Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® Launch
The National Park Service and Chesapeake Conservancy in collaboration with the Maryland Geocaching Society and the Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization are preparing a new way for adventurers to discover Chesapeake places
Wrightsville, PA – Over 150 geocaching adventurers are expected Saturday at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage for the launch of the new Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour®. This event will feature displays and exhibits from Maryland, Virginia, and local geocaching organizations along the Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour®. Cachers will have the opportunity to pick up a copy of the Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® Passport, trail requirements, and a listing of caches along the Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour®. Eight of the geocaches are located at parks and non-profit organizations along the Susquehanna River.
Geocaching is a worldwide phenomenon, in which participants use a handheld GPS, or smartphone, to plot map coordinates to locate a hidden treasure or “cache.” The Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® is the combined effort of the National Park Service, Chesapeake Conservancy, and volunteers with the Maryland Geocaching Society and the Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization. The trail has over 60 cache locations on eight Chesapeake rivers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. The “FYC” will be the third such collaboration, building on the success of geotrails along the Star-Spangled Banner and the Captain John Smith Chesapeake national historic trails.
The Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® will launch June 9, 2018 at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, a visitor contact station for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Geocaching volunteers, National Park Service staff and representatives from Chesapeake Conservancy will be on site at the launch event to teach the basics to those who are new to the hunt and bonus caches will be placed in the area. We expect most serious geocachers to spring into action as soon as the FYC GeoTour® coordinates are officially published around 11:30 a.m.
A collectible, highly coveted, challenge coin, known as a “geocoin”, will be awarded to the first 350 geocachers to locate at least 20 geocaches, record the secret code in the official passport, and log their finds on www.geocaching.com. After discovering the 20 required caches, geocachers may have their passports validated via mail at the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, and – for the lucky 350 – a beautiful two-inch metal coin will be returned in the mail. The geocoins are engraved with a trackable number that geocachers use to “follow” the coin or “discover” a coin held by others.
Event Details
When: Saturday, June 9, 2018
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Where: Zimmerman Center for Heritage- 1706 Long Level Road, Wrightsville PA 17368
Related Links
FindYourChesapeake.com (GeoCaching)
Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® Passport
Geocaching.com Find Your Chesapeake GeoTour® Kick Off Information
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