Geocaching in Canada’s Parks—The Perfect Treasure Hunt!

If you’ve ever enjoyed that thrill of discovery or revelled in a sense of victory when you reach the end of an adventure, you’re in for a treat!

This summer, as part of Parks Canada’s centennial celebrations, Gulf Islands National Park Reserve launched a new geocache experience – a “treasure hunt for techies.” But you don’t have to be a techie to take part. You, the cacher, will follow a trail of hidden treasure by plugging GPS coordinates into your handy dandy GPS device. An iphone or a blackberry will do. Cache boxes containing entertaining stories, historic tidbits, maps, photos and activities are hidden in strategic locations throughout the park reserve – an ideal opportunity to stretch your legs and experience your park. The program was launched in June and has been very well received from cachers of all levels. One boater writes: “What a great idea to encourage people to explore these beautiful islands! Each cache location is awesome for different reasons, plus we had fun with the little prizes that we found inside each cache container.”

The entire family can try out the Gulf Islands Survivor Challenge Each of the four family-friendly routes include four cache sites where kids can test their skills, do fun activities and learn cool stuff. If you’re looking for a more challenging route, step up to the Gulf Islands Top Ten Challenge. With ten cache sites on three islands, this route hits the park’s top destinations and covers more varied hiking terrain (including some steep routes).

But wait—What’s a treasure hunt without the treasure?

Successful cachers will be rewarded with a beautiful collectible geocoin once they have completed a full route and redeemed their passport. The neat thing about these coveted coins is that they have trackable numbers so you can follow them as they travel in geocaches all around the world. And, as a special birthday initiative, the park is awarding a limited-edition Parks Canada 100th anniversary geocoin to the first 100 geocachers to complete either of the routes – still lots of time to collect yours! If you’re after the loot, don’t expect to do it all in one day. Plan on several days of adventure if you choose to accept the challenge.

How can you get started?

Easy—just print off a passport from the park website or from www.geocache.com and you’re off. If you’re new to this, you’re welcome to join a park interpreter for a “Geocache 101” drop-in session to be held throughout the summer (visit the park website for the summer schedule). If you don’t have a GPS device, you can even borrow one from our interpreters for the program. Get your treasure geocoin by redeeming your completed passport (one per family) either by mailing them to the Parks Canada office in Sidney, BC or taking them to the local Sidney aquarium (Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre).

How to get to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve?

Boating and kayaking are very popular means of exploring the islands in the summer season –mooring buoys, docks and camping facilities are offered in the park. You can also access the Gulf Islands by driving via BC Ferries www.bcferries.com. A privately-operated summer walk-on ferry from the town of Sidney is also available to Sidney Island.

Parks Canada Centennial—Be Part of It!

Join us in 2011 as Parks Canada celebrates its 100th birthday! Since its establishment in 1911 as the world’s first national park service, Parks Canada has become a world leader in protecting and presenting Canada’s treasured natural and historic places.

More information on celebrations happening across the country and on Vancouver Island can be found on the Parks Canada website. Gulf Islands National Park invites you to come celebrate with us this summer!

For more information:

Visit the park website at www.parkscanada.gc.ca/gulf or call the front desk at 250-654-4000 (toll-free: 1-866-944-1744).

Watch the YOUTUBE Shaw TV segment (it was shot on Pender Island.)

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