Parks - Geocache and explore with or without a GPS

Parks

Worried that virtual caches sound too easy? Check this out. This is the Old Photo #2 cache from geocaching.com and one of the toughest climbs in Yellowstone National Park. You go from 7200ft to 8500ft in a fairly short distance. Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Inn are off in the background.

The United States is blessed with numerous parks for people to enjoy. There are national parks, state parks. county parks and municipal parks which provide activities ranging from picnic tables to mountain climbing. There truly is something for everyone. We of course like to get out our trusty GPS and go geocaching.

The very first national park was Yellowstone National Park which was established March 1, 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant. The National Park System wasn't established until August 25, 1916 under President Woodrow Wilson. There are currently 391 areas in the system which cover over 84 million acres in 49 states (nothing in Delaware), the District of Columbia and in US Territories American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Alphabetically the parks range from Abraham Lincoln Birthplace to Zion National Park. Some of them are very well known such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Some are much lesser known such as Cowpens and Pea Ridge. The largest area is Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The smallest is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Pennsylvania. In 2006 there were roughly 272,623,980 visitors combined to all the parks.

In addition to National Parks, there are also National Monuments (Mt. Rushmore), National Military Parks (Gettysburg), National Historical Parks (Independence Hall), National Historical Sites (Ford's Theater) and National Historical Trails (The Appalachian Trail).

OK, so some virtual caches are pretty easy after all. That's our Gran Prix over by the T-shirt stand. Here's Alpha6 and Bravo Lima at the Four Corners Monument cache in Arizona or Colorado or Utah or New Mexico - whatever.

All of this is run by the National Park Service. It does not permit traditional container caches in the parks but that doesn’t stop us. There are virtual caches, photo caches, earth caches and waymarks which are equally challenging. They have the added benefits of being informative and educational. There are also geodashing points, where you can end up literally in the middle of nowhere. All these things will take you to parts of the park that are off the beaten path. That is why we love geocaching in the national parks.

State, county and municipal parks are not so strict. With the explosive growth of geocaching in the last several years, it’s hard to find a park anywhere that doesn’t have at least one geocache in it. Even the tiny memorial parks have them. Many of these caches are quick park ‘n’ grabs but many will also take you as far in the wild as you want to go. We’ve even had to canoe to several caches. Historical markers abound in these parks and often the geocaches are designed around them. It’s a great way to explore and learn.

Geocaching and all that goes with it has brought us to some of the most interesting and beautiful out-of-the-way places in this country. It remains an unregulated activity which relies upon the participants to respect and protect the environment in which the caches are located. Please do your part to help preserve it for others to enjoy.


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