Tree-mendous Adventure

Geocaching 2013

Virginia State Parks are great places to enjoy nature, especially the native trees. More than 80 native species of trees call Virginia home, and many can be found in our beautiful state parks. Dust off your GPS and hit the trails for another exciting outdoor adventure, the Virginia State Parks Tree-mendous Adventure. This year's geo-caching quest highlights Virginia's native trees and gets you ready for spring.

How does it work?

If you're new to geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com to learn all about it. Create a user account to keep track of the caches you find. You'll need to register on the site to claim this adventure's prizes, which start with your fifth geocaching adventure cache. Next, click here for a list of all the park caches. Select a park to visit, download the coordinates to your GPS unit, print out any relevant hints and instructions, and you're ready to go. After your geo-cache hunt, return to the website to log in your find.

If you don't have a GPS unit, no problem. All parks rent GPS units for a nominal fee. (Park offices and visitor centers are open on a limited basis so call ahead if you plan to rent a unit.)

Seasoned geo-cachers already know the drill. Click here for a full list of the caches and pick the parks you plan to visit. While you are on the park's game cache site, be sure to select the "nearby caches" option to pick up a few extra finds while you are there. Log your cache visits on geocaching.com just like any other cache, but once you've visited five parks, register on Virginia Outdoors for a special prize. Keep collecting prizes and, if you find all 34 caches, you just might get something special.

Learn more about geocaching in Virginia State Parks.