Brain Teasers
Hiking Oddity
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
I'm a fairly avid hiker, I try to go on a hiking excursion around once a week with a group of friends. We travel all over the United States to different locations to hike; just last month we went on a week long trip to California's Death Valley, where we enjoyed sweating out of our minds.
This past week, we found an oddity with our hiking experience. Instead of the trail being set up by distance, it was set up by time. For example, instead of the distance between two points being 10 miles, the markings would say they were 4 hours apart.
On this trip, we were going to hike from "Point A" to "Point C", stopping at "Point B" to rest, and eat Hot Pockets. While starting, we were sure to note that the time between Point A and Point C (the full length of the trail) was 8 hours. Upon arriving at Point B, we dined on our half lava-hot, half frozen Hot Pockets, and set back off. We noticed that the route marker leading back to Point A read 3 hours; the marker leading to Point C was also 3 hours.
Now, my friends and I aren't the smartest bunch, but we were sure that 3 hours + 3 hours sure didn't equal 8 hours. The math may not add up, but the times were, in fact, completely true. It took us exactly 8 hours to complete the A to C trip. Also, B to A was exactly 3 hours, as was B to C.
How in the world could it take 8 hours to make the trip, when the times only add up to 6?
This past week, we found an oddity with our hiking experience. Instead of the trail being set up by distance, it was set up by time. For example, instead of the distance between two points being 10 miles, the markings would say they were 4 hours apart.
On this trip, we were going to hike from "Point A" to "Point C", stopping at "Point B" to rest, and eat Hot Pockets. While starting, we were sure to note that the time between Point A and Point C (the full length of the trail) was 8 hours. Upon arriving at Point B, we dined on our half lava-hot, half frozen Hot Pockets, and set back off. We noticed that the route marker leading back to Point A read 3 hours; the marker leading to Point C was also 3 hours.
Now, my friends and I aren't the smartest bunch, but we were sure that 3 hours + 3 hours sure didn't equal 8 hours. The math may not add up, but the times were, in fact, completely true. It took us exactly 8 hours to complete the A to C trip. Also, B to A was exactly 3 hours, as was B to C.
How in the world could it take 8 hours to make the trip, when the times only add up to 6?
Hint
Where did we hike?Answer
If you read carefully, you should have caught that I never said where we were on this hike. I mentioned Death Valley, the flattest-of-all-flats just to get you with that mental picture. However, this time, we were hiking in a mountainous area. Point B was on top of a small mountain, A and C being on either side at the base. Going up a mountain surely takes longer than going down.Point A to Point B: Up the mountain: 5 hours
Point B to Point C: Down the mountain: 3 hours
Point B to Point A: Down the mountain: 3 hours
Point A to Point C: Up and down the mountain: 8 hours total
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Comments
Nice teaser! I just thought they stopped for 2 hours to eat... Guess not!
Death Valley is known as the lowest elevation in the US, it is not totally flat as you descibe. It is a valley surrounded by mountains.
Goodun'. Two questions though. Who had to carry the microwave and where did you plug it in?
Just for the record, we all had pepperoni hot pockets, cooked in the sleeve-thing for the directed amount of time. Camp site B had a little shack with a refridgerator, microwave, and restroom.
Ahh.... Roughing it. Had to laugh when I pictured someone crouched next to a campfire, trying to cram a stick through a frozen hot pocket. Of course, probably wouldn't be very frozen after half the day in a backpack.
I think the hot pockets are a reference to Jim Gaffigan. Hooooot Pocket!
^ You're exactly correct.
Though the answer is predicatable, (And I did get it) it isn't completely true. It doesn't always take longer... In fact, unless you were repelling or something, I'd say they were pretty close to being the same time, not 2 hours apart.
Still a good teaser, though, Swaff.
Still a good teaser, though, Swaff.
I'd say that the reference to Jim Gaffigan is a pale one at best
Easy for me, but one of the better situation teasers on site.
Best hike we ever did was in the Andes-- old Inca trail that ends at Macchu Picchu (Peru).
Best hike we ever did was in the Andes-- old Inca trail that ends at Macchu Picchu (Peru).
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