Sometime last summer my son, David, told me about this new activity of his... geocaching. I'd heard the term and had a slight idea of what it was about but that was the extent of it. At that time I was trying to figure out how to be retired and figured this geocaching thing might be a hobby worth investigating. I got myself a little GPS unit and took to locating some geocaches in the area. It was kind of fun and I continued. Sometime in early August of 2012 while perusing the geocaching site (
www.geocaching.com) I discovered that the state of GA had an 'official' geocaching challenge that involved finding the state geocache container in over 40 of the state parks. I figured that was something I could get into. Associated with but separate from this state park challenge was a state historical site geochallenge. Fourteen sites of different types. I made it a goal to complete them both, and I have :) My first state park cache was found on August 13th, 2012. My 42nd state park cache was found on October 25th, 2013. On the same day I visited the final historic site. It has been a most wonderful adventure for me! By the way, you really couldn't cheat at this. In each state park cache container was a rubber stamp of a letter that you stamped onto your 'passport' as proof of the find. The historic site caches held a site card that had to be matched with the site cards of like categories. To get the 'reward' for accomplishment (more on that later) you have to submit these proofs. Pretty great program all around.
The Georgia state parks were all beautiful in their own way and each of them had unique qualities as well. From the mountainous parks in the northern part of the state, to the flats of the coastal parks, to the swampy areas of the middle/southern area of the state I saw incredible things that I am quite sure I would never have taken the time to see and explore had it not been for David coaxing me to give this a try. Mountain tops, canyons, waterfalls, rivers, swamps, you name it. I think visiting all these places I've seen pretty much every ecological environ there is except snow. I guess I've become pretty good at this along the way, at least better at it than when I started out. After experimenting a bit with gear and equipment, a good deal of which is boxed up as unused, I'm pretty set on my little backpack, walking stick, fanny pack and, of course, my visor. Having recently taken up camping out in the parks, sleeping in my van, I've learned a lot there as well.
The historic sites are a very good assortment of historical places and types. Included in the challenge were 4 Native American sites, 3 fort sites (revolutionary and civil wars), 2 historic homes, 3 plantations, and 2 civil war battlefield sites. I learned a great deal at all of them. Most poignant for me were the Native American sites where I quickly developed a real loathing for the people running our country at the time over the incredible injustices done to these peoples. Also impacting me were the battlefields where I was incredulous as to how small the area was where so many people died. This wasn't my first time seeing and feeling this... the exact same feelings came to me when I visited Gettysburg some years ago.
A bonus to visiting all these locations was driving between them. I drove little-used roads through little-visited areas of the state and really, really enjoyed it. Georgia is the biggest state east of the Mississippi River (by land measure) and while I have no idea how many miles I drove I'm confident it was a lot. I saw the most charming little towns, lots of 'poor' living conditions along with lots of what I'd call plantation mansions, plenty of cotton and peanut fields, and miles and miles of flowers along the roads. There were plenty of other historic and meaningful sites visited during these drives as well such as the Andersonville Cemetery.
Now what? Well, I certainly intend to get back to many of these parks just to enjoy the beauty of them again, plus there are many 'unofficial' caches in each that I can go back for. I have found that the surrounding states have a similar geochallenge so I won't be giving up the hobby. There are also many cities/counties in GA that have their own challenges. Challenges aplenty! Right now I'm kind of thinking Alabama is the next state to investigate in a similar fashion since I'm only 35 miles from the border. Oh yes... my 'rewards' for completing these challenges... can't forget them :)
Ta da!! Proof of accomplishment!! My gold, silver, and bronze state park challenge medallions along with the 5 path tags, one for each of the historic groups completed. Value of all these pieces? Maybe a few bucks. Value of the experience? Of course... priceless :)
