRE)

Difficulty: 
1.0:   255 (25.5%)
1.5:   275 (27.5%)
2.0:   281 (28.1%)
2.5:    82 ( 8.2%)
3.0:    66 ( 6.6%)
3.5:    20 ( 2.0%)
4.0:    17 ( 1.7%)
4.5:     2 ( 0.2%)
5.0:     2 ( 0.2%)

Terrain: 
1.0:   349 (34.9%)
1.5:   256 (25.6%)
2.0:   141 (14.1%)
2.5:    98 ( 9.8%)
3.0:    87 ( 8.7%)
3.5:    39 ( 3.9%)
4.0:    26 ( 2.6%)
4.5:     4 ( 0.4%)

  D   T  1.0  1.5  2.0  2.5  3.0  3.5  4.0  4.5  5.0
     +----------------------------------------------
 1.0 |   151   51   27   15    9    2   
 1.5 |    69  105   32   32   18   12    6    1     
 2.0 |    69   53   51   32   43   19   12    2    
 2.5 |    24   17   13   12   10    4    2   
 3.0 |    23   22   10    3    5    1    1    1     
 3.5 |     5    4    5    3    1    1    1          
 4.0 |     6    3    3    1              4          
 4.5 |     1                   1                    
 5.0 |     1    1                                   
You have found 53 out of 81 total Diff/Terr combinations.

Cache types:
   1 ( 0.1%)  Earthcache
   5 ( 0.5%)  Event Cache
   1 ( 0.1%)  Letterbox Hybrid
   4 ( 0.4%)  Locationless (Reverse) Cache
  40 ( 4.0%)  Multi-cache
   1 ( 0.1%)  Project APE Cache
 870 (87.0%)  Traditional Cache
  53 ( 5.3%)  Unknown Cache
  24 ( 2.4%)  Virtual Cache
   1 ( 0.1%)  Webcam Cache

Containers: 
   6 ( 0.6%)  Large
 364 (36.4%)  Micro
  34 ( 3.4%)  Not chosen
  28 ( 2.8%)  Other
 388 (38.8%)  Regular
 155 (15.5%)  Small
  25 ( 2.5%)  Virtual

Countries: 
 996 in United States

US States: 
 968 in California
   3 in Idaho
  21 in Oregon
   4 in Washington