West Virginia DeLorme Challenge Mystery Cache

By the time you are finished you will have traveled all over the state, probably spent your family inheritance on gas, and said more than a few bad words about me for setting this up.

Here is how it works:

This challenge is based on the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer which is published for all 50 states. If you don’t already own one, you’ll want to get one for this Challenge. It is a wonderful map book that I have been using for years with Boy Scouts, hiking, camping, biking, and now with geocaching. The state is broken into numbered sections. Each section number corresponds to a page number that contains the map to that area. West Virginia has 44 pages with three of the pages having 2 map sections.

In order to claim this cache, you must hide or find a cache on each map page as outlined below. Then send me a file containing all of your hides and finds in the state. (.GPX format is preferred or .LOC if you filter out your locationless, event and CITO caches ahead of time for me. At a minimum I need a list containing cache name, waypoint, and coordinates.) My partners and I will review the list and generate an image showing their locations in order to verify the list. Once everything checks out, we will then send you the correct coordinates for the final cache! The find cannot be logged until the physical container is found and the logbook inside signed.

Based on feedback from and incidents seen with DeLorme Challenges in other states, some guidelines need to be laid out:

1. As mentioned above, the posted coordinates are not the actual coordinates for the cache. The actual cache may be quite some distance from these coordinates! To get the final coordinates, just complete the challenge!
2. 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 WV DeLorme Challenge so long as they meet all other Challenge requirements.
3. Placement of a cache on a DeLorme Atlas page counts the same as finding a cache on that page, but only if it was placed prior March 01, 2006. Hides after this date do not count toward the Challenge.
4. All cache types count as finds or hides for the DeLorme Challenge with the exception of events (CITO included) and locationless caches.
5. If a WV DeLorme Atlas page includes space not located in WV, only caches in the WV portion count.
6. 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.
7. Pages 31 and 56 contain maps for two section of the state on the same page. For these pages only, you must hide/find a cache on each section of those pages (total of 4 not 2).
8. As of the March 01, 2006 date listed above, there are no caches located on page 62. Consider pages 62 and 63 to be one and the same. Finding a cache on page 63 will also count for page 62.
9. While the various editions and versions of the DeLorme Atlas do not seem to have changed much in terms of page boundaries, the image attached is derived from the information in the cache owner's copy will be considered definitive.
10. When in doubt ask—we can discuss it or even seek guidance from others, but the final decision rests with the cache owner.

Be safe and have fun! Use that WV DeLorme Atlas to head out into Wild and Wonderful West Virginia, find those caches, and discover why we say it’s Almost Heaven!

UPDATE:
Some folks have sent in their files and below is a list of the number of pages they have completed: