Alabama State Parks geocaching challenge

[+hzoi]

Coming soon to an Alabama State Park near you: the Alabama State Park geocaching challenge!

 

Montgomery's Woodnutt and others have been working with a committee of Alabama State Park rangers to develop an Alabama State Park geocaching challenge, along the same lines as the Georgia State Parks challenge. There will be a series cache in each of Alabama's 22 state parks, a final bonus cache at the end, and a trackable coin (hear that, Georgia State Parks? I said trackable! ) for those who complete the series.

 

I'm told the series caches will be something different -- not just a lock and lock or an ammo can in the woods. Having found a Woodnutt cache or two in my day, I can definitely say that he and his wife, "The Director of Evil," put together a great cache.

 

The series will be introduced at a kickoff event, one of a series of events over the weekend of April 13-15, 2012, at Lakepoint Resort State Park near Eufala, Alabama. (See my post in the South/Southeast regional forum for more about the events.)

 

Announcement is here, but more details will follow on the Alabama State Parks website.

 

(Moderators, as this may be of interest to more than just Southeast area cachers, please leave this announcement in the general gocaching forum. Thanks!)

 

(edit: adding link)

Edited January 27, 2012 by hzoi

[+lamoracke]

sounds like an awesome series. Its probably not a true "challenge cache" as I would define in one of my challenge bookmarks as its specific caches you have to find that might be listed by the same CO or group of COs, but whether its a "challenge" vs a "series", it still sounds very cool.

Edited January 27, 2012 by lamoracke

[+hzoi]

They're calling it a "challenge" in the general sense of the word. Since I think you'll have to specifically find all 22 caches in the parks (and possibly get information from them) in order to log the final, I'd think of it more as a series with a bonus cache and not a "challenge cache" like those you've bookmarked.

 

(Speaking of which -- thanks for maintaining your bookmarks, they're really helpful!)

Edited January 27, 2012 by hzoi

[+Totem Clan]

Minnesota has done something much like this for the past few year. Each cache was listed seperate just as trads on site. The series was a challenge from the parks stand point because if you found them all, or all in a region, or some many from each of the regions, or so on, the park system had rewards and prizes. The challenge part had nothing to do with GC.com.

[+lamoracke]

well, I only maintain a shared bookmark for Washington. I have one for Oregon but its not marked "shared" at this time. I can't imagine doing it for every state, that would be a lot of effort. I know some folks tried to do that, but probably a lot of holes in the ones out there.

[+niraD]

That sounds similar to a geo-challenge sponsored by a local open space district:

http://www.openspace.org/geocaching/

 

It's good to see parks, open space districts, etc. embracing geocaching like this.

[+hzoi]

well, I only maintain a shared bookmark for Washington. I have one for Oregon but its not marked "shared" at this time. I can't imagine doing it for every state, that would be a lot of effort. I know some folks tried to do that, but probably a lot of holes in the ones out there.

 

When you said "one of my challenge bookmarks" I immediately thought of shell1fish's big bookmark lists of challenges throughout the US. Except that you're not shell1fish. And you're right, I bet her upkeep on those bookmark lists must be time consuming, and I think it's awesome she does it.

 

But, uh, I bet you're good at stuff, too. So...whatever good work you do...keep it up?

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

They're calling it a "challenge" in the general sense of the word. Since I think you'll have to specifically find all 22 caches in the parks (and possibly get information from them) in order to log the final, I'd think of it more as a series with a bonus cache and not a "challenge cache" like those you've bookmarked.

 

 

It sounds more like a "series" to me too and that it's going to be done well. If it's successful it could also used as ammunition for presenting geocaching to other land management organizations....much better than what was done in Delaware.

[+humboldt flier]

Coos Bay, Oregon

 

The city tourism board, the local caching and business "communities" seem to be on board. When I went through the challenge involved a mix of micro's, nano's. Those who completed the series earned a trackable Myrtlewood Geocoin.

 

Notable was the inclusion of a number "virtuals" , many centered around the life of Steve Prefontaine ... the great American distance runner.

[+farrtom]

I posted about some thing similar in the NW forum, but the Idaho State BLM has a challenge (thought they don't call it that) where if you find one of their caches in in each district in ID you can qualify for a prize (a BLM Idaho geocoin) and if you find four caches in one of the BLM regions you can win a prize. They have provided a fillable PDF on their web site, Geocaching on BLM Idaho public lands, and have hid 20 caches (5 in each district) around the state.

Edited January 28, 2012 by farrtom

[+Turtle_Sask]

Wow id like to go to Alabama to do this series of caches, sounds like a lot of fun. If I ever get rich, im going to travel the world geocaching, it would be unreal

[+Woodnutt]

The name "Challenge" was selected but the State of Alabama State Parks. Had suggest Adventure, Trail, Series as well as others but they chose challenge. There will be 22 new caches, one in each of the state parks. These are stand along caches which will include traditional, multi, puzzle and letterbox. Each of these caches will hold a clue or code needed to solve the actual challenge cache which will be a puzzle cache. There will be FTF prizes at each of the caches and the final one will have even bigger prizes from the park system as well as a trackable geocoin designed for this challenge. These caches will be creative in nature and not the same type used everywhere. All of the caches will be a regular size or slightly bigger with trade items. Hoping to make it fun for all (including kids) who does this challenge or series. The State has been very supportive of this project and view it as a way to bring more people to the park system.

[+Castle Mischief]

Yay! Glad to see some positive exposure for both geocaching and our home state. Good work, guys!