All county challenge

[+SVC]

This may be a dumb question but I would like to do the PA all county challenge but I don't know what I have to do to start. Do I just make a bookmark list or do I have to sign up? Also this goes for the Delorme challenge. Any info would be great.

[+DocDiTTo]

All you really need to do is start finding caches in each county or grid and logging your finds online. Certainly a bookmark list for the Challenges is helpful, but you don't need to start with that. Figure out what counties and Delorme grids you've already found caches in then try to work in the ones you haven't visited yet. The bookmark lists can help you keep track of that info and allow others to easily track your progress too. There's no "sign up" or anything required. Once you've completed all the requirement for a Challenge, contact the reviewers and they'll help you from there.

 

BTW, there are macros for GSAK that will help you determine what county or Delorme grid a cache is in, if you use GSAK they'll save you some time.

 

Have fun, and good luck!

[+captainmath]

For the All Counties Challenge, if you're a premium member I'd recommend using the website, itsnotaboutthenumbers.com to track the counties you've finished.

 

All you need to do is download your pocket query of finds and then upload that file to itsnotaboutthenumbers and it gives you some great stats breakdowns on your finds, including very good maps. You can view a color-coded map showing which counties you've already completed. It's much less work than doing bookmarks and the website takes care of classifying each find by county, and not just for you but also for the reviewer that has to review your finds before giving you the coords for the final - the reviewers accept your stats on itsnotaboutthenumbers as proof of the counties you've hit. And the website is just plain fun, especially the maps. And it doesn't cost you anything to use it once you've already paid geocaching.com for your premium membership.

 

A word of note: itsnotaboutthenumbers.com has been having some technical difficulties lately that affect the way it classifies a very small portion of your caches (about 4 in 3000 in my case); there is currently a glitch that causes it to think some caches are far from where they actually are. But it's extremely unlikely to make a difference in the All Counties Challenge since an incorrectly identified cache is probably not going to show up in another PA county anyway. And I'm sure itsnotaboutthenumbers will have the issue solved soon.

 

Good luck! The All Counties challenge was a lot of fun to complete, and I saw so many cool places around our state while getting a great lesson in PA geography.

 

Here's an example of the counties mapping output you get from itsnotaboutthenumbers.

[+softball29]

All you really need to do is start finding caches in each county or grid and logging your finds online. Certainly a bookmark list for the Challenges is helpful, but you don't need to start with that. Figure out what counties and Delorme grids you've already found caches in then try to work in the ones you haven't visited yet. The bookmark lists can help you keep track of that info and allow others to easily track your progress too. There's no "sign up" or anything required. Once you've completed all the requirement for a Challenge, contact the reviewers and they'll help you from there.

 

BTW, there are macros for GSAK that will help you determine what county or Delorme grid a cache is in, if you use GSAK they'll save you some time.

 

Have fun, and good luck!

 

It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a Delorme challenge grid map for New York on GSAK. Argh! That would make my life easier as I am trying to find the next grid to get!

[+KoosKoos]

For the All Counties Challenge, if you're a premium member I'd recommend using the website, itsnotaboutthenumbers.com to track the counties you've finished.

 

All you need to do is download your pocket query of finds and then upload that file to itsnotaboutthenumbers and it gives you some great stats breakdowns on your finds, including very good maps. You can view a color-coded map showing which counties you've already completed. It's much less work than doing bookmarks and the website takes care of classifying each find by county, and not just for you but also for the reviewer that has to review your finds before giving you the coords for the final - the reviewers accept your stats on itsnotaboutthenumbers as proof of the counties you've hit. And the website is just plain fun, especially the maps. And it doesn't cost you anything to use it once you've already paid geocaching.com for your premium membership.

 

A word of note: itsnotaboutthenumbers.com has been having some technical difficulties lately that affect the way it classifies a very small portion of your caches (about 4 in 3000 in my case); there is currently a glitch that causes it to think some caches are far from where they actually are. But it's extremely unlikely to make a difference in the All Counties Challenge since an incorrectly identified cache is probably not going to show up in another PA county anyway. And I'm sure itsnotaboutthenumbers will have the issue solved soon.

 

Good luck! The All Counties challenge was a lot of fun to complete, and I saw so many cool places around our state while getting a great lesson in PA geography.

 

Here's an example of the counties mapping output you get from itsnotaboutthenumbers.

 

A great site...and GSAK will give you a lot of the same output with some of the macros that are out there.

 

That's what I'm using in my profile these days.

[+softball29]

Anyone know how hard it would be to figure out how to get one of those macros with New York and the DeLorme challenge? I don't know much about macros, but it would be nice to see one of them for NY!