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 Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The third largest conservation area in the National Wildlife Refuge System, the 9 million acre Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is located in eastern interior Alaska. It includes the Yukon Flats, a vast wetland basin bisected by the Yukon River. The basin is underlain by permafrost and includes a complex network of lakes, streams, and rivers. The area is characterized by mixed forests dominated by spruce, birch, and aspen. The Yukon Flats has a continental subarctic climate, with great seasonal extremes in temperature and daylight. Summer temperatures can reach 100 degrees F, warmer than any other comparable latitude in North America. Winter temperatures can drop to -70 degrees F. The refuge supports the highest density of breeding ducks in Alaska, and includes one of the greatest waterfowl breeding areas in North America. In fact, most of Yukon Flats' birds are seasonal residents, fleeing south before the hard grip of winter closes over the land. Some 13 species, however (including boreal chickadees, great gray owls, spruce grouse, three-toed woodpeckers and ravens), remain on the refuge year around.
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:
