A Stately Diversion

It will probably come as no surprise to you that I have been thinking about states’ county challenges lately (at least not if you read the thing). Now, it’s possible that I am just generically drawn to any challenge involving acquiring counties, but those do seem to be the pinnacle. A final proof that you have put an entire state beneath your sandaled feet. Of course, the nature of each one is quite different. Texas, probably because it has so many counties, is very liberal about appropriate caches. Any type of cache found in any county is acceptable here (except, of course, for Locationless because you can’t confirm the location and Adventure Labs because they weren’t much of a thing when the Texas County Challenge began). One of my counties is a Webcam, and another is a Mega–Event. It doesn’t get much more liberal than that. Oklahoma, on the other hand, requires all caches to be physical. Believe you me, not being able to use a Virtual complicates things a little bit. Washington was even more difficult. Not only did every cache have to be physical, but they also had to be small or bigger. Some states border on the bizarre. Florida’s county challenge technically does not involve finding the counties. To claim it, you have to complete the North Florida and South Florida county challenges.

Why do I care? Other than the fact that I’m trying to accomplish every state and county challenge? As we all know, I’m going to the Northeast soon, so I’ve been looking at all those states. I know I’m not going to complete all of them, but I should be completing several. They’re so small! Seriously! Connecticut, my prime reason for this trip, is about the size of Harris County. And some of those states have similarly weird challenge requirements. New Jersey immediately comes to mind. Its challenge goes a step beyond requiring physical caches. It allows only Traditionals, Multis, Mysteries, and Letterbox Hybrids. Whereigos are not an option. It also requires that you complete the state and then submit a list to the CO for the location of the final cache. Arkansas required that last bit, too, but that’s not exactly what happened. Massachusetts is interesting as well because its challenge requires that one of the county finds (no more, no less) be an Event. New Hampshire is the double black diamond, though. Each of its ten counties requires a Traditional, a Mystery, and a Multi-cache, for a total of thirty caches. As someone who has done a lot of counties, three different caches and types per county on the road is crazy sauce! And yet, it is what I will face it the wilds of New England.

The wheels are turning. The plans have begun. Soon, folks. Soon…