Washington State Parks Launches New GeoChallenge

Statewide

Photo at right: Sunrays mingle with trees at Deception Pass State Park, Wash. Photo by Karen Neoh

On Aug. 21, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission announced the kick-off of its new ‘Walk in the Park’ GeoChallenge.

Using the recently revamped Pocket Ranger app for iPhone and Android, the GeoChallenge features state parks in 16 western Washington counties: King, Snohomish, Chelan, Clallam, Douglas, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Thurston and Whatcom.

Participants can earn points by recording each visit to a state park in the GeoChallenge. Easy-to-reach parks are worth five points, while more challenging, out-of-the way parks are worth up to 20 points. Participants can track their progress and engage in friendly competition by visiting the online Leaderboard: www.pocketrangerexchange.com

To get started, participants must:

• Download the official Washington State Parks Pocket Ranger mobile app onto a mobile device (from either the App Store or Google Play);
• Select the “Challenges” icon; pick the ‘Walk in the Park’ GeoChallenge;
• Register a username and password.

The ‘Walk in the Park’ GeoChallenge runs through Dec. 31. The first participants to finish the GeoChallenge are eligible to win prizes. More than $3,000 worth of prizes will be awarded after Jan. 2, 2015. Prizes are provided by SUBWAY restaurants.

For more information about the challenge and official rules, go to www.parks.wa.gov/geocaching and select the Subway ‘Walk in the Park’ GeoChallenge.

For more information about Washington State Parks, go to: www.parks.wa.gov

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