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Let's go cache in Ohio State Parks! From the shores of Lake Erie in the north to the winding Ohio River in the South, from the hills of South Eastern Ohio to the plains of Northwest Ohio. This challenge will take you to many wonderful places in our great state. Grab your geocaching gear, your kayaks, and backpacks, and get ready for a great time.
There are 75 state parks in the Great State of Ohio. Every one of these state parks has something special to offer, but not every state park has a geocache available. Some state parks do not have a single cache or only one. I think we should do something about this (wink, wink). There is a reference table below documenting all the state parks. To claim the smiley for this challenge you must log a single cache in fifty-five (55) of the 75 Ohio State Parks. Why 55? Because that's how old I am as of the publishing of this cache. No kidding. But that doesn't mean you should skip the other 20. I have been to 74 state parks. I only need to get to North Bass Island and I will have been to all the state parks. If someone wants to give me a lift to North Bass Island someday I would greatly appreciate it. Do your best when trying to determine if a cache is within the state park boundaries. Sometimes state parks and state forests are adjacent or overlap. That's why the maps are available in the reference table. Just choose one that you think qualifies and go for it! Any type of cache can be logged for this challenge. Any caches that you have already logged in a state park count towards this challenge. If you are the owner of a cache in a state park that counts too. So if you logged a cache 5 years ago in Hocking Hills it counts! If you placed a cache last week at East Harbor it counts! If you place a cache next week in Jackson Lake it counts!
Please create a bookmark list and name it something like The Ohio State Parks Geocache Challenge. Add this challenge cache to the bookmark list. Make the bookmark list shared and public and record all the caches you find for this challenge on this list. Please add the state park name as a prefix to the cache name in the bookmark that you you are logging. Example: Kelleys Island - Avery Island. Instead of a bookmark list, you can create a list of all your state park caches and post it in a log entry.
The challenge cache is located at the above coordinates. When you have logged 55 state parks, post a log entry on the challenge cache page referencing your list. Be prepared for a short hike and possibly some bush whacking to reach the cache. Would you expect the challenge cache to be easy? The difficulty for this challenge cache is a reflection of the time and effort to log a cache in 55 state parks. The terrain reflects what to expect when you go to sign the log.
Please add as many pictures of Ohio State Parks to this cache page as you like. I look forward to viewing many beautiful photos. Thanks for playing!
I will do my best to keep the reference table up to date. Please notify me through email if you notice a change to any state park geocache status.
And finally, I would like to put out a big THANK YOU to all the geocachers across the state who have placed caches in the state parks. From north to south and east to west and everywhere in between, thanks to you this challenge cache was made possible!
Permission has been granted by the Alum Creek State Park for the placement of this cache.
The State of Ohio and The Ohio Department of Natural Resources are not associated with this geocache challenge in any way. However, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has excellent material on the state parks. They have a map on their website which has links to all of the Ohio State Parks. |