Welcome to the Blue Goose GeoTour!
Since you must fly or boat to get to nearly all of Alaska’s Refuges, we are bringing the refuges to you! The Blue Goose GeoTour (BGGT) is a series of 16 geocaches that have been hidden at 16 of the 223 Anchorage Parks. Each geocache features one of Alaska's amazing National Wildlife Refuges.
This cache features Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Renowned for its wildlife, Arctic Refuge is inhabited by 45 species of land and marine mammals, ranging from the pygmy shrew to the bowhead whale. Best known are the polar, grizzly, and black bear; wolf, wolverine, Dall sheep, moose, muskox, and the animal that has come to symbolize the area's wildness, the free-roaming caribou. Thirty-six species of fish occur in Arctic Refuge waters, and 180 species of birds have been observed on the refuge. Eight million acres of the Arctic Refuge are designated Wilderness, and three rivers (Sheenjek, Wind, and Ivishak) are designated Wild Rivers. Two areas of the refuge are designated Research Natural Areas. Because of distinctive scenic and scientific features, several rivers, valleys, canyons, lakes, and a rock mesa have been recommended as National Natural Landmarks. Perhaps the most unique feature of the refuge is that large-scale ecological and evolutionary processes continue here, free of human control or manipulation. A prominent reason for establishment of the Arctic Refuge was the fact that this single protected area encompasses an unbroken continuum of arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Here, one can traverse the boreal forest of the Porcupine River plateau, wander north up the rolling tiaga uplands, cross the rugged, glacier-capped Brooks Range, and follow any number of rivers across the tundra coastal plain to the lagoons, estuaries, and barrier islands of the Beaufort Seas coast, all without encountering an artifact of civilization.
Prizes
Each cache contains a special First to Find (FTF) prize with up to 10 additional prizes. Caches also contain a trivia question that is answered by following a virtual clue printed on passport cards in the cache. The first 50 people to visit all 16 caches and submit your completed trivia postcard will receive a custom Alaska National Wildlife Refuges path tag. All submissions will be eligible for other fabulous prizes, but the more you caches you log, the better your chances are of winning!
Take the Blue Goose GeoTour
1. Link to the GPS coordinates on Geocaching.com by searching the Hidden by Username: “Blue_Goose” or the Cache Name: “BGGT”.
2.With your GPS or smartphone find up to 16 refuge geocaches.
3.Within each cache is a passport card with a trivia question. Take a passport card and follow its virtual path to answer the question.
4.To track which caches you’ve visited and trivia questions you’ve answered, download a passport and postcard .
5. Submit your trivia answers via postcard to:
Blue Goose GeoTour
Alaska NWRS, MS 235
1011 E Tudor Road
Anchorage, AK 99503
Or via email to: wild4ak@gmail.com
Deadline for submitting entries is November 14, 2012.
Don't forget to “stamp” your Anchorage Park Foundation Park Passport using the Anchorage Parks app . Good luck and happy geocaching!
The Blue Goose GeoTour was made possible by:
