January 2004: Haicoole unveiled the DeLorme Challenge cache. As a result, an obsession was created and many caches in the far corners of Northern California began to receive more visits than ever before!
August 2005: It was late at night and the crew at a Carson City radio station was doing their weekly Geocaching show. During the Cachers Anonymous segment, a caller was heard to ask: “They have this thing called the DeLorme Challenge over in Northern California. Has anyone ever found a cache in every quad of the Nevada DeLorme book?”
The Present: Welcome to the Nevada Challenge!
Participating in the two GBES rallies and taking numerous motorcycle rides across Nevada has left me with an appreciation of the beauty of the vast open spaces of the state. It has also left me with a deep respect for the level of enthusiasm shown by the caching community there. I don’t know if there really is a Geocaching radio show, but I could see the question being raised at any number of venues across the Silver State. Now all cachers have a chance to answer….
There are two aspects of this cache. The first requires the dedicated cacher to find a cache in each quad in the Nevada DeLorme map book. When they have completed this major accomplishment, they will send me a list of the cache finds (preferrably as a GPX file). I will review and verify those finds and then send them off to certain doom! Well actually, I will send them off to complete the second stage of the quest—the signing of the Nevada Challenge Logbook, which is placed in a cache somewhere in Nevada.
(Okay, there’s unofficially a third aspect as well. When a cacher has successfully completed the Challenge, we’ll schedule a Party, er, Event Cache nearby to celebrate!)
Since many debaters, lawyers, and yacht racers have been moving from California to Nevada (much to the chagrin of the locals), there are some clarifying points. Sorry for the length of the list, but most (all) of these points have been raised at some point in the past…
1. The coordinates on the cache page have been revised to reflect the actual coordinates of the final cache—this is to help with your planning when organizing longer cache runs to complete the requirements for a "find"
2. Generally accepted rules, guidelines and conditions for logging a find apply. These must be bona fide caches that you have personally (physically) found and logged. You may include caches found prior to the creation of the Nevada Challenge, as long as they meet all other Challenge requirements.
3. On pages not containing a cache, you may meet the requirement by setting a cache. If you choose to do this, you are responsible for meeting all approval and maintenance criteria with geocaching.com. I’ve heard the Nevada approver is exceptionally tough! [:-)]
4. You will be allowed to log Virtual caches as finds. Locationless caches, Event caches and CITO caches will not be allowed. Multis and Puzzles, yes, but only if the initial geocaching.com waypoint appears in Nevada (conceivably it could end in another state).
5. Due to the layout of the Nevada DeLorme book some quads overlap slightly. If a cache is in that “shared space” between quads, a cacher my log it in one quad or the other, not both. Of course a different cacher may choose to do the opposite. This also includes the small subsection of Quad 50 covering the Lake Tahoe area. The corollary to this is that you only need to find a cache in one of the two sections referencing a particular Quad number (not both).
6. If quad includes space not in Nevada, only caches in the Nevada portion count.
7. While I’m pretty sure that the various editions and versions of the DeLorme haven’t changed much (at least in terms of the quad boundaries), the copy held by the cache owner will be considered definitive.
8. While you may have others with you when you find the final cache, only those who have fulfilled ALL criteria for this cache will be allowed to log it as a Find. Find logs by other cachers will be deleted.
9. When in doubt ask—we can discuss it or even seek guidance from others, but the final decision rests with the cache owner.
10. Remember we’re doing this for fun!!!
Thanks again to Haicoole for coming up with the original, delightfully crazy idea for this cache!