The Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge
A cache by PA Reviewers Hidden: 5/12/2007
Size:  (Regular) Difficulty: Terrain: (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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As with most mystery/unknown caches, the posted coordinates are
bogus. They are for "The Point" in downtown Pittsburgh, where the
Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio
River.
The perverse Pennsylvania Cache Reviewers who brought you The Pennsylvania DeLorme Challenge invite you
on another tour around the Keystone State. It's not your ordinary
cache, it's...
The Pennsylvania All Counties
Challenge

Cachers who have completed the
Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge:
| Cacher |
Page Completion Date |
Cache Logged Date |
| carels |
May 20, 2007 |
May 25, 2007 |
| CCCooperAgency |
July 6, 2007 |
July 6, 2007 |
| geofun2007 |
August 10, 2007 |
August 22, 2007 |
| captainmath |
August 25, 2007 |
October 6, 2007 |
| andGuest |
September 2, 2007 |
September 22, 2007 |
| Geometeacher |
September 15, 2007 |
September 30, 2007 |
| Angrist |
October 15, 2007 |
November 24, 2007 |
| 2 Guys Named Moe |
April 6, 2008 |
May 26, 2008 |
| TEAM COPYCAT |
June 22, 2008 |
??? |
| Megplant |
August 31, 2008 |
October 28, 2008 |
| Gosffo |
September 18, 2008 |
??? |
| Slandgsmith |
September 24, 2008 |
??? |
| Furious Shepherd |
November 1, 2008 |
November 14, 2008 |
What is the All Counties
Challenge?
The Challenge is simple. The image above shows a map of all 67
counties in Pennsylvania. The final cache coordinates can be
obtained by successfully finding a cache in each County. THAT is
the hard part!
This cache is owned jointly by Keystone, OReviewer, skeetsurfer,
Mr. Ollivander, and our special emeritus reviewer, MissPlaced. In
order to claim a find, you must first let us know which caches you
found to meet the requirements. See details below.
Here are some specific guidelines for this Challenge:
- As mentioned above, the posted coordinates are
not the actual coordinates for the cache. The
physical cache is in the same county, but may be quite some
distance from these coordinates! It was hidden sometime in the
spring of 2007 by one of the volunteer cache reviewers. The terrain
rating and attributes apply to the final cache location, and more
details will be provided when you become eligible to seek the final
cache.
- Generally accepted rules, guidelines and conditions for logging
a cache find apply. These must be bona fide caches listed on
Geocaching.com that you have personally (physically) found and
logged. You may include caches found prior to the creation of the
Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge so long as they meet all other
Challenge requirements. Your qualifying caches may be active,
disabled or archived.
- [Previous guidance about initial trade item contents has now
been deleted.]
- All cache types count as finds for the All Counties Challenge
with the exception of events (CITO included) and locationless
caches. Also, temporary event caches and grandfathered "moving
caches" are not eligible.
- When you log your find in Allegheny County, you must leave a
live hamster as a trade item. If you mentioned a hamster in your
prior log, you are all set. If you did not trade a hamster, you
will need to return to this county to log a find with the correct
trade item. Please do not do this if the air temperature is below
32°, or if you are logging a microcache.
- We will go off of the posted coordinates for a cache (including
multicaches and puzzles) when determining in which County a given
cache falls. So, for example, if stage one of a multicache is in
Ohio and the final cache is in Pennsylvania, it's not eligible, or
if the bogus coordinates for a puzzle cache are on the New Jersey
side of the Delaware River but the true solution coordinates are in
Pennsylvania, it's not eligible.
- If you have found or are working on the Pennsylvania DeLorme
Challenge, you may not use any of the same caches
to qualify for the All Counties Challenge. You must have at least
one other reported find in a County in addition to the one you
claimed to meet the requirements for the DeLorme Challenge. And, if
you've completed the Pennsylvania DeLorme Challenge, you cannot use
that cache to fulfill the requirement for the County where the
random posted coordinates are located!
- While you may have others with you when you find the final
cache, only those who have fulfilled ALL criteria for this cache
will be allowed to log it as a find. Find logs by other cachers
will be deleted.
- The final cache is located on public land where geocaching is
permitted. For those who are nervous after reading the death march
logs on the DeLorme Challenge, this one was designed to be easier.
The cache is a half mile (as the crow flies) from parking, and is
easily accessible from major north-south and east-west routes. You
can find a few other caches from the same parking lot and the total
elevation gain is less than 250 feet. The hike is on established
trails until a bushwack/deer trail for the last few hundred
feet.
- If a Pennsylvania Volunteer Cache Reviewer chooses to complete
the Challenge under their personal account, he or she must return
to the cache location and sign the logbook after meeting the same
eligibility rules that apply to everyone else.
- When in doubt, ask — we can discuss it or even seek
guidance from others, but the final decision rests with the cache
owners.
- All but one of the PA Reviewers are "just kidding" about Rule
#5. And the majority rules.
- Remember that this is a game and is supposed to be fun!
How can I play?
Preferred Method: Premium members are strongly encouraged
to use the It's Not
About the Numbers website. Until "INATN" came along, it was a
very tedious process to verify the counties where a person had
found caches. Now it's easy! At that site, you can upload your
zipped "All Finds" pocket query file, and the site does all sorts
of work for you automatically. Besides compiling various statistics
for you, INATN generates really cool customized maps that show the
countries, states and counties where you've found a geocache. You
have a choice whether to make your stats and maps viewable by other
site users, or to keep them private. Best of all, INATN is a free
site, and the uploading of pocket query data is permitted under a
license agreement with Groundspeak. (Remember, pocket queries
cannot be shared with third parties.) So, let INATN do all the work
for you, and make the verification process easier for us! Just send
us an e-mail at PA.Reviewers@gmail.com to let
us know that it's time to study your INATN maps and cache lists.
INATN sorts your finds by county with links to each of your logs.
It's so easy to verify your eligibility this way, that even a chimp
can do it. The decision of the chimp shall be final.
What if I'm not able or willing to use the INATN site? An
alternative is offered for geocachers who are not premium members,
or for any premium members who don't wish to use the INATN site.
(Under the cache listing guidelines, a cache owner cannot force a
geocacher to create an account or provide personal information to
another website in order to log a find.) Send us an e-mail at
PA.Reviewers@gmail.com to alert
us that you've completed all the counties. Either link us to a
shared bookmark list containing all your
claimed finds and specifying which county each cache is in, or
attach a file (such as an Excel spreadsheet or Microsoft Word
table) listing the following information for each of the 67
required caches: County Name, Cache Name, Cache "GC Number", and
the date of your "found it" log. Do NOT send us GPX files using the
proprietary Groundspeak extensions to the GPX namespace, or
otherwise relying on pocket query data obtained from
Geocaching.com.
Review Process: Once we hear from you by e-mail, we will
review your INATN map or your submitted list of finds in order to
verify compliance with the cache requirements. Please allow up to
one week for the verification process -- remember we are busy
reviewing all the new caches! Finds will be verified in the order
received, except that preference will be given to finders using the
INATN website method for verification. Once everything checks out,
we will send you an e-mail with instructions, including the correct
coordinates to take you to the final cache, and some background
information about the cache location. The find cannot be logged
until the physical container is found and the logbook inside is
signed.
Those accepting the All Counties Challenge are encouraged to post
notes here on the cache page to let everyone know they are working
on it, and to keep us informed of their progress. GOOD LUCK, AND
HAVE FUN!
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